Frozen Meals Plan Blasted at Hearing By HEATHER HADDON At least 100 city and state officials, union members, advocates and providers turned out last Thursday to a hearing on the controversial Meals on Wheels pilot program in the Bronx. Most of them were not happy. Speaker after speaker criticized the pilot's goal -- to save money by giving frozen meals to a portion of homebound seniors in the program -- as ill suited and dangerous for a vulnerable population. "This [pilot] is in many ways an outrage," said State Senator David Paterson, who is the Senate's minority leader. "I am unnerved by the whole process." The hearing was called by State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. and Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr., both of the Bronx, to gather more information about the pilot. Paterson and State Senator Liz Krueger also presided over the hours of heated testimony. "We should not be experimenting with the nutritional, and daily contact, needs for seniors," said Assemblyman Diaz, who is the son of Senator Diaz. "[The pilot] could lead to one of the most tragic policy changes in recent history." The hearing provided an official forum for protest of the pilot, which will also consolidate the current meals providers from 17 to two -- Regional Aid for Interim Needs (RAIN) and Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council. By July, the agencies are mandated to provide 30 percent of seniors with frozen meals and cap the meal price at $5 (the current average is $6). Most Bronx Dems in support After the Department for the Aging (DFTA) answered initial criticisms last fall, most Bronx Democrats have supported the program. Council Member Oliver Koppell and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, both of Riverdale, have been vocal opponents from the start and, more recently, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión and Council Member Annabel Palma have registered their opposition. With the Diazes now criticizing the plan so publicly, the borough's Democratic machine is beginning to show signs of fracture on the issue. While all Bronx Council members were invited to the hearing, only Koppell and Palma attended. "I hope that we can see some other members of the Bronx delegation here," said Senator Diaz at the hearing's start. Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who recently announced his opposition to the pilot, emphasized that the Council as a whole is concerned about the changes. While he began his testimony by defending the pilot's improvements (60 percent of seniors were to receive frozen meals originally), Miller still concluded that the program was flawed. "I'm a bit mystified by it," he said. Koppell, and many other speakers, echoed that sentiment. "[The pilot] is one of the strangest things I've ever encountered in 26 years of working in government," he said. But Dinowitz offered an explanation. "The fact that the Bronx was chosen for this clearly indicates that this was a rigged process," he said, alluding to allegations that RAIN's long- standing connections to Bronx Democrats helped them to net two contracts. Louis Vazquez, RAIN's executive director, flatly denied the charges. "It's absolutely a falsehood," he said. "Everyone was invited to apply . . . and the proposals were evaluated by independent contractors. RAIN won the old-fashioned way: by hard work, good writing, and an excellent plan." Frozen meals 'tasty' Vazquez said that he, too, was concerned about the proposal when he first heard about it. "RAIN was one of the first providers to speak out against the plan," he said. But his concerns were eased when he had seniors in his Parkchester center try frozen meals. "The seniors and I found these meals to be tasty and nutritious," Vasquez said to boos from the audience. Senator Diaz, while dismissing the charges of contract steering, did find fault with Vazquez' support for frozen meals. "I have no problem with that [RAIN winning the contracts], but I still think it's a terrible plan," said Diaz, who is the founder of the Christian Community Benevolent Association Senior Center, a Meals on Wheels provider. Diaz' wife, who runs the organization, decided not to apply for the pilot in protest of the frozen meals component. Vazquez did admit that the $5 cap was too low, but he said that RAIN would find ways to meet it. While calling the estimated 60 union jobs to be lost from the consolidation a "downside," Vazquez didn't belabor the point. (RAIN does not use unionized labor for its meals program.) Union jobs lost The loss of union jobs is what drove Palma -- a former labor organizer with 1199/SEIU who now represents the southeast Bronx -- to oppose the plan. "There are people who deliver these meals who are my union brothers and sisters who will lose their jobs," she said. "Sixty is too many jobs for me." Nelson Valdez of 1199/SEIU, which represents workers from Aging in America and the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC), also condemned the pilot. "It's a betrayal to our community ... that our leaders support it," he said. It's yet to be seen if all the criticism will ultimately derail the proposal. City Comptroller William Thompson said that DFTA is moving away from requiring seniors to take a frozen meal if they don't want one. "It appears that [DFTA] is starting to reverse itself," Thompson said. "But we need to see it in writing first." DFTA and the mayor have also agreed with the comptroller's analysis that the program will actually offer no savings in its initial year, according to Thompson. While Assemblyman Diaz wouldn't predict what would happen after the hearing, he did emphasize that state officials have "avenues" to influence the situation. "We do have . . . a stake in this," said Diaz, who used to deliver meals as a teenager, in a telephone interview. Local seniors who attended the hearing were optimistic. "They are going to have to rethink it," said Vera Laiosa of Gates Place. Stephen Gold, a resident of Kings College Place, agreed. "I feel like we can win, but it's not going to be an easy battle," he said.
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