By Elaine Roberts Musser –
Speaking as a private citizen, rather than as the Chair of the Davis Senior Citizens Commission, I can honestly say our commission has come a long way since Dec. 12, 2006. That was the red letter day the Davis City Council decided unanimously to keep our commission intact, as it always has been since 1973. There had been a move afoot by the Subcommittee on Commissions to demote (“merge”) our commission to a mere three member subcommittee of the Social Services Commission. The fight that ensued over this contentious issue became quite ugly. However unintended, it resulted in my terse and forceful speech before the City Council to be distributed over the internet. People greet me, to this very day , by referring to that now notorious stream of video which represented the voice of discontent among senior citizens.
Flash forward to the year 2009. What has happened in the interim? To everyone’s delight, a great deal! In Sept. 2007, the Davis Senior Citizens Commission held the first ever Transportation Safety Expo at the Davis Senior Center. Various vendors were in attendance, such as Unitrans, YoloBus, taxi companies, law enforcement, and most notably the California Highway Patrol. Ike Iketani gave an excellent seminar on driver safety for older adults. The Area 4 Agency on Aging conducted a CarFit course. Participants drove up in their automobiles, and were checked for proper seat and mirror positioning, coordination abilities, and advised of available adaptive devices when deemed appropriate. An interactive video station was set up inside the Davis Senior Center, to test the driving abilities of each person who chose to take part.
More importantly, I invited a public relations firm to film the entire event. Interviews with our commissioners were taken during the Expo, in regard to their views on transportation as it relates to seniors. I actually went to a formal studio to be interviewed, with actual makeup artist and hair stylist provided! As a result, our commissioners and I appear in two DVDs put out by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) on older driver safety. We were very proud of our efforts in regard to transportation safety on behalf of senior citizens everywhere. I was fortunate enough and very honored to be invited to the news conference that was held for the formal issuance of these DVDs to the public. Since that time, some of our commissioners appeared with Ike Iketani in the AAA magazine, pictured in an article about AAA’s CarFit Program.
There is great irony in this seemingly odd turn of events. When our commission was going through the “merger” mess, trying to stay alive as a full commission, many hurtful things were said of us. We were told by some our commission never did anything, that we never appeared in the local media. Well turn around is fair play, and we have put the lie to such comments! Our commission has now participated in the creation of two statewide CHP DVDs on older driver safety. Furthermore, we will be bringing transit mobility training to the seniors of Davis in the near future. It very effectively and gently teaches hesitant seniors how to use public transit. This program will be made possible through a $33,000 grant. This project was the brainchild of Davis Senior Citizens Commissioner Tansey Thomas. I thought so much of the idea, I worked with Paratransit, Inc., who arranged for grant funding to bring the training to Davis, Woodland and West Sacramento. Who says seniors aren’t movers and shakers?
Next on the Davis Senior Citizens Commission agenda is the task of producing a set of Senior Housing Guidelines. That project should be wrapped up shortly, to be sent on for approval to the City Council. We have also instituted off-site commission meetings, held at various senior facilities. This promotes more public interaction with our commission, for those seniors who cannot come to us. Progress of the CA Senior Legislature will be carefully followed, as well as our own Davis Climate Action Team. We will continue to monitor the ongoing increase in water and sewer rates. There are efforts to create a senior database, to track the needs of seniors, and possibly provide an opt-in list in case of emergencies. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our community could provide weekend public transit, and a Mondavi shuttle? Our commission is working on these issues, and many, many more.
Let us know what you think. New ideas are always welcome!
