The center is scheduled to be razed along with the Camden Library to make way for a new library and community center complex, but construction on the new 43,000-square-foot center won't be finished until 2005. Planning began last October.

"How do we kindly poke at the city council to do something, without alienating them?" Senior Advisory Council President Jerry Clodius asked. "There's lots and lots and lots of concern. We have a very active center; we line Camden for a block both directions."

The Senior Advisory Council asked Vice Mayor and District 10 Councilwoman Pat Dando to postpone the closure until an alternate site could be found. But Dando said the plan remains to close the center after classes finish in mid-March. The center should be moved into a temporary site within a week, before classes start again, Dando said.

"We're just hopeful that people will understand that we'll have a beautiful new space in a few months, but we're going to have to be patient and understanding," said Dando, who gave no time frame for the selection of a temporary site. "It will be made before the middle of March. The challenge is we're trying to provide as many of the current day services as we can through the construction, knowing that we won't be able to provide all of them."

Dando said that some potential sites include Vineland Library, the Matthew Susanj Youth Center, which is located behind Toys R Us, and The Spot youth center at Bret Harte Middle School.

Joan Carrico, deputy director of San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, thought she and Dando assistant Jo Coffaro had solved the problem earlier this month. Their plan called for the city council to approve an 18-month lease for space in an office park at 6475 Camden Ave. near Trinidad Drive—owned by Garrett Rajkovich, of Hacienda Properties—for $99,576, with an additional $35,724 for improvements, moving, and providing a computer network for SeniorNet students.

The money would've been shifted from the Hoffman/Via Monte Neighborhood Center Project to PRNS. Construction of the $350,000 Hoffman/Via Monte center was postponed last spring. Carrico said her staff considered the shift because the redevelopment agency would be providing funds for the Hoffman/Via Monte Center in the next two years.

The city council agenda for Feb. 10 listed the lease for approval, but by Tuesday's meeting the item had first been deferred, then dropped.

"We hope we won't take anything to the council. The plan is to use existing city-owned space," Dando said. "We're just trying to find sites we can afford. It's a very limited budget. I haven't even seen a budget; that's why I say it's a limited budget."

She added the Hoffman/Via Monte Neighborhood Center Project is going forward. "Last Tuesday's council item was dropped because I was not willing to shift the funds from this project," Dando said. "The Hoffman/Via Monte neighborhood is a fragile community that is in need of our support."

A location for that center will be chosen within a few months with help from the San Jose Unified School District, PRNS, and two neighborhood churches.

Torie O'Reilly, gerontology specialist at Almaden Community Center, said programs might be spread out over all three temporary sites. She's worried about losing members if that happens, but hopes a monthly newsletter, monthly events, and email updates will hold the community together.

"It's a little bit frustrating, but we really don't have any news to give people yet," O'Reilly said, but added that they've already started packing. "It'll probably take us a couple weeks to move. We want to be ready when the decision's made."