Page 1 of 3 Corazon Foley Testimony, 9/22 Budget Hearing by Board of Supervisors

September 22, 2015 Remarks by Corazon Sandoval Foley

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Public Hearing
on the County and Schools FY2015 Carryover to Amend the
Appropriation Level in the FY2016 Revised Budget Plan
Good Morning. My name is Corazon Sandoval Foley and I am the Founding Chairman
of the Burke/West Springfield Senior Center Without Walls (BWSSCWoW), a publicprivate partnership to provide health programs for seniors, particularly in the Springfield
District that does not have a permanent senior center.
Allow me to stress that my testimony is extremely relevant to your discussion today for
the FY2015 Carryover includes infrastructure repairs and renovation, notably that of the
Pohick Regional Library that I will discuss in more detail.
Thank you to the Board of Supervisors, especially Madame Chairman Sharon Bulova,
for allowing me this opportunity to request that you consider in your budget deliberations
the need for a working group to facilitate the provision of needed county facilities for the
Burke/West Springfield Senior Center Without Walls (BWSSCWoW).
I should note that I am an Independent candidate with NO fundraising for Springfield
Supervisor in the November 3, 2015 elections as part of our public information
campaign for more vigorous voter support to redress the unfairness toward Springfield
District senior taxpayers and families: other districts have 17 permanent senior centers,
Springfield District , NONE!
I come before you today because the incumbent has not been willing to assist us in
working to review, enrich and implement our proposed solutions to get needed county
facilities in our Springfield District. The senior center without walls has been mainly
using private facilities from private organizations and churches; the public-private
concept has envisioned that the county would provide needed facilities in order to
resolve waiting lists and to expand health programs for seniors. This issue of county
facilities requires timely resolution because possible options have recently opened up
with the renovation of the Pohick Regional Library that closed on September 5, 2015.
We hope that the Board of Supervisors, as a whole, could vote to support our request
for a working group to review and implement proposed solutions as follows:
1. Safer Laminated Wood Flooring for the Conference Rooms in the Renovation of the
Pohick Regional Library that would be best in terms of safety and health (allergies to
dirty rugs) for library patrons, including seniors. Rugs have caused falls for seniors.
2. Safer Laminated Wood Flooring for the Springfield Community Room and as
Chairman Bulova indicated in a very kind email to me, perhaps for other County
facilities as well, maybe Burke Centre, Kings Park and other libraries. We look forward
to working with the new Library Director on our proposed solutions in 2016, with the
support of the full Board of Supervisors.

Page 2 of 3 Corazon Foley Testimony, 9/22 Budget Hearing by Board of Supervisors

3. Improve part of the Field House of South Run Park with safer laminated wood
flooring, heating/air-conditioning to meet the Fairfax County goal to maximize use of
existing facilities, including public schools, for community recreation.
4. Review the possibility of an annex to the renovation of Pohick Library for use by
library patrons for multipurpose goals, including health programs for seniors. I have
attached in this testimony a photograph of a Maryland project that shows library
renovation could include expanded senior center facilities.
I also believe that the Board of Supervisors should review the $5 million budget for the
renovation of Pohick Regional Library for the amount appears to be higher than what
would be needed for the current plan. If our calculations are correct, then there would
be money within the appropriated $5 million budget to pay for an annex that could
support senior health programs. Our solution would implement a recommendation of
the 50+ Community Action Plan that encourages seeking creative recreation solutions,
allowing new facility types (i.e., adult fitness stations) to be explored and provided.
5. Review the possibility of leasing a storefront arrangement in the Burke/West
Springfield area that could serve as a replacement location for the Lorton Senior Center
that we understand is losing its lease.
6. Encourage the incumbent Springfield Supervisor to implement his comment that the
health programs for seniors could be expanded to include Greenbrier and Mott Center
areas.
Please note that our proposals received support from some 1,000 signatories of our
petition but our request for a working group was ignored. Our proposals would continue
the remarkable progress of our innovative concept of the Senior Center Without Walls
because we are not asking for a full-fledged senior center building at this time of
budgetary constraints. Rather, we are seeking more effective use of county spending
for infrastructure repairs and renovation particularly of the Pohick Regional Library
and the South Run Park Field House in our Springfield District. Moreover, our proposal
does not seek hiring of more county staff because we will continue to use volunteers to
serve as class monitors just as we have done for eight years. The Burke/West
Springfield Senior Center Without Walls has been operating at less than 20% of the cost
of permanent senior centers because of volunteers and donated facilities and we plan
to continue operating as the most cost-effective senior center in the county.
Allow me to thank Chairman Bulova and Supervisor Cook for their personal support
over the years of the Burke/West Springfield Senior Center Without Walls
(BWSSCWoW). Chairman Bulova has also been an excellent leader in developing
effective working groups to implement solutions, as I had the privilege of experiencing
with the Fairfax County Asian American History Project. We hope that the full Board of
Supervisors would vote to support creation of an effective working group to review,
enrich and implement our proposed solutions to redress the unfairness toward
Springfield senior taxpayers and families: other districts have 17 permanent senior
centers, Springfield District, NONE!

Page 3 of 3 Corazon Foley Testimony, 9/22 Budget Hearing by Board of Supervisors