LETTER: A Plea to Continue the Enfield Adult Day Center

The attacks made against our seniors at last month’s Town Council meeting (February 18, 2018) were — from my point of view as a former Town Council member — absolutely unacceptable.

The Director of the Enfield Social Services is doing a disservice to our seniors and seems to be destroying Enfield’s once-great quality of life for senior citizens. Unbelievably, she spoke before the Town Council and advocated that we NOT apply for the grant we receive every year to help fund for our wonderful Adult Day Care Center.

Her recommendation essentially ensured that this program will close for good. The vote was party-line with the Republicans voting to have the Social Services Director NOT apply for the grant, while the Democrats fought for our seniors and families with passion and integrity.

When I was on the Town Council, every single department head always did their best to advocate for their respective departments and fight for their programs. The Director of the library always made his case that the library was too small, the chief of police advocated for more police officers, the Public Works Director fought for new equipment, etc. Did we as a council always grant these requests? No, not always. We couldn’t afford everything, but it was our job to decide. I am shocked to see our Social Services Director advocate for the elimination of such an important program, and I am left wondering whether she was taking orders from the majority party.

Why have the Republicans in town set their sights on targeting our seniors? When I was involved in politics, we always fought like hell for our seniors — people who have paid their dues and made our town what it is today. I always supported our seniors because they paved the way. It was always the right thing to do.

I encourage everyone to call or email their Town Council members and tell them that you support our seniors and that you want the Senior Center to return to the days of good program and policy that put people first. Good policy is good politics. Let our councilors know that you want the Enfield Adult Day Center to continue in Enfield to support our seniors and families. And come November, remember who supported and who does not support a better quality of life for Enfield seniors.

David Kiner
Former Town Councilman and State Representative (D-59)

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