SOUNDING OFF:

Proponents of a new senior center have pointed with alarm to the rapid increase in the number of seniors. They deliberately mix two disparate definitions: seniors as individuals with decayed physical and mental abilities and seniors who by virtue of their age (older than 55, older than 65) qualify for various discounts. For while the population as a whole is shifting toward older age groups, these groups are growing steadily healthier as a result of advances in medicine, surgery and nutrition. Thus the number of seniors who need special assistance is actually declining locally.

Everyone in my age group remembers what grandmothers used to look like — little, gray-haired ladies with hip problems, not the sexy blond I’m married to. I’ve already outlived my dad by four years, but then he didn’t take Lopressor and Lipitor on a regular basis, nor did he have access to the wide variety of fruits and vegetables that I do. The fact is that today’s 75-year-olds pretty much resemble the previous generation’s 65-year-olds, and we need to adjust our statistics accordingly.

Exercise is great and lifelong learning is essential to maintaining mental acuity. We need senior centers that will provide classes and exercise groups for those in their late 70s and 80s that will reach out to the disabled elderly. But 70-year-olds still have their surfboards and their bicycles — I do. In planning for senior center construction and development we need to employ the correct demographic and not lie with statistics.

Huntington Beach does not need a new senior center. The present senior center is grossly under-utilized and is closed when many seniors would like to make use of it (that is, when the library and stores are closed). It’s a bargain to maintain for, as close as it is to the beach, it seldom needs to be heated in winter, and never needs to be cooled in summer.

So why are candidates for City Council, real-estate broker Keith Bohr, City Planning Commissioner Devin Dwyer, financier Don Hansen so anxious to see the old senior center torn down and a new one built? Why have they told so many lies about the growing “senior” population? Could it have something to do with the dollars they expect to make selling off the prime lots where the Senior Center now stands and building a new one?

Vote for Baylis and Brandt, the seniors’ friends, for City Council.

PHILLIP GOOD is a Huntington Beach resident and author of “Common Errors in Statistics (and How to Avoid Them).”