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Complaints Drop but Meals Still Unsavory

By HEATHER HADDON

Complaints may have tapered off since the Bronx’ Meals on Wheels program was overhauled last October, but John Whyte is still not a fan. “It’s garbage,” said Whyte, 75, staring at a plastic tray of reheated meat and limp green beans, as he sat outside his Marion Avenue house.

The city and most Bronx officials contend that, after some initial bumps, the transition to the Senior Options pilot program has been smooth. The controversial change consolidated the Bronx’ meals providers from 17 to two, and substituted frozen meals for hot ones. A percentage of seniors receive reheated meals daily, while others get a stack of frozen ones weekly.

RAIN, the area provider, was plagued by delivery problems when it first took over the program. But as the months rolled on, the criticism quieted.

“We haven’t heard any complaints in months,” said Christopher Miller, a spokesperson for the city Department for the Aging (DFTA). “Lots of issues have been sorted out.”

Louis Vasquez, the director of RAIN, also said that the pilot was a success. “[There have been] no complaints. None,” he said firmly after a budget press conference with Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión.

Officials, including Carrión, Council Member Joel Rivera, and Council Member Oliver Koppell, all say that complaints have dwindled. “They are down to a small trickle,” Carrión said after his press conference.

But Koppell contends that seniors still aren’t satisfied, and have given up trying to get their criticisms heard. “How often can you complain?” he asked.

Koppell believes that seniors are especially upset with the food quality. “One woman said it was inedible,” he said. “It’s completely different than they got [before].”

A taste test of one frozen meal of meat, carrots and potatoes, by the Norwood News found that the food was almost inedible. The carrots were rubbery, the sauce on the meat was watery, and all the food had a somewhat sour taste. (The friend of a senior who doesn’t like the food gave the meal to the paper.)

Ashley Geleta, a home attendant who works for Whyte and other area seniors, says many of her clients throw away the meals and just drink the milk and juice. “It’s terrible,” she said. “A lot of people complain.”

Whyte, who is diabetic, also said that the meals lack variety. “It’s lasagna every day,” he said.

Rivera, who supported the pilot, said that frozen meals have been successfully used in the city’s weekend meals program. “We never had a problem with this before,” he said.

The pilot will run until this fall, and then undergo an assessment by independent evaluators. If approved, the city had said that the Bronx program will be renewed and implemented citywide.

But whether the pilot will expand, or just remain in the Bronx, remains a question. The mayor’s revised budget released this month restores $17 million to senior services, including meals programs. A projection of the budget until 2009 holds funding for general senior services at these levels, according to data provided by the city comptroller’s office.

The budget predicts that the city will save $8 million in fiscal year 2006 through the pilot program, but doesn’t indicate that the savings will expand. This could signify that the program won’t expand citywide this year, if ever.

“The mayor has abandoned plans to expand the program, or at least postponed it,” said Koppell, an outspoken critic of Senior Options. Koppell said that Mark Page, the director of the city Office of Management and Budget, told him the expansion wasn’t happening now.

But DFTA contends that the expansion was never on the table, and it will only be considered after the evaluation this fall. Miller was deliberately vague about what senior services would have been cut in the original budget.

“Senior services would have been maintained,” he said repeatedly.

Senior Options was originally touted as a necessary measure to increase efficiency and save the city money. The mayor and most Bronx Democrats have rigidly stood by the overhaul, though it ignited a firestorm of criticism. Some critics allege that the pilot began in the Bronx because Vasquez has close ties with Assemblyman Jose Rivera and other Democratic regulars.

Vasquez and city officials have repeatedly denied the charge.

Council Speaker Gifford Miller, a new ally of Koppell’s and a mayoral candidate, has spearheaded a postcard campaign demanding the return of hot meals. “The speaker sees it’s a vulnerability of the mayor’s,” Koppell said.

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