Backing Sought for New Senior Center

City parks officials urged voters Monday to support a county ballot initiative that would pump $1.6 million into the city’s Adult Recreation Center, an aging, heavily used facility that caters to seniors and the disabled.

“Senior citizens come here from throughout Glendale, and some from outside of Glendale. This facility just can’t keep up with the demand,” said former Mayor Ginger Bremberg, a longtime activist for senior causes.

Proposition A, a countywide, $319-million ballot initiative for parks and community facilities, would give the city the funds to go forward with plans to replace the center with a new facility featuring workout rooms, a full-service kitchen and dining room, shuffleboard and lawn-bowling areas and a parking lot.

Plans to raze and revamp the facility, which was built in the 1940s and sits on a three-acre parcel in downtown Glendale, were approved by the City Council in 1992 but have been on hold because of the estimated $3.5-million price tag, said Nello Iacono, city parks director.

The council has set aside $900,000, so even if Proposition A passes in next Tuesday’s election, the city will still have to raise about $1 million to complete the project, Iacono said.

“We think that is an attainable goal. We’re looking at a number of grants and other options we can use to secure the rest of the funding,” he said.

The Adult Recreation Center is visited 350,000 times a year. In addition to pool tables, board games, dancing lessons and other recreational and social activities, it offers counseling, medical referrals, help with wills and trusts, intervention in tenant disputes and other services. A subsidized lunch program feeds about 200 seniors daily.

City officials say the three buildings on the site need new plumbing, air-conditioning and ventilation systems and other repairs. The current facility is so cramped that there is no room to store equipment and supplies. Offices, recreation space and meeting space often have to be combined, they say.

“It gets crowded sometimes,” said Agop Yacoubian, 69. “But that’s because everybody likes to come here every day. I don’t know anything [about the initiative], but I just hope they keep it open. Where would everybody go?”

Known as the Safe Neighborhood Parks Act, Proposition A would earmark more than $9 million for parks in the Glendale-Burbank-Pasadena region. If passed, it would impose a property tax assessment of about 50 cents per month on the average homeowner in the county, proponents say.