The meeting was held via the Skyline Residents’ Chat Room on Zoom. Put Barber opened the meeting at a little after 4 pm.
PAST EVENTS
Sue Van Leuven reported on a recent meeting of the First Hill Improvement Association (FHIA) Urban Design and Public Space subcommittee. There are no developments in the neighborhood pending review by the city’s Design Commission – most unusual. FHIA’s outreach to homeless people continues with a new staff member in place. Planning for the Terry Avenue upgrades continues. The First Hill Park renovations are nearly complete; some neighbors have asked that the construction fences be left in place for a while to prevent the park from becoming a homeless encampment. The city has planted a dozen trees in the neighborhood to replace trees removed by developers. Renewal letters have been sent to current members; members’ dues are FHIA’s principal source of operating income – please renew. FHIA publishes an update newsletter every Friday which is free to anyone who signs up; for information about signing up, see the firsthill.org website or contact Sue Van Leuven (msuevanl@yahoo.com or 206-407-1923).
COMING EVENTS
The next meeting of the Washington State Senior Lobby will start at 10 AM on Tuesday, January 19, via ZOOM. The agenda includes a presentation by Bill Moss, head of the Aging and Long-Term Services Administration in the Department of Social and Health Services as well as updates from many other organizations – both nonprofits and government agencies – with an interest in the wellbeing and health of senior citizens. Rick Baugh remarked that WACCRA has found attending these meetings to be very useful for establishing connections with like-minded and helpful organizations. Put Barber said he had attended one meeting some time ago in Olympia which was very interesting; the opportunity to attend via Zoom is welcome because it means no trip on the freeway is necessary. The Senior Lobby normally meets on the third Monday of each month, but (Barb Williams pointed out) because the third Mondays in January and February are holidays, the meeting in those months will be on the following Tuesday. Anyone with an interest is welcome to attend. The Zoom link is https://zoom.us/j/95847496275?pwd=UTMxZTRvaWwvNXdZYlE3U29ZTmVaQT09.
Secretary of State Kim Wyman will talk to residents using Zoom at 10:30 AM on January 26th. Jim Sanders will be sending her a list of questions and topics suggested by Skyline residents early next week and invited suggestions from CEG attendees. The audience for Wyman’s talk may be larger than usual because invitations have been issued to residents of Fred Lind Manor and Parkshore. Put Barber noted that Sec. Wyman has been in the news a good deal recently as a defender of Washington’s universal mail-in voting while various forms of mail-in voting have been questioned in other states. He added that she is entering her third term as Secretary of State and is now the only state-wide elected Republican in the three westernmost states.
DISCUSSIONS
Rick Baugh gave an update on the work of the Washington Continuing Care Residents Association (WACCRA). The highest priority for the immediate future is working alongside LeadingAge to facilitate implementation of the recently negotiated “Commitment to CCRC Practices” which has now been signed by the executive directors of 22 out of 23 CCRCs in Washington state. (LeadingAge is the association of operators of senior living facilities – and other services for seniors – in Washington state.) This agreement covers three issues that have been challenges from residents: access to information about actuarial studies that assess the financial health of CCRCs; timely refunds of entry deposits; and notification by management of pending decisions that would affect the “residents’ health, welfare, and financial security in material ways” in order to permit residents’ associations to provide input to the decision and to receive an explanation of how their input has been considered. WACCRA is also studying a couple of other topics of residents’ concern and will be considering further negotiations with Leading- Age in the future. WACCRA has moved its Annual Meeting to the Fall and the hope is that Professor Katherine Pearson, a leading expert on the legal issues that affect senior living facilities, can come to the state to give the keynote and meet with CCRC leaders. Put Barber asked about the status of the paper her student is writing on the Commitment to CCRC Practices; Rick said he had seen one draft but the writing may have been overcome by the many challenges facing facilities for seniors in the past year. He mentioned one thought-provoking idea from the draft he’s seen: The author compared CCRCs to the now-discredited idea of a company town with a company store where the workers have little or no choices in housing and shopping.
One benefit of the plan to make presentations at all the other CCRCs in Washington is that WACCRA will be able to connect with the leadership of the residents’ associations in the CCRCs where contact has not been possible in the past. Mary Jane Francis asked why it has been difficult to make those connections; Rick Baugh answered that management often resists opening communications on the ground of preserving residents’ privacy. It was suggested that WACCRA’s website should list contact information for residents’ associations in other CCRCs; Put Barber (who is working on a redesign of the website) said he would add a page with such a list to the specifications for the new version. Rick added that WACCRA’s membership year ends in February and renewal notices will be sent to members in the near future. The size of WACCRA’s membership is an important part of the way it is viewed by others – for example, members of the legislature – and it’s important that the large number of members at Skyline renew. He mentioned the new class of members that WACCRA has recently added – one that allows family members, accountants, lawyers, and others who may be interested in the topics WACCRA addresses – to join and receive regular newsletters describing its work for the “princely sum” of $5 per year.
Barb Williams has been a member of the city of Seattle’s Aging and Disability Services Advisory Committee for more than a year. This committee, along with other similar groups in King County, connects through the King County Area Agency on Aging with W4A – the Washington Association of Area Agencies on Aging. She remarked that the many organizations – federal, state, local, and nonprofit – that are concerned with addressing the needs of senior citizens involve a good deal of alphabet soup that it has taken her some time to comprehend. The 655 AAAs ( including 13 in Washington State) in the US were created in response to a 1973 amendment to the Older Americans Act. The thirteen Area Agencies on Aging in Washington constitute the membership of W4A. That organization has developed a list of five priorities for the current Washington state legislative session: increase funding for vital human services; protect the medical case-management system; invest in digital equity; expand affordable housing and protections; and lower cost of lifesaving prescription drugs. Digital access is a particularly urgent problem with the increase in reliance on tele-medicine and the loss of everyday sociability for many seniors; the state Department of Commerce has just added a staff person who will be working to improve digital access throughout the state.
CURRENT ISSUES
Jim Sanders said that he has become increasingly concerned because of the assaults on democratic institutions. There is a state legislator from Granite Falls who has made threats of violence in response to the COVID-19 restrictions. One of the Seattle City Council members has been accused of abusing her office and will likely be the subject of a recall petition in the near future.
It feels to him like there we are on the cusp of or at the beginning of a second civil war. He doesn’t have any immediate ideas about what might or should be done. He wonders whether other Skyline residents are worried as well. Is there anything we might do? Is there interest in having a conversation about any of these threats and worries?
Al MacRea suggested that everyone should read “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr., which is widely available online (for example, here: Letter from Birmingham Jail (csuchico.edu)). Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Mike Caplow observed that the Peace and Justice Group has “gone dark” recently and suggested that it might be time to revive it. Karen Knudsen and Diana Caplow urged everyone to write to members of Congress and Senators to express shock and urge an appropriate response. Put Barber said that the next item on the agenda would have been a discussion of the future of CEG and that Jim’s topic suggested that there should be at least one more meeting – perhaps on the regular CEG meeting day – the second Friday of the month at 4 pm, which would be February 12. Diana Caplow responded that we shouldn’t wait that long, that the present situation calls for immediate action. A meeting this coming Friday at 4 was proposed. Barb Williams looked at a calendar and noted that that time would interfere with two scheduled arts events. The alternative of meeting at 2 pm, to avoid overlapping with the other events, was suggested. There was general agreement.
It was decided that there would be a special CEG meeting at 2 pm Friday the 22 nd in the Skyline Chat Room and that there would be at least one future CEG meeting at the regular 2nd Friday 4 pm time on the 12 th of February. Jim Sanders will ask Lifestyle for a room where people without easy internet access can join the meetings. There will be announcements using the CEG list and the Skyline725 Blog.
NEXT MEETINGS
Friday, January 22, 2 PM – Skyline Residents’ Chat Room on Zoom
Friday, February 12, 4 PM – Skyline Residents’ Chat Room on Zoom
Note on accessing the chat room: From the Caremerge left menu, choose Social Media for Residents and then Skyline Chat Room. Follow the prompts to join the chat room.
Thanks to Don Phillips and Val Lynch for taking helpful notes and to Rick Baugh, Barb Williams, and Jim Sanders for presentations.