San Diego (special)-- County Supervisor Ron Roberts toured the College Avenue Jewish Senior Center at Beth Jacob Congregation on Monday, Sept. 28, to learn what services seniors most desire. In a question-and-answer session, there appeared to be virtual unanimity.

Transportation.

One senior said she lived in an unincorporated area of the county three miles from the nearest bust stop. Even if she could get to the bus stop, she said, the bus only would take her into the City of Chula Vista. Another woman said she might be able to get around San Diego if only the bus which goes down Navajo Road in the San Carlos section of the city would stretch its route just a few blocks farther.

Talking about San Carlos, another woman asked why Dial-A-Ride is no longer available in that area.

The questions, though unanswerable without background transportation studies at hand, could not have surprised the supervisor. Over a lunch of stuffed cabbage prior to his speech, Roberts was advised by Craig Lambert, JFS coordinator of senior services, that transportation for seniors is on everyone's mind.

"It is a very big issue; it is an absolute key" Roberts agreed. "Especially as they spread themslves out more in the county, it is the most expensive service that we can provide. It is not just seniors, it is also the disabled community, and we have been talking about what can we do, what are the costs, how can we do that better?"

The county supervisor said "I envy some of the eastern cities where it is much easier to serve populations" with transportation because of those cities' densities. "A good part of my recent trip to Washington was working to get a trolley so that we can have this next line out here to San Diego State. It would be about $330 million. I would say at least half the meetings I had the week I was there all revolved around funding for that trolley."

The supervisor also said he was impressed recently by an informal presentation made to him by Dr. Stuart Brown, head of UCSD's Ophthamology Department. The doctor told him 40,000  seniors have the problem of progressively poorer eye sight because of a condition known as macular deterioration.

For such seniors, Roberts said, the answer is "not just providing transit, but schedules that people who are suffering from this disease can read. There are little things that we can change in the way that we do business."

Prior to the lunch, Roberts toured the JFS operation which has been housed at Beth Jacob Congregation since the sale earlier this year of the 54th Street Jewish Community Center to the North Park Apostolic Church.

Roberts saw some of the classrooms where immigrants from the former Soviet Union learn English; toured the kosher kitchen where JFS Director Jill Spitzer showed him the insulated boxes in which Jewish Meals on Wheels are delivered to shut-ins, and watched some seniors performing aerobic exercises in their chairs.

His visit was co-hosted by JFS and by the American Jewish Committee, which convened the Jewish Community Task Force on Welfare Reform.