At Least 50 of City’s Senior Centers Expected to Close to Save Money

clipped from www.nytimes.com At Least 50 of City’s Senior Centers Expected to Close to Save Money David Goldman for The New York Times Harry Smalls outside the Drew Hamilton Community Services Center. Several people called its meals and services lifelines. By DAVID W. CHEN Convinced that the deteriorating budget situation in Albany leaves it no other choice, the Bloomberg administration plans to close as many as a quarter of the city’s more than 300 senior centers by July 1, with Manhattan being hardest hit. Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, the commissioner of the Department for the Aging, said in an interview on Thursday that 50 senior centers would definitely be closed — selected largely on the basis of three criteria: the fewest meals served, the fewest hours open and the most maintenance or management problems. She also said another 25 centers would be notified soon that they could be closed on July 1 if the city received less money from Albany than it currently anticipates.