Feb 19, 2004

Community Center breakup—is bad planning or budget woes to blame?
Almaden’s youngest and oldest residents face fragmentation as community center programs scatter

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

As the imminent close of the Almaden Community Center draws closer, residents are getting restless—letters continue to pour in from those who fear the programs they have grown to love will fall the way of the wrecking ball. The closure hits hard for the 1,500 seniors who participate in an estimated 45 classes per month, as well as hundreds of preschoolers who will be left out in the cold while parents scramble to get them enrolled elsewhere.

“We know that people are going to be inconvenienced,” says Jo Coffaro with Vice Mayor Pat Dando’s office. “Because of our budget, we are having a challenge. The Vice Mayor is currently working with the San Jose Parks and Recreation Department to find spaces for young children, senior and exercise programs by using city and community facilities.”

The quandary stems in part from the success of the youth and senior programs in Almaden—prompting the need for a new 38,000 square-foot community center. Once completed, the state-of-the-art facility will boast a larger community room, Tiny Tot classrooms, a cooking classroom, game, art and computer rooms, a gymnasium, and an outdoor patio. While most are excited about the impending new digs, none are happy about the lackluster transition.

Seniors search for answers

Vice Mayor Pat Dando is known in Almaden for her dedication to senior programs—having fought vehemently for them during her first three years in office. While the program was not working and issues were raised as to its necessity, Dando was still able to rally funding and bring in gerontologist and Senior Program Director Torie O’Reilly—a move that has proven extremely successful in raising enrollment from 100 to almost 1,000 active members today.

In addition to the popular exercise, art, dance and language offerings, the senior program has become a critical form of socialization for many who feel it will be ripped out from under them during the construction process. Over the past four years, they have grown to rely heavily on the center’s senior activities, but now question Dando and the city regarding the lack of planning as the program scatters.

“I’m trying to be optimistic,” admits O’Reilly. “The best thing about the program is the sense of community. That’s the one thing I think we’ll be losing, as there won’t be a central location to gather. It’s one of our challenges looking forward.”

“This center is a home base for Almaden seniors,” states Deanna Green, Senior Advisory Council secretary. “The classes provide companionship, activities and nutrition for so many people. The benefits to the community are tremendous—a core community that we are losing in this temporary breakup.”

“It is disheartening to know that the city can spend millions to build and equip their new office space, but can't find the money to relocate a community of seniors, who depend on the classes for education, socialization and maintaining mobility,” writes Mary Sheehan, who has Parkinson’s disease and attends morning exercise classes—arguably the most popular in the program. “To tell us that we must wait almost a year to resume our exercise class is a devastating blow.”

“Almaden could never ask for a more dedicated group of citizens than those who attend the senior programs,” adds Carol Mahon, stating that the community benefits by the seniors who provide a vital, energetic group of individuals who volunteer throughout the city of San Jose.

According to O’Reilly, people are frustrated and rightfully so. “We’re getting to within a month of the move date and we haven’t had any answers until now,” she says. “Just this week, the city said there was no money to allocate toward leased facilities and recommended that we program out of city owned facilities such as The Spot Youth Center [at Bret Harte], the Vineland Library and the Matthew Susanj Youth Center [on Blossom Hill Road by Toys R Us], as well as local churches and schools.”

Charlene Nemeth not only uses the senior program as a form of therapy and fellowship after losing her husband last year, she also admits it has helped with her own physical strength and made her more independent. Fearing there will be no place to go after the center closes leaves her with a myriad of questions. “How the city of San Jose can just drop a group of people or shove them aside like used garbage is beyond me,” she states. “It was my understanding that funds had been set aside for leasing a place during the construction time. So, where did that money go?”

“Retail talks have gone away,” replies Community Center Director Joan Carrico. “There was never funding appropriated specifically for leasing interim locations. Dando’s staff has been involved throughout the process. They have called various organizations in Almaden Valley to see if there is some way to accommodate us, but in terms of funding, the direction from her office was to focus on utilizing existing facilities.”

Unfortunately, as with the youth sports field impasse, finding accommodations are proving to be arduous at best. Carrico admits that they have been successful in relocating many of the current programs to other facilities, but will not be able to offer them all. The center is in the process of developing a survey that will be handed out in future classes, asking members to rank those that are more important to them. “That way, we can indeed see what rises to the top,” she says. “We’re trying to find locations for those with the highest numbers. We have been able to move many of our senior programs to alternative sites and will continue to pursue other options.”

Diane Perovich and her husband both volunteer for the Senior Net Classes and are concerned that they will be losing a valuable membership base that has been four years in the making. “We have no idea where we are going to be holding classes next,” she states in a letter to Dando. “We have to move all the computers and have a secure place to hold these classes… What were they thinking when they decided to build this facility? Didn’t anyone plan on the interim? Perhaps we could spend some of the money the city is wasting on the new city hall for our interim needs.”

Fortunately, recent talks with Vineland Library staff have been successful and the SeniorNet program will relocate to the new library computer lab until the old Almaden Winery Center [on Chambertin Drive off Blossom Hill Road] is up and running in January. “It is just being finalized but it looks like it’s going to work out,” says Carrico.

Additional senior classes will be offered in the library’s community room, in addition to The Spot and Kirk Community Center. With a senior nutrition program already at Kirk, seniors who have attended the Almaden classes will be directed there during the interim.

Bill Frost, 80, teaches a creative writing class twice each week and admits he has no axe to grind with the closing, but will probably throw in the towel if his class transfers to Kirk. “They have a large group there,” he says. “And they charge for the classes. I prefer mentoring to smaller groups at no charge.”

“It looks like we’ll probably be able to accommodate 60-70 percent of senior programs—maybe more once it all shakes out and we figure out what’s working where,” explains O’Reilly, who is still looking at the possibility of holding the senior exercise program in the Vineland Library community room—working with the staff to fulfill equipment storage needs. “We’re going into a new situation, so there may be opportunities we won’t realize we have until we start programming out of the new locations.”

Childcare conundrums

Admittedly, childcare remains the biggest challenge for community center staff. Although many youth programs will be offered at the Matthew Susanj Youth Center, including Time for Twos playtime and child dance classes, the Kinder Tots and Tiny Tots classes, as well as preschool enrichment programs will not be offered. “The rooms are set up with child-size tables, chairs, cubbies and so forth,” admits Carrico. “The difficulty in finding a location for a program like that is that you can’t come and go and set up every day because of the complexity of those rooms.”

“Unfortunately we are at an impasse,” admits Recreation Program Specialist Olympia Williams. “At this time, we’ve been searching and have just not been able to find an appropriate location. Essentially, that means when we close down in March, we’ll lose our Tiny Tots and Kinder Tots programs, which are our most essential programs.

“The good feeling is I’m excited about the new building,” says Susan Yu. “But my daughter is in the Tiny Tots class and unfortunately, they couldn’t find a facility. That’s the bad feeling.”

Williams explains that the programs will negatively affect families who have grown to rely on the lower fees as compared to other preschool and day care facilities. “We charge for a 10-week session what most charge per week,” she adds. “It’s not just the impact of losing the program, the parents will now need to find another. Some of the parents are devastated and angry that they don’t have a place to go.”

The initial plan was to find a transition site that would accommodate at least 85 percent of their preschool classes, but budget cuts have left the center with no funding for the locations they were hoping to get into. “Now we have to use existing facilities and there’s just no space,” Williams says.

“They’ve known about this for a long time and could have planned for portable classes or something,” adds Bernice Lockard, who had two children enrolled in the program. “Scattering this community around is going to make it harder.”

Carrie Huerta’s daughter, Jordan was enrolled in the Tiny Tots class and the closure has forced her to reexamine her alternatives. “We’re probably going to just take a break from preschool and start her back up again in the fall,” she admits. “But she’s going to miss it.”

Devastated by the closure, Elizabeth Kehoe was forced to find another preschool for her son Colton. “We’re very sad that it’s going to be closing down and we hope that they’ll relocate fairly quickly,” she says.

Carrico asserts that they will continue to pursue the potential use of a portable at Erickson School, as it is expected to close. “That remains a possibility for the Kinder Tot and Tiny Tot classes come June. If we can’t find a location prior to then, the worst case is we will be without the program from mid March to June.”

Once the Almaden Winery center opens in January, Williams says two dedicated preschool areas will be reinitiated in the new, 7,000 square-foot facility, allowing them to once again accommodate all of their programming and more. In the meantime, Dando’s office continues to explore local churches and other community centers for additional spaces.

Looking forward

With construction of the Almaden Winery expected to be complete in January 2005, the wait for a centralized community center could have been worse. Carrico says most of the programs will be moved to that location at that time. “We will be able to stay there for the next 15-16 months, taking us into the completion of the Almaden Community Center sometime in the spring of 2006.”

According to Dando, the Winery will have two multipurpose rooms, a kitchen and three classrooms. “This building will accommodate most, if not all of our current classes until the new center is completed,” she says.

In the interim, the new spring schedule of classes [currently being printed] will contain details regarding class and program locations. Although some programs will not be offered, the community survey will help to identify and accommodate those that are in high demand. “The next 18 months will call for us all to have patience and flexibility, but it will be worth it as we move into the new center,” Dando says.

For those looking for alternatives, the Citywide Activity Guide will serve as a source of programs and classes offered by 23 community centers, including 14 senior centers in San Jose. While the locations may serve as an inconvenience to some, options exist for parents and seniors to examine during the transition.

“We’re trying to make the decisions as fast as possible and will have to have them finalized by the beginning of March,” Coffaro adds. “As much as everyone else wants this to be finalized, so do we and it’s going to take a little bit of time to do this. More answers will be coming week by week and we’ll be happy to share those when we get them.”

“We just want to let everyone know we’re keeping them informed as best as we can and will continue to offer the best programs that we can,” explains O’Reilly. “The Vineland Library is a beautiful building and we have a lot to look forward to here. What we’re going to have will be bigger and better than that. This is just a tough time while we wait for it.”