SOUTH MILWAUKEE — The Grobschmidt Senior Center will close its doors on December 20, 2024.
Common council voted to close the center on Tuesday night due to ongoing budget challenges the city is facing.
The city released a statement last week, announcing its plans to have common council vote on shutting down the center in order to allocate more funding to emergency dispatch funding.
The statement read, “Even after factoring in the savings from no longer employing dispatchers and no longer renewing our dispatch-related software subscriptions, we will need to reallocate $560,000+ from the current operating budget to dispatch costs.”
The city said it identified over $370,000 in reductions. The remaining funding will now be filled by the closing of the senior center.
For many like Jeff, it’s a gut punch.
“They’re telling the seniors, per the mayor, we don’t want you here. We don’t want seniors. Go to Cudahy, we just want your property taxes. I don’t think that’s right,” said Jeff.
He and his fellow seniors had been gathering signatures for those who support the center since they found out the news last week.
The center provides programming, food, and activities to seniors, but some believe it offers much more than that.
“It’s not just coming here to sit and do nothing,” said Jeff. “People come here and do exercise and sit and visit. Or, come and sit and visit, and then they play pool or they sit and visit a half hour before they start to play their cards, and that’s how you become a family.”
Without the center, many seniors who spoke on Tuesday night shared their concerns over mental decline without the socialization aspect.
The center will close near the end of the year. South Milwaukee will now direct the seniors to the Milwaukee County-managed Kelly Senior Center and senior meal site in Cudahy.
"I wouldn’t want to walk to the Kelly Center, three miles away, that wouldn’t accomplish anything," said Jeff, who lives a mile away from Grobschmidt Senior Center.
Common council voted to approve an outside study by the Wisconsin Policy Forum on future services for the library. That study will begin in November.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
