Page 445 - Demo

Senior Set Feels Right at Home Thanks to Heights %u2014 Hill CouncilBY EILEEN BLAIR%u201c I really like the Heights; I mean I just couldn%u2019t think of getting away from it. I feel like I was born and raised here.%u201d The speaker is Vincent Amadei who has spent about 15 of his 79 years on the Heights and who, like many fellow senior citizens, has found the community to be a viable and friendly place to live-even taking into account the limitations of a small, fixed income.Dora S tillw e ll, 86, shares Vincent%u2019s enthusiasm. Dora has a 40-year history in the Heights, having moved here in 1914 with a 20-year absence during her marriage. Since 1955, she has called the St. George Hotel home and her many acquaintances among Heights residents form a sort of surrogate family.For both these people-and they are typical of many elderly citizens-the St. George-based Heights and Hill Community Council plays a valuable part in providing the Heights with the concerned and caring climate that exists there.For Vincent Amadei, the Council%u2019s staff in St. George%u2019s Parlor A is more than a service; it%u2019s people who are a part of each of his days. Vincent%u2019s day begins each morning at 6 a.m. He lives alone in a single-room apartment on Hicks Street with no telephone and no television. Vincent eats all his meals out-usually alone-because he doesn%u2019t cook easily and besides, %u2018%u2018it would smell up the room.%u201d Meals usually cost Vincent about $5.00 or $6.00 a dayc h a t%u2019s with tipping, which you just have to d o ,%u201d explains Vincent. His monthly income is a little over $250 a month from Social Security and a Veterans Administration pension.A fte r breakfast, V incent%u2019s day begins with a visit to the Heights and Hill Council. He brings the staff their morning newspaper and usually a gift or so-som e candy or fru it.Vincent AmadeiSometimes, problem-solving is on the agenda~an error in a Medicare bill to be investigated, for example.A slight man with active, bright eyes, Vincent sat at a desk in Parlor A on the morning of this interview, cocked his head to one side (the better to hear with his hearing aid) and volunteered, %u2018 %u2018Ask me any questions; I%u2019ll answer them.%u201d Vincent%u2019s story was no lament. His days are happy, active ones punctuated with visits to neighbors, and activities of the Council. %u2018%u2018They%u2019ve helped me a whole lot,%u201d reminisces Vincent, who recalled a few years ago, after he was released from the hospital, still quite frail and burdened w ith a sheaf of medical bills, Heights and Hill Director Patricia Molloy took matters in hand for him and got the paperwork processed.Vincent enjoys the Council%u2019s weekly Men's Club, where he%u2019s tried his hand at shuffleboard, bowling and pool, as well as Heights and Hill-sponsored bus trips. But Vincent%u2019s fondest activity was the two-week camp he attended last yer~ 't Shelter Island, sponsored by ihe Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service, a member agency of the Heights and Hill Community Council. And that%u2019s where he%u2019ll spend his summer vacation again this year.Supplemental IncomeInformation AvailablePeople getting Supplemental Security Income payments should ask to see identification when visited by Social Security representatives, according to Edward J. Sinder, Social Security district manager in Borough Hall.The Supplemental Security Income Program has established a nationally uniform income floor for people with little or no income and limited resources who are 65 and over or blind or disabled. The law requires that eligibility for Supplemental Security income and the amount of the monthly payments%u00bb v w v %u00bb v . . . . i . %u00bb w w A A V / %u00bb l i l l I I V i w l u l l V %u2022The Social Security Administration gets in touch with people to get information about income, living arrangements, and other factors that might affect their supplemental security income payments. This may be done by a questionnaire in the mail or by personal interview in the home or Social Security office, he says. %u201c Bonaftde representatives are glad to identify themselves,%u201d Sinder said.People can get information about Supplemental Security Income payments by calling, visiting, or writing any Social Security office. The Boro Hall Social Security officetc of Ano WSIIai Cf----* 0-laphone number is 990-1234.One of V incent%u2019s favorite pastimes-besides the Council activities-is music-making. A real harmonica virtuoso, he closed the interview with a few ditties on his ever-ready harmonica and crooned a few tunes w hile the photographer got ready to take his picture. %u2018 %u2018Sometim es,%u201d he adm itted, %u201c some fellow seniors object to my playing on the bus rides, but most of my friends really enjoy it.%u201dFor Dora S tillw ell, the Heights and Hill Council is also more than just a service organization; it%u2019s a real opportunity for her to be of service. A former teacher of the physically handicapped, Dora%u2019s spryness and activity belie her 86 years. Her bearing is impressive, although a cane helps her where her hip fails a bit. Her take-matters-in-hand approach serves well in her role as overseer of the Council%u2019s weekly interfaith service at the St. George and in helping run the regular bingo game.Dora also brings an indomitable sense of humor to all she does, be it card parties at Grace Church or volunteer work for tne Red Cross. %u2018%u2018Everyone in the Heights knows me,%u201d she explained, adding she is always meeting and greeting friendsand acquaintances throughout the neighborhood. %u2018%u2018My eyes are wearing out, and my ears, too,%u201d admits Dora, %u2018%u2018but not my tongue!%u201dDora is a hotel resident, and she finds it just fine. %u2018%u2018Oh, it%u2019s not perfect,%u201d she admits, %u2018%u2018and sure, it%u2019s changed, but what hasn%u2019t?%u201d Like Vincent, Dora finds that Heights living affords a full lifestyle for senior citizens, and she doesn%u2019t spendDora Stillwelltime bellyaching about what isn%u2019t just so.Doing odds-and-ends volunteer work with the Council and various church and social groups keeps Dora%u2019s calendar quite full. She finds time to participate in some of the Council-sponsored bus rides, aswell as the Needlework Guild and regular trips to Columbia University to attend meetings of the Dickens Fellowship.Like Vincent, Dora is on a fixed income, drawn from Social Security and private savings-she has no pension. She also eats her meals out, but doesn%u2019t find budgeting too much of a problem. Dora%u2019s main concerns are her volunteer activities, and she finds in the Heights the wherewithal for a very full life. The Heights and Hill Council is no small part of her life, and Dora has served on the Council%u2019s board since its inception.For both Vincent and Dora, as well as for many other seniors, the financial crisis currently threatening the Heights and Hill Community Council is most upsetting. Only prompt contribution of public and private funds can insure the Council's continued operation. The Heights and Hill Council%u2019s office in Parlor A at the Hotel St. George is sort of the living room for many of the elderly living in single-roomoccupancy situations; it is a place to interact with caring people; to get information and help on a day-to-day basis. More, it is one place where the --------0 %u2014... \vuuiiv/iro^nouicvi uuo i iuco, ao i caiiy elderly really feel they belong. ictji U Icy UCIUlly.iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiimiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigiiiiHeavy Tenant Pressure, Two Month Strike BringsBuilding Repair ContractBY ERNEST LENDLERAfter a year of pressure and a two month rent strike, tenants at 266 W ashington Avenue in Fort Greene signed an agreement with their landlord last week ending their rent strike. The agreement, according to tenant leader Frank Notaro, states that the landlord will repair all violations in the building which fill almost 30 typed pages. The tenants have agreed to pay the rent they withheld in April and May, but can withhold June rents if repairs are not started.The effort of the tenants, who form Local 9 of the Brooklyn Tenants Union, began over a year ago with a list of violations in the building. When completed the list included such %u2014 %u2014 %u2014i----- m i iv iuiuuui io ao a you uctyo 111 icubasement, off-and-on elevator service and lack of heat. Frank Notaro stated that during the energy crisis the landlord would %u2018%u2018post signs in the elevator that the heat would be turned off to conserve energy.%u201dJust before the deadline forthe 1974 MBR increases approached, they filed their complaints with the Housing and Development Authority (HDA). A fter repeated phone calls, HDA finally sent inspectors into the building, who agreed with almost every violation noted by the tenants. When the tenants went to court, the hearing officer had a 1 1/2 inch thick stack of violation records subpoened from HDA. This bulk led the officer to question %u2018%u2018how anyone could let a building go into such disrepair.%u201dAt the beginning, the hardest thing for the tenants was getting to know everyone in the building. After a great deal of talking, parties and a very successful street fair, which also raised $600 for local 9 of_-T-_____ A. I 1 . _ Uio uivA/myn iciiamo WJHIUII,the tenants not only knew each other, but had a very strong organization. They will %u2018 %u2018be keeping after the landlord to make all repairs%u201d and %u201c if repairs are not made%u201d or %u2018%u2018in October, if the heat is not maintained, we are ready to do it again.%u201d Fears of beingevicted, high legal costs (the total cost was only $10 per apartment) and of each other \Frank Notaro felt that the \was the key to victory. He believes that one way to help solve the problem of deteriorating housing in the City is \the inside out, by tenants and tenant action.%u201d He would also like to see trained tenant activists, \City,%u201d helping tenants with their problems and informing them of their rights under control.266 Washington Avenue is one of many Brooklyn Tenants Union buildings with a written agreement, often a full collective bargaining contract, with a lanaiora instead or the usual court stipulation. The Brooklyn Tenants Union was begun almost two years ago by tenants in Crown Heights and parts of Park Slope. Since then they have expanded tneir activities to Fort Greene, Carroll Gardens and most of North andWfiRt RrnnklynIHHISSWIWMIimiHHMninilininiSHBBBin^S^HISlIlHIHIIIHHSSHSiSHIISHIIIIHiiliiSIIIlilHIIIIiltlHIitHiiiiisilliiiniiHiJiiiiiiBinmi,111,11,HI,11,KMay 30, 1974, PHOENIX, Page 9