THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070526
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REBECCA MYERS CUTCHINS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 71 lines
Hoping to draw more senior citizens to its meetings, the Mayor's Commission on Aging has taken its show on the road.
The group's monthly meetings recently were moved from City Hall to neighborhood facilities so that commissioners could hear firsthand what's on the minds of the people they serve.
About half of the 25 participants at the commission's first neighborhood meeting, held last month at the Beazley Senior Center, were seniors. The others included commission members, clergymen and a civic league president.
``Sometimes it's very intimidating for seniors to come to City Hall and voice their concerns, so the idea was to go where there are large groups of seniors,'' said Viki Lorraine, a commission member and president of the Portsmouth Task Force on Aging.
The commission will hold its next neighborhood meeting at 11 a.m. Monday at Pinecrest Baptist Church, 209 Felton Road. Every third month, the commission will meet at City Hall to discuss what has been learned and to come up with solutions to residents' problems.
Audrey Daughtrey of Swimming Point came to the first neighborhood meeting with a wish list of suggestions for downtown Portsmouth. Transportation, safe streets and more variety in shopping options were Daughtrey's top priorities.
``Portsmouth people have to go to Chesapeake to buy their clothes,'' she said. ``We definitely need some stores that we can shop at in Portsmouth to buy our clothing. We need some senior dress shops.''
Daughtrey said she also would like to see more retirement developments, where seniors can ``get their meals but still maintain their independence and their own little households.''
Marion Reiter, 65, of Sandie Point condominiums, suggested sprucing up the Port Norfolk recreation center on Broad Street and using it for more adult activities.
``It's a very nice building, but it needs some people energy,'' said Reiter, who takes line-dancing classes at the center. ``It's definitely under-utilized. I think it would be wonderful to take that building and make it a center point of activity.''
Carleen Smith, president of Park View Civic League and a member of the board of appeals for minimum housing codes, discussed the need to help seniors whose homes are ``falling apart around them.''
Houses not meeting minimum codes and homeowners not having the money to do anything about it, she said, ``seem to fall on the seniors more than anybody.''
``Maybe that could be the focus for a discussion, too,'' she suggested. ``How to get help to these folks who want to stay in their homes.''
As participants spoke, many commissioners nodded in agreement. Some took copious notes, while others offered possible solutions.
The Mayor's Commission on Aging was formed in 1976 by then-Mayor Richard J. ``Dick'' Davis. The group has 20 appointed members, many of whom are seniors themselves.
``We want to be very visible to you,'' Dianne Elliott, commission president, told the group.
For more information about the Mayor's Commission on Aging, call Elliott at 483-1780. ILLUSTRATION: COMING UP
What: Neighborhood meeting of the Portsmouth Mayor's Commission
on Aging.
When: Monday.
Where: Pinecrest Baptist Church, 209 Felton Road, Portsmouth.
Upcoming meetings:
4 p.m. March 13, City Hall, 801 Crawford St.
11 a.m. April 17, Zion Baptist Church, 527 Green St.
1:30 p.m. May 13, Cavalier Manor Recreation Center, 404 Viking
St.
4 p.m. June 12, City Hall, 801 Crawford St.
Information: 483-1780.