By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
TRIBECA — The aging residents of Independence Plaza North are up in arms about the city's plan to shut down their senior center.
"It's just one more attack on the poor," said Anita King, 68, who has lived in Independence Plaza for 32 years. "I think it's criminal. It's sad. It's degrading."
Unless the state restores $25 million in funding to the city's budget, the city will be forced to close 105 senior centers, including the one at Independence Plaza.
The seniors at the TriBeCa housing complex have launched a letter-writing campaign and are gathering petition signatures to save their beloved program, which many described as a lifeline from the isolation of aging.
"I am all alone," said Divina Angel, 86, an Independence Plaza resident. "For me, it's companionship."
Angel, who uses a walker to get around, makes her way to the center almost every day for a hot lunch. The center also offers classes in everything from yoga and tai chi to painting and mahjong, and a nurse, a social worker and a podiatrist all make regular visits to check on the local residents.
Caring Community, which has run the Independence Plaza center for the past 10 years, uses a suggested donation system and never turns away those who are unable to pay.
Downtown's elected officials have pledged to fight the cuts. One proposal, by State Sen. Daniel Squadron and others, is for the state to use newly identified excess revenue to fund the senior centers.
"Where else are they going to go?" City Councilwoman Margaret Chin said. "Are they going to get on a bus? A lot of the seniors are not able to travel. Are they going to be homebound? [That's] going to cost the city more money."
Angel, the 86-year-old resident, said it would be impossible for her to make her way up to another senior center in the Village.
"I'm afraid to cross the street," she said. "I don't see the cars — I just see the lights."
Many of the Independence Plaza seniors live on Social Security and federal Section 8 housing vouchers. They moved to TriBeCa before that was the neighborhood's name and have battled their landlord for the right to stay in their rent-protected apartments.
"It's a ridiculous thing," said Jean Brown, 82, vice president of the senior center's advisory council. "They always want to take from the people that have little, instead of those that have a lot."
The seniors have been through enough political fights to know that the threat of the closures could just be partisan posturing.
"We hope it's bulls--t," said King, the 68-year-old resident, "but we can't take a chance."
With reporting by Patrick Hedlund
