The Times reports on Sunday on the plight of New York’s 256 senior centers, many of which have been threatened by budget cuts over the last two years. The centers feed about 28,000 elderly people at a cost of about $86 million a year. John Leland takes a close look at Seaside, a center situated on a windswept strip of land separated from the rest of Queens by the waters of Jamaica Bay.

The centers are a legacy of the 1960s, when stories of older people living on pet food shocked the city and the nation. Nearly one quarter of New Yorkers over age 65 live in poverty, according to the city’s Center for Economic Opportunity, which uses a formula that factors in the local cost of living.

Last year, state and city budget cuts threatened 75 of the centers — Seaside was not among them — and 29 were ultimately closed. The centers are intended to serve New Yorkers over age 60. This January, the dance began again: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo proposed redirecting $25 million from the centers to child welfare; that, said the city’s Department for the Aging, would mean closing about a third of its centers; on March 15, the centers got a reprieve, with the Assembly and the State Senate voting to restore the money.

Read the full article, “Jeopardized Senior Centers Help Isolated Elderly,” and share your thoughts in the comments section.