LastDemoInIdaho: Attended an interesting meeting of the Lake City Senior Citizens Board this evening. The board is claiming a dire future for the Lake City Senior Center unless they figure out a way to significantly increase income. Bingo and lunches and pool player dues and a few facility rentals are not doing it. Board chair Panabaker revealed an interesting fact that the city of Hayden contributes 35,000 dollars a year to keep the Hayden Senior Center going. The Lake City facility gets no help at all from any city or county funds, except snow/ice removal of the parking lot from the city of CDA. Nice, but not enough. More below.

• Seniors address Lake City center changes/Alecia Warren, Press

Question: Should the city of Coeur d'Alene of Kootenai County provide funding so the Lake City Senior Center can keep its doors open?

In actuality the LCSC is not a city facility, because a large number of the seniors and others using this great place are not city residents. We come from all over the county. This fact needs consideration to prevent closing this needed organization. The board claims they will need to shut it down by next year if things don’t change.

One question…is it fiscally feasible to have senior centers in CDA, Post Falls and Hayden? Of course none of us older drivers enjoy winter roads, and having a center nearby is an ideal situation. But maybe having one well-functioning, fully financed senor center is better than having two or three marginal operations. Any thoughts out there? If this community can afford to build and maintain dozens of ball-fields, why can’t we afford some decent facilities for seniors?