Use of council chambers approved by HUD for center activities.
By Merritt Gibbons/Special to The Malibu Times
After months, if not years, of waiting, Malibu’s senior citizens will finally have a permanent home to gather. The Malibu Senior Citizens Center will open officially April 12, 2 p.m., at its new location, 23815 Stuart Ranch Road, with a celebration featuring live entertainment and food. “Stimulation for the Mind and Body” is the slogan of the center.
The opening follows close on the heels of the City Council using its chambers for the first time two weeks ago.
Former president of the senior citizen group, Jo Fogg, presented the idea of a senior center to the City Council in 1997.
“If one person took the Malibu Senior Citizens Center on as a mission in life, it is Jo Fogg,” said Paul L. Adams, Director of Parks & Recreation.
Since 1997, the city has brainstormed and searched for a solution to open a center.
However, “Due to funding sources, this has been difficult,” Adams said.
A Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Federal Block Grant of $80,000 was available to use toward the center. However, the city was under the gun to decide how and where to use the funds because of a 3-year limit on holding funds.
The space available, and affordable, for a center at the new City Hall was only 1,200 square feet, which was thought to be too small. The idea of using a retractable wall between council chambers and the senior center to make more room for activities was proposed, but HUD regulations are very strict and the idea was put on hold.
Under grant stipulations, the space must be designated for seniors, yet public meetings could be held in the space, but only public meetings. Council chambers are used for two council and two Planning Commission meetings a month, as well as for other commission and committee meetings. Otherwise, the chambers are unused.
The Senior Citizen Center Blue Ribbon Committee was formed to work on the issue of space and use, and the retractable wall was proposed.
Less Moss, chair of the committee, said, “The retractable wall was incredibly hard to get because HUD wanted a real wall. No senior center had ever been granted a retractable wall under HUD regulations.”
HUD sent a representative to discuss the matter, and, finally, a letter was sent accepting that the two interests were not conflicting under HUD rules and regulations, and funds were released.
“The Senior Citizen Center is the first facility to come to fruition since the [General] Master Plan set a precedent for more facilities,” Adams said of the need for public facilities.
He went on to say that the next facility may be designated practice fields for the city’s 800 or so youth in the AYSO organization.
“I wish my husband were alive to see this,” said Fogg of the fruition of her and others’ hard work to get the center open.
“Stimulation for the Mind and Body” begins in this room with a retractable wall on Saturday. No membership dues are required and services and activities are available to those age 55 and over.
Theresa Odello, supervisor, said of the opportunities at the center, “We already have a dance instructor and volunteers from the community and we will offer classes on estate planning and medical needs.”
The band, Pete Lippman & The Sophisticats, will play at the grand opening.
Kate Kuhlkin, a Malibu citizen, will be there. She said excitedly, “Every community should have a Senior Center. We (as a community) often neglect seniors and they have so much to offer. This is great.”