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(GRAPHIC FROM USA.GOV)

HOLYOKE -- Banging on doors, yelling, threatening to egg cars.

Frat house?

Nope -- Holyoke Senior Center, at least according to one official.

"The Friday bingo mindset seems to infect people who behave rationally all other days of the week," said Navae Fenwick Rodriguez, executive director of the Holyoke Council on Aging (COA).

"She's putting that way out of hand. It's not that bad," said Lorraine Gorham, 77.

Allegedly bad behavior by senior citizens prompted Rodriguez to announce last week she was reducing the number of times bingo will be held at the Senior Center at 291 Pine St. to two Fridays a month from the current four a month.

Gorham and others responded with calls to city councilors and circulation of a petition to ensure bingo stays available at the Senior Center four Fridays a month.

With echoes of fraternity house rowdiness, which was met with denials or skepticism, Rodriguez nonetheless said in an email sent to a city councilor that the clamor includes:

seniors banging on doors of other rooms at the facility;

sneaking people in for lunch when a ticket is required;

being rude to staff and volunteers;

leaving the room a mess;

threatening to egg the vehicles of staff and volunteers upon learning bingo regularity was in jeopardy.

The alleged boorishness seems to stem from senior citizens impatient to enter the multipurpose room where bingo is held and then rushing in to compete for seats at tables with friends, Rodriguez said in the email. (See below).

"In (one) case, a player yelled at a (COA) board member because the board was meeting in the multipurpose room prior to bingo. Though it was only 11:15, and bingo doesn't start until 1, she didn't think the board had any right to prevent her from getting to her coveted seat," Rodriguez said.

Gorham acknowledged seniors display an eagerness to get seated in a desired location, to ensure they'll enjoy their spot during the hours-long event, but she said she is unfamiliar with the situation as described by Rodriguez.

"They just want to get in there and sit down," she said. "She's putting that way out of hand. It is not that bad. I am there 90 percent of the time and I have not seen that."

City councilors have weighed in to say that while poor behavior obviously is unacceptable, the whole idea of the senior center is to address the needs of the elderly. They said they will read the schedule of events and activities at the facility to ensure that remains the case.

Rodriguez responded to a request from The Republican for further comment by emailing this statement Wednesday night:

"I know seniors are frustrated. We, the staff and the board of directors, have tried to address the issues with Friday bingo administratively for over two years. Our guiding principle is that programming at our senior center is decided by our seniors. It's difficult to have to go in this direction."

Bingo is held on Friday at 1 p.m. and draws 75 to 80 people who enjoy socializing and playing the game, said Gorham, a lifelong Holyoke resident.

It costs 25 cents per bingo card, with three games per card. The average player spends $4 to $6 on an afternoon of bingo cards. The prizes are $23 to $27 in cash each time someone's card registers bingo, she said.

Gorham has circulated a petition that will be sent to city officials demanding that bingo every Friday remain the norm.

"I got 72 signatures (on Friday), which means I didn't get everybody," she said.

The bingo curtailment came without explanation, she said, which seems to conflict with what Rodriguez said in her email.

"Nobody could understand why," Gorham said. "What they're doing should not be done. This is just unfair, totally unfair."

Rodriguez said the decision to halve the number of bingo Fridays came after "much deliberation" with staff and COA board members.

"We have been dealing with inappropriate behavior at Friday bingo since before we moved to our new senior center. For some reason, it seems to bring out the worst in people," Rodriguez said.

The $8.1 million Senior Center opened on Dec. 3, 2012. Hailed as a jewel for the city's elderly, the venue came after senior center facilities languished for years in a windowless space in the basement of the War Memorial building at Appleton and Maple streets.

City Councilor at Large Daniel B. Bresnahan and Council President Kevin A. Jourdain asked whether the majority of senior citizens will be getting deprived of weekly bingo because some are rude.

Bresnahan questioned what activity would occupy the slot occupied by by the popular bingo and whether Senior Center staff contact police when problem behavior occurs.

"The intent of this (Senior Center) is these people who are in their golden years have a place to hang out," Bresnahan said.

Jourdain said in an email to Rodriguez Tuesday that the city response should be to figure out a solution instead of reducing bingo for senior citizens

"This group tremendously looks forward to this activity. We built that facility for them and they want bingo once per week. They shall have their bingo once per week as they have had it. They are the bosses in the chain of command. We are the servants," Jourdain said.

Here is the email that Holyoke City Councilor at Large Daniel B. Bresnahanon Tuesday sent to Navae Fenwick Rodriguez, executive director of the Holyoke Council on Aging:

Thanks Navae for your response, couple follow up questions. Was this decision made by the COA Board of Directors. As a former member of that board we used to keep minutes, is that still taking place? Have you contacted the Police Dept? I know there was an elderly affairs officer; perhaps we could talk to the chief of police. Like Kevin I am hearing from long time respected Holyokers that are very disappointed about the change. I did go to the city website but was unable to see the schedule of events. I see you have some activities that are listed as open to all ages; do we charge those groups for use of the facility? What is the Rainbow Social Club and who is that open to? I ask because most other activities are self-explanatory. What do (you) plan on filling in for the Fridays that bingo was taking place?

Here is the email that Rodriguez sent to Bresnahan:

Dear Councilor Bresnahan,



Thank you for your email.



The schedule of activities, along with other information, is available on the COA department page on the city's website. I've also included a link for the latest newsletter.



http://www.holyoke.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/COA-March-2017-newsletter.pdf



I'm sure that you have received many complaints about the change in the Bingo schedule. I want to assure you that this decision was not made in haste. The problems at Friday Bingo are long-standing and we have tried countless ways to address them for several years running. At the risk of boring you with too many details, I've included below part of a communication that I sent to (a Senior Center patron).



This decision was made after much deliberation and in consultation with both staff and the COA Board of Directors. We have been dealing with inappropriate behavior at Friday Bingo since before we moved to our new senior center. For some reason, it seems to bring out the worst in people. Players are disrespectful to each other, to members of the staff, and to the space itself. Friday Bingo is nothing like the civilized Bingo that takes place at Wednesday's Golden Senior Club meetings.



The difference could be that Friday Bingo draws a larger crowd, but in my mind that offers no excuse for the types of childish behavior we see. Here are just a few examples.

* Banging on doors, disturbing other scheduled activities, because they want to get their favorite seat for Bingo. In once case, a player yelled at a board member because the board was meeting in the Multipurpose Room prior to Bingo. Though it was only 11:15, and Bingo doesn't start until 1:00, she didn't think the board had any right to prevent her from getting to her coveted seat.

* Sneaking people in side doors during lunchtime when a lunch ticket is required for entry. (Again, this is about claiming their seats.)

* Yelling at staff and volunteers when they are asked to abide by the rules.

* Not cleaning up after themselves and leaving the Multipurpose Room a complete mess. No other activity held at the senior center takes as much of a toll on that space. We tried to address this over a year ago by asking people to sign up for 10-minute cleanup shifts (mostly for wiping down tables that get covered with Bingo ink). If everyone had embraced this effort, no one would have had to work more than three shifts during the course of a year. After three weeks, this endeavor failed because people didn't want to sign up. I can assure you that Friday Bingo is not being blamed for the messes that other groups are making.



We have a volunteer Bingo committee that meets regularly to address issues as they arise. This committee and our staff have had to create more rules and policies than seems reasonable for something that should be fun and simple. About a month ago, after yet another incident, I decided that enough was enough and announced that Bingo would be cancelled completely if people couldn't behave respectfully. Yet, the problems have continued.



I was asked on Friday why we don't just kick out the offending parties. The problem is that it's not just a handful of people. The Friday Bingo mindset seems to infect people who behave rationally all other days of the week. I'm not saying that all of the Friday Bingo participants behave badly, and it's certainly a shame that those who are respectful have to lose out because of the bad behavior of others, but this issue is widespread enough that decreasing the frequency of Friday Bingo seems like the only reasonable solution in order to have at least less of the offending behavior.



All of this being said, you know that first and foremost I want our seniors to be happy. I am open to discussing this, though frankly I feel like it has been talked to death over the course of the past two years. If we can find a solution that doesn't continue to use an inordinate amount of staff time, I would be willing to rescind my decision.



As a parting note, I would like to share that after yesterday's announcement some players were threatening to egg the cars of board members and staff. This really sums up the mentality that I am talking about.



Apologies for the long email. As stated above, I'm always open to discussing solutions. I welcome any thoughts or suggestions.



Very best,

Navae

Navae Fenwick Rodriguez

Executive Director

Holyoke Council on Aging

Here is the email Holyoke City Council President Kevin A. Jourdain sent to Rodriguez:

As you know, I have to date never intervened in the Senior Center's internal affairs. I am now making an exception to that tradition.



With all due respect, their Friday bingo is the number one activity in terms of attendance for seniors on a weekly basis. This group tremendously looks forward to this activity. We built that facility for them and they want bingo once per week. They shall have their bingo once per week as they have had it. They are the bosses in the chain of command. We are the servants.



A number of unfair accusations are being thrown at the seniors and many of them are offended at the way they are being spoken to by you. Some of them have told me that you stated they are lucky to have bingo at all. The obvious retort to that is you are lucky to have your job serving them. I am being called by highly respected members of the community who I have a hard time believing are telling me tall tales.



Please kindly reconsider this action and restore the weekly bingo before this matter escalates into a larger issue than it needs to be. They have already formed a petition and it is now on my radar. I have informed the mayor as well.



We need to work through solutions absent reducing their time to play.



I would like you to kindly fix this at the administrative level so Councilor Bresnahan and I (and others) do not need to find a legislative solution including but not limited to mandating certain portions of your activity calendar and building space time for certain senior activities which is well within our purview if we wish it to be.



Thank you,



Kevin Jourdain

Council President