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City Postpones Bronx Meals Overhaul for Seniors
No Frozen Food 'til October

By HEATHER HADDON

Bronx homebound seniors will get a three-month reprieve from frozen meals now that the city has announced that a controversial pilot program for the borough will begin in October rather than July. 

Last fall, the city announced plans to scale back delivery of daily hot meals to Bronx seniors, in favor of frozen meals, and reduce the number of service providers from 17 to two. 

Most Bronx Democratic Party regulars, with the exception of Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion and Council Member Annabel Palma, back the plan. 

The announcement by the city's Department for the Aging (DFTA), though unexpected, did not surprise critics who have questioned the proposal's soundness. "The city continues to prove to everybody that [the pilot is] not in the best interest of our seniors," said Bronx Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr.

While the pilot was announced months ago, its details have continued to change as many have questioned the feasibility of capping the cost of meals below the current average of $6. Advocates also worried that many seniors would be unable to handle the preparation of frozen meals, and that some would suffer from the loss of daily contact with the delivery person. Also, a report from City Comptroller William Thompson found that the pilot would actually cost $185,400 more in its first year because of the many start-up costs -- like providing microwaves and freezers for seniors who lack them.

"Operationally, they weren't ready for this to roll," said Bobby Sackman of the Council for Senior Centers and Services of New York City, an advocacy group. Delivery vans still have not been transferred to the new contractors or retrofitted to carry frozen meals, according to Sackman. "Some of them [the vans] are so old, I'm not sure why they would retrofit them anyway," she said.

A decision by DFTA to bond the two new contractors -- Regional Aid for Interim Needs (RAIN) and Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council -- has fueled speculation that the city is worried about the contractors meeting the new $5 cap. "I think it's going to be extremely difficult to do at $5," said Don Bluestone, director of the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC), which lost its Meals contract.

Performance bonds -- typically used in construction work -- require the contractor to purchase insurance for completing their job. "If they don't finish their work, the insurance company will pay the city to have someone else finish," said Joe Gordon, a staffer at Council Member Oliver Koppell's office who used to work in construction.

DFTA spokesperson Andria Cimino asserted that the bonds are just "safeguards" against a break in service. "Many contracts in New York have performance bonds attached to them," she said. 

But Scott Thompson, a spokesman for the comptroller, said that the addition of bonds for this type of contract "is unusual." Sackman agreed. "It's a very different situation... than a building or road project," she said. "What's good in the construction industry doesn't necessarily carry over to the nonprofit world."

Given that nonprofits tend to be fiscally volatile, Sackman also wondered if insurance companies would be willing to issue bonds. "It's putting the nonprofits in a corner," she said. "Obviously the city is trying to ensure that the agencies are going to do it [serve meals] for $5."

During a state oversight hearing last month, even RAIN's executive director, Louis 
Vazquez, testified that the cap was unrealistic. "Honestly, I don't think it is," said 
Vazquez when asked if $5 a meal was feasible. "It's closer to $6.88. DFTA's plan still isn't perfect, but we will be able to modify it."

Typically, nonprofits have some leeway with city contracts. "I'm sure both [agencies] planned to ask for money, and historically, that's the way it's been done," Bluestone said. "What happens if they can't do it [fulfill the contract]?"

Bluestone also wonders if the contractors can meet the 30 percent quota of seniors who will be assessed as capable -- and willing -- to accept frozen meals. MMCC found that only three percent of seniors they evaluated to date would fit the criteria, mostly due to limitations in preparing the frozen meals.

But DFTA is confident that enough seniors will participate in the program, now called "Senior Options." One case management agency found "that up to 50 percent of seniors in their catchment area are able to use the frozen food option," said Helen Jenkins of DFTA in a statement. 

Regardless, Diaz thinks the pilot is fundamentally flawed, and he hopes that the 
additional three months will give critics more time to mobilize against it. "It's 
unfortunate that the decisions were made in such a rushed manner," he said. "I hope those who support this plan will take a pause and reexamine it."

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