Archive for September 20th, 2007

How I feel about a senior center in Oak Ridge

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

Right.

So there’s a grassroots movement by a group called “50 Plus Seniors Club” to get a senior center in Oak Ridge opened.  They have one now, mind, but its sharing an old POS building with the county clerk’s office, and a day care, and a few other things.  The building used to house part of Roane State, and when I attended the place a few years ago I noted that it had some walls, a floor, a roof, air conditioning, and some windows, but not much else. 

Sure, its not the Ritz.  Anyway, the seniors say it’s too small and unworkable, so they want another one.

They want to city to pay for it.  Because, well, thats what cities do, I guess.

What they’re planning on proposing to council is that the city pay for a building to be built specifically for the senior center over there near the civic center (which, it’s been pointed out, would be a great place for fitty plus to hang out) to the tune of “at least a few million dollars”.

Wow.  We have a city that’s prepared to throw a building together just to make a specific group of the population happy.  Thats pretty freakin sweet.

But wait… what happened back a few months ago?  I thought we had a “retail tax dilemma”?  Seems like I remember hearing something about how the city doesn’t need to go around writing bonds and dropping money for private (or semi-public) interests?  Wasn’t that the line back in the spring, when there were a whole lotta people out there beating down the idea of a new shopping center in town?

Now we’ve got all sorts of money to build a senior center?

Oh hell no.  No, noooo, no.  No.  No.  Thats the dumbest freakin idea I’ve ever heard.

Now, I know a lotta haters out there will be all like “AT HATES THE ELDERLY HES BAAAD”, but hell with it.  When I’m 70 maybe I’ll have a different think, but these people wanting the city to pay for their little freakin clubhouse, when they already have one at the city’s expense, are either senile or just plain stupid.

Go to the civic center, bitches.  Damn.  Somebody needs to…