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Bronx Senior Meals Program Questioned

By HEATHER HADDON

City Council members are asking new questions about the Bronx Meals on Wheels pilot for homebound seniors.

Council Member Maria del Carmen Arroyo, the new Aging Committee chair, protested a cut to senior meals in a budget hearing this month. She also criticized the cost effectiveness of the controversial program in a statement issued after the hearing.

“To date, the Department for the Aging has not provided evidence that the Bronx pilot initiative has generated any savings,” the statement said.

The city Department for the Aging (DFTA) rolled out the pilot in 2004 to save money and increase capacity by consolidating providers and serving seniors frozen or reheated meals instead of fresh ones. A $5-per-meal spending cap was also imposed.

Every year since, the proposed city budget has included an $8 million reduction in meals spending, which theoretically reflects the pilot’s cost-savings if it was expanded citywide. The funds were restored last year, as is expected to happen again this budget season. Plans to expand the pilot to other boroughs have been consistently shelved. The Norwood News reported in 2004 that senior organizations in Brooklyn and Queens were well organized and adamantly opposed to the program’s expansion.

The Bronx overhaul was only slated to save $500,000 when it was conceived, according to the Council for Senior Centers and Services of New York City, an advocacy group. Given extensive start-up costs, advocates doubt it has achieved that. “I suspect they haven’t saved anything,” said Bobbie Sackman, the Council’s director of public policy.

Christopher Miller, a DFTA spokesperson, says they have achieved some cost savings, but he wouldn’t give an exact figure. He also said they have increased capacity. “We have eliminated the waiting list for meals in the Bronx,” said Miller, who believes 100 Bronx seniors had been waiting for service.

Sackman questioned whether the city has funded additional meals. She is also skeptical that the program can maintain the $5 cap, as DFTA has not increased its spending on senior program food for several years. “It can’t be sustained,” Sackman said.

Despite all the issues, DFTA has adamantly stood by Senior Options, the pilot’s official name. “Senior Options continues to let seniors choose flexibility and freedom through the meal type they select,” Miller said. Complaints spiked when the pilot began, but the Bronx’ numbers have returned to average city levels, according to DFTA tracking forms obtained by the News through a Freedom of Information request.

Senior Options appears to be losing political support, however. In January, Assemblyman Jose Rivera, who was a key backer, said he was unhappy with its results. “That commissioner can never come back to me,” Rivera said, referring to DFTA commissioner Edwin Mendez-Santiago. Rivera was also skeptical about the pilot’s increase in capacity.

Council Member Maria Baez had also supported Senior Options, which began when the Aging Committee was under her watch. She was replaced by Arroyo, and has taken over the State and Federal Legislation Committee. Some say that Baez lost interest in her former position.

Arroyo, who did not return several phone calls requesting comment, and Council Member Jimmy Vacca, an outspoken new leader, seem to be bringing fresh energy to the committee. Vacca acted as the board president of the Northeast Bronx Senior Citizens’ Center, a large organization on Bruckner Boulevard, for three decades.

An independent audit of Senior Options is now under way. It is expected to conclude this spring with a public report issued to be afterward, according to Miller.

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