Despite striking a compromise with city leaders about Johnson City's new multi-generational use community center, some seniors are still not happy. In fact, the Save Our Center group is again pushing for a stand-alone senior center.
"The seniors are concerned when the community center opens, they will disappear and they'll be gone forever," Save Our Center Chairman Tom Riddle said. "That they will not have a place in there where they can have their own meetings."
Johnson City is currently in the process of building a new community center at the site of the former Memorial Stadium that will be shared by people of all ages. In July, seniors struck a compromise with the city about their role in the center.
Under that agreement, city leaders promised to give seniors priority in a section of the community center when it comes to programming. Leaders even promised to hire a person to manage the facility to make sure seniors' needs are met. But their word is not enough for Riddle.
"We want to see it in writing," Riddle said. "That's reasonable and you can't get it in writing. We've tried."
Johnson City City Manager Pete Peterson says the city does not have written operating policies for any of its facilities. Still, he argues the commitment is there.
"The seniors will definitely have priority when it comes to programming,” Peterson said. “This facility is going to have almost everything that the seniors stated during the early design process that they'd like to have in a new facility. I think it's time that everybody get focused on the positive and take advantage of what we've got to work with here and to make it all it can be, rather than get bogged down with the negative aspects of it. This is a big positive."
City Commissioner Phil Carigger echoed those comments. With kids in school for most of the year, Carriger says it will not be a challenge for seniors to get their alone time.
"The seniors are getting eight, nine hours a day for 10 months a year when they're going to have the center to themselves," Carriger said. "I think with scheduling and I think people being willing to compromise to make an effort to get along, I think it will be a success. It's a win-win situation because people of all ages can use it with areas set aside where seniors get priority. I think it's a win for everybody."
Riddle disagrees. In fact, his Save our Center group wants the public to attend a forum on September 14th at 2 pm at the current senior center on East Myrtle Avenue to share their thoughts. According to Riddle, that forum could result in an even bigger push to try and convince city leaders to build a building next to the community center for seniors and seniors only.
"It is a possibility," Riddle said. "What would happen to make it a possibility would be a change of two new commissioners. That's the only way it could happen."
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement