'Age-Friendly Park Slope' Puts Senior-Friendly Businesses on the Map

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Standing in the middle of O Live Brooklyn on Monday morning, Judy Willig said that when she became the executive director of senior support center Heights and Hills decades ago, "I never thought I would be advocating for myself."

Willig, 62, said it wasn't until after her now 92-year-old mother moved to Brooklyn that she started to understand "how hard negotiating New York City is." Even little things, she said, like uneven sidewalks or a lack of accessibility ramps, can make neighborhoods far less livable for older residents.

And so, in an effort to make Park Slope a place that seniors can keep calling home, Heights and Hills has joined with Good Neighbors of Park Slope, a volunteer organization that helps those aging in the area, and Councilman Brad Lander, whose office provided seed funding, to kick off Age-Friendly Park Slope.

The initiative, already active, is identifying and publicizing area businesses that make themselves welcoming to seniors.

A committee put together by Heights and Hills and Good Neighbors is evaluating local companies on a variety of criteria, awarding them points for characteristics like having publicly available bathrooms and seating, offering discounts for senior citizens, having free delivery, containing lighting that makes reading easy, installing accessibility ramps, and possessing doors that are easy to open or can be opened automatically.

An Age-Friendly decal on the door of O Live Brooklyn

A total of 60 businesses, all named in an online and printed brochure, have already been awarded the Age-Friendly seal of approval, indicated with a decal placed in their door or window. But Willig and Joyce Jed, 73, the leader of Good Neighbors, says they'll keep working to grow that list.

Greg Bernarducci, left, of O Live Brooklyn puts the Age-Friendly decal on his door as Judy Willig, right, looks on.

And to celebrate the initiative's first week, a group of Age-Friendly businesses are offering specials for seniors, including a free dance class at the YMCA on Tuesday and a painting class at Pinot's Palette on Thursday.

Greg Bernarducci, the co-owner of O Live Brooklyn, said his high-quality olive oil business has always focused on customer service and physical accessibility. But he said he recently added a motorized ramp to make sure all can gain access to his showroom floor.

"It just makes sense," Bernarducci said, explaining why he wanted to run a company that is welcoming to seniors. If customers know "they're going to get undivided attention, they're going to get easy access," they'll keep coming back, he said.

Moving beyond the idea that businesses should work to court older customers, Ruth Finkelstein, 62, the Associate Director of the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center at Columbia University, noted at the event that research shows how "older workers are great workers, particularly in the context of retail and consumer businesses."

"Each step we take here helps us start thinking about the next one," Lander said in response, explaining that promoting good relationships between seniors and area businesses could result in new job opportunities for older adults.

"It's a crime not to do an age-friendly Park Slope, considering how much talent we have here," Finkelstein continued. The question, she said, was "how do you harness the social capital that abounds in this neighborhood across the life course?"

"I don't see it as a defensive action," Finkelstein said of the Age-Friendly program. "I see it as a progressive action."

Pictured at top: Councilman Brad Lander (third from left) stands with the the owners of local Age-Friendly businesses, including Jeanette Rodriguez of Local Roots (second from left), Matt Kantack of JuiceLand (center in green), and Greg Bernarducci of O Live Brooklyn (in the green apron). Photos by John V. Santore.