The town should better serve its seniors

By Egon Jensen

Historically, the town of Los Gatos has largely neglected to provide services to our senior citizens equal to services provided in our neighbor cities.

In December 1974, the Town Council approved an application for a federal grant for money to build a community center. The application stated the center would be used for a drop-in center for students and young adults for after-school activities and would serve senior citizens by providing meeting rooms. Additionally, the center would be home to other cultural activities for the benefit of the town and its citizens. In spite of the impressive promises in the application for a federal grant, these promises were never fulfilled.

A few weeks ago, town resident Jack Orlove wrote a letter, published in the Weekly-Times, urging the town to establish a dedicated senior center in Los Gatos.

In an answer to that letter, the manager's office claimed the town has a drop-in center for seniors and is providing other services for seniors. According to the town manager, the town considers these services adequate, as the town has not received any complaint about the level of senior services. Although it may be true that no one has complained, it is still, for me at least, hard to understand when we compare the service provided in Los Gatos with service in other cities.

It may be the answer can be found in the way the system in Los Gatos works.

After World War II, a desire was born in Los Gatos to provide recreational services to young and old. Town Council members believed such a service was not within their purview. They felt the town should concentrate on providing what they considered basic service, such as streets, sewers fire and police protection. In the early '50s, a group of citizens contributed time and money to erect a log cabin on what is now the parking lot of Town Hall.

The building was to provide services to the town's youth and seniors. When the question on continuing funding for the operations of the activities became critical, the members of the elementary and high school governing boards agreed to the creation of the Los Gatos Recreation District. The funding for the district was to come from a fund created to pay for after-school activities.

A few years later, a conflict arose between seniors and youth, and a private citizen stepped in and provided the seniors with a house on Hubbel Way to use. The Recreation Department continued for many years to provide services at a reasonable cost for all ages residing within the school district boundaries.

With the advent of Proposition 13 in 1976, the school districts were forced to cut off the funds to the Recreation District. Rather than closing down, the Recreation Department raised the fees for the programs to cover the cost. The cost to participate in the programs for seniors became too expensive for many on limited incomes to participate.

One of the successful programs for seniors in Los Gatos is the meals served at the Live Oak Senior and Nutrition Center; unfortunately, that program is perceived by some seniors as a handout, and many will not attend, thus missing an opportunity to socialize with other seniors. We have senior services which have programs for those who have little or nothing, a division which I'm sure was created inadvertently.

As an example, a program titled "Introduction to Computer" in Los Gatos costs $70 plus $30 lab fees for a total of $100. A similar program conducted at the Campbell Senior Center costs $6.50. In Los Gatos, the cost to participate in instruction in watercolor costs $64, while a similar program at the Willow Glen Senior Center costs $10.

Last spring, the Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation started a series of workshops for the purpose of creating a strategy plan development for the future. I applaud the effort to plan for the future, but I think the department should have involved a much broader representation from the community. I don't know what the percentage of our population in town is considered seniors. The 1990 census found that 12.7 percent of the population in town was seniors over 65 years of age; only the cities of Los Altos and Saratoga had a higher percentage. The average in the county was 8.7 percent. According to the experts, the senior segment of our population will increase in numbers.

As mentioned earlier in this letter, the town's staff keep mentioning the town has a drop-in center for seniors. I would call it a waiting room for seniors who come to seek help from the limited service available. It is nothing compared to what is offered at senior centers in other communities. It certainly does not meet the definition of a senior center found in the 1999 edition of the National Senior Center Self-Assessment Process publication, which I will quote: "A senior center is a community focal point where older adults come together for services that reflect their experience and skills, respond to their diverse needs and interests, enhance their dignity, support their independence and encourage their involvement in and with the senior center and the community."

We cannot and should not continue to answer the need for senior services with the Band-Aid approach that we have seen in the past. It is my hope the Town Council will face this problem and set the wheels in motion planning for the future and not wait for the problem to become unmanageable.

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Egon Jensen is a longtime Los Gatan who served on the Town Council from 1964 to 1972.

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