In response to the Pulseline caller who mistakenly assumed that I “carefully controlled” the recent ‘Candidate Meet and Greet’ at the Westfield Senior Center, rest assured that quite the opposite is true. The schedule of special events at the Senior Center is planned each January for the calendar year. The ‘Candidate Meet and Greet’ was scheduled for October 12 in order to avoid any conflicts with the candidate forums which are typically held during the latter part of October, as close to Election Day as possible. Those of us planning these events recognize that the candidates have work and family obligations. Many are incumbents with a host of meetings to attend while they are busy campaigning. This can result in a grueling schedule for them during the election season. Past ‘Candidate Meet and Greet’ events at the Senior Center have typically been held in mid-October so that the candidates are not overwhelmed with requests for appearances in an extremely concentrated time period. Once that date was selected in January, all other Senior Center programming was scheduled around the 9 to 11 a.m. timeframe, thus allowing as many older adults to attend as possible.
The caller stated that “there were hardly any seniors in attendance because seniors were on a bus trip to a winery.” Although the ‘Whip City Travelers’ (WCT) group is housed at the Senior Center, the group is a separate entity from the Council On Aging with its own Board of Directors, budget, and bank accounts. The WCT Board sets its own policies and plans its own trips. As a service to those who enjoy the low cost trips, notifications are posted in the Council On Aging’s monthly Voice of Experience newsletter. However the group is not under the umbrella of the Council On Aging and Senior Center programming is not scheduled around trips. Interestingly, there were only 36 participants on the winery trip and of that number, only 28 were residents of Westfield. The others live in surrounding communities. There are more than 8,000 older adults living in the City of Westfield. That means that 7,972 of them had the opportunity to attend the ‘Candidate Meet and Greet.’
I do not believe that the event was poorly attended because of a lack of publicity. The ‘Candidate Meet and Greet’ was widely publicized. It was on the front page of the October Voice of Experience newsletter, the front page of the Saturday, October 7 edition of the Westfield News, there were flyers throughout the Senior Center, and it was announced numerous times for several weeks on WSKB radio.
Interestingly when he left the Senior Center halfway through the event, Candidate Dan Allie conveyed to me his displeasure with the paltry turnout of seniors at the Meet and Greet. I too was extremely disappointed as well as perplexed. In the past, these Meet and Greets have been well attended. In fact, the COA Program Director and I had worked tirelessly the previous afternoon setting up tables and chairs for 92 people. The kitchen staff had food for that number of attendees. Our concerns were that the Great Room would be overcrowded or that we would run out of coffee or pastries. Clearly that was not the case.
The Pulseline caller attributes the poor attendance at the event to the “control” that a single individual has over 8,000 people. That is highly unlikely. It may be far more productive to analyze why the seniors did not take advantage of the opportunity to meet with local candidates informally. There were Senior Center participants who entered the building during the event and refused to engage with the candidates, despite my urging. This extremely important block of voters chose not to attend. Although it is convenient to put the responsibility of voter apathy or distain on one person, it is a disservice to those older adults who struggle daily with the challenges of health problems, financial issues, and family concerns.
On a positive note, many of those running for Mayor, City Council, School Committee, Municipal Light Board, and Athenaeum Trustee took time out of their busy schedules to attend the event. Representative Velis was also in attendance. And I am especially grateful to those candidates and local legislators who went out of their way to inquire about the needs of the City’s older adults and strategize possible solutions to a myriad of problems that this unique population faces.
Sincerely,
?Tina Gorman, Executive Director
?Westfield Council On Aging
