City offers shuttle service to seniors living in complex with broken air conditioning
City officials on Friday offered to shuttle seniors who live in the Wesley Tower retirement complex to cooling centers after hearing the air conditioning was broken during the extreme heat.
Councilwoman Emily Gabel-Luddy heard the air conditioning wasn’t working on Friday morning from a family member of a resident, and by 9 a.m., city staff members were working on ways to help, she said.
Affected residents had the option to be shuttled to a cooling center such as the Joslyn Adult Center or go to local public libraries, she said.
“Hearing that air conditioning was out, and had been out, and that temperature were going to be very high, it made sense to me to see if we and the city could coordinate an option for those residents,” Gabel-Luddy said Friday afternoon. “Our staff really rose to the occasion.”
The city’s senior and disabled bus already serves Wesley Tower residents, but officials usually require patrons to make reservations a day in advance, said David Kriske, deputy city planner for transportation.
That requirement was slated to be waived through Saturday, and affected residents could call at any time throughout the day to be picked up or dropped off.
The property manager could not immediately be reached for comment. It was not immediately known how many seniors were without air conditioning or how many took advantage of the bus service.
The Do It Center, a home improvement store in Burbank, donated 20 fans — collectively nearly $400 in value — to the seniors without air conditioning, according to store manager Gabby Flores.
“We did what we could,” Flores said.
-- Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Follow on Google+ and on Twitter: @atchek
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