Westchester County to hold virtual town hall on senior issues

With the Covid-19 pandemic still posing a very good reason not to have large gatherings, Westchester County is planning a virtual conversation on senior citizen issues featuring County Executive George Latimer.

Latimer town hall westchester
County Executive George Latimer at a senior event last year.

The event is scheduled to take place on Sept. 2 from 6 to 7 p.m. and those interested in participating or just listening-in are invited join online at facebook.com/westchestergov.

“I think a lot of our seniors during the course of this pandemic have been the least likely to leave their homes and interact in the community,” Latimer told the Business Journal. “There certainly has been a great fear that the Covid-19 virus has affected seniors as a demographic more than any other age category.”

Latimer said that doing a virtual town hall is one way to reach out to people who haven’t had a lot of recent opportunities to be involved in dialogues on important issues.

“We’re happy to talk about the issues and what we can do in county government, but when you talk with folks they may have a problem that may be resolvable at the city, town or village level, so we make note of it and refer it to the proper person. If somebody wants to talk about international affairs or policies, that’s obviously beyond our services,” Latimer said.

He noted that many seniors are concerned about economic issues and their ability to have enough income to live comfortably and many times that turns into discussions about property taxes and discounts that may reduce the cost of goods and services for seniors. He also said that transportation is an issue with seniors.

“I don’t think that electronic communications, audio-only or audio and visual, replaces the human element. Since we’re concerned with the pandemic, and although the governor’s limit of 50-person gatherings might cover most group meetings, people are still reticent to want to attend if they feel they might be exposed to the virus,” Latimer said.

“At least for now, or the foreseeable future, we might be doing these events electronically. What’s really going to call the shots is when medical science says, ‘We have a vaccine we can administer to the general population; we have an antiviral treatment we can administer to the general population if they become sick.’”

Latimer said that he’s looking forward to the town hall.

“This is one more effort to try to stay in touch with people,” Latimer said. “We’re not intimidated if people have a different point of view. We’re not intimidated if people feel they need to express it in a pointed way because that really is what democracy is. So, if you have the spare time, you can listen and you can talk.”

Westchester residents are invited to join the event live on Facebook or send questions and comments in advance to communications@westchestergov.com.