Demand rises for senior rides

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR Trumbull staff

WARREN — Prompted by the high cost of gasoline, senior citizens have doubled their use of $2 one-way rides from the county’s Office of Elderly Affairs since January 2007, a spike that prompted the agency to seek two additional vans.

Gary Engstrom, elderly affairs director, told the county commissioners the agency provided 586 rides in January 2007, increasing to 862 in January 2008, 1,146 in May and around 1,200 last month.

If commissioners approve the purchase of two additional 10-seat passenger vans at their meeting today, the agency will have them available for use by about January, Engstrom said.

The two Ford E-350 RVs equipped with a passenger body will cost $51,509 each.

In the meantime, the number of customers calling for rides and unable to get one because of lack of vehicles will grow, Engstrom said.

The number of riders the agency has to turn away has been growing from about three per day in January to about five per day now, he said.

Engstrom said the cost of gasoline has prompted a lot of senior citizens to give the service a try. But he suspects many of his new clients will remain with the system, even if the price of gasoline goes back down.

The service provides rides from “door to door” — for instance, from a person’s front porch to the Eastwood Mall — without the inconvenience of having to walk to the mall from a parking place, Engstrom said.

It also provides a method for elderly people in wheelchairs to go places, he noted. The service also provides reduced-price and free rides to senior citizens with medical appointments.

The $2 one-way rides were made possible with money from the senior citizens levy approved by voters in November 2006. The money for the two new vans also will come from those levy funds, Engstrom said.

The phone number to call for more information on rides is (330) 675-2486.

County commissioners are also expected to approve a resolution today commending Jeffrey D. Adler, an assistant county prosecutor who advises the commissioners on legal matters.

Commissioner Paul Heltzel said Adler’s work to find case law and advise the commissioners in a timely manner was instrumental in turning back the plans of Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams to force Liberty Township to enter into a Joint Economic Development District agreement that would have required employees of the proposed Liberty Plaza Wal-Mart to pay an income tax to Youngstown.

From July 17 through July 22, Adler wrote letters twice to Williams and Youngstown Law Director Iris Torres Guglucello, Heltzel said.

runyan@vindy.com