AARP Bulletin - September 2010

Your Health ; In the News
6 in 10 Number of American workers who believe they will get no Social Security benefits when they retire.

; What an Outrage
Eviction Threat, for No Reason

Background noise in public venues often makes hearing aids useless, but an increasingly available technology
known as a “hearing loop” can change that. ; In New York
subways, station information booths have recently been fitted
with hearing loops, thanks to the efforts of Janice Schacter,
chair of the Manhattan-based Hearing Access Program, and
funds from President Obama’s stimulus package. “We had a shovel-ready project that
fit the criteria,” Schacter says. ; A hearing loop is created when a wire is installed
around the perimeter of a room and plugged into an audio source. That wire then sends
a signal to a tiny copper coil that’s now standard in most hearing aids. (Older hearing
aids can usually be retrofitted for about $250.) The technology is also in use in homes.
The price for home loop systems ranges from $140 to $270. Find a list of vendors and
more information at www.hearingloop.org. —Cathie Gandel
Hearing
Aids Get in
The Loop
Imagine living somewhere more than three dec- ades, then being threatened with eviction be-
cause of the actions of a relative you have virtually
no interaction with. ; That’s what Barbara Gabriel
faced earlier this year, after the Housing Authority
of New Orleans (HANO) gave her 10 days to vacate
her two-bedroom dwelling. The eviction notice
came after a nephew was arrested in connection
with selling drugs in
Gabriel’s complex.
His aunt’s address
came up as his
own after a police
check. ; “I did not
give him permis-
sion to use my ad-
dress,” says Gabriel,
58, who moved into
the 600-unit Iber-
ville public housing
development in
1975. “He doesn’t
live with me and he
is not on my lease.”
; Gabriel had been
targeted under
a “one strike and you’re out” policy established
by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development in 1996. “One strike” allows hous-
ing authorities to evict tenants following one
drug-related offense. ; Desperate to stay in her
home, Gabriel contacted Southwest Louisiana
Legal Services attorney Renae Davis. Aided by
three Rutgers School of Law students working
pro bono, Davis successfully defended Gabriel
against HANO in court in May. ; “She didn’t even
know at the time that [her nephew] was any-
where near the premises when he was arrested,”
Davis says. “She was at work.” ; HANO filed an
appeal, but “I’m almost certain that appeal is go-
ing to go away,” HANO spokesman Keith Petti-
grew says. “We’re going to make this right.” ; That
works for Gabriel. “I prayed so hard the whole
time,” she says of her legal ordeal. “I was scared I
would lose my house.” —Blair S. Walker

; Barbara Gabriel has
lived here for 35 years.
dinator for the city. ; Older
residents and senior centers
have been enthusiastic about
the program, according to city
o;cials. ; Before the program,
San Francisco was eliminating
73 percent of all landfill waste.
The goal is zero waste by 2020.
; Seattle, Portland, Ore., and
Dubuque, Iowa,
have similar
programs. But
only San Fran-
cisco levies a
fine—as much as
$100—for non-
compliance.
—Tauren Dyson
Making
A Big Dent
In Landfill
Waste
Composting has become a way of life for San Fran-
cisco residents since the city
passed a law last year requir-
ing residents and businesses
to place food scraps into des-
ignated bins. The food waste is
turned into compost and sold
to area farms and vineyards.
; “This is prob-
ably the strongest
recycling and com-
posting law in the
country,” says Kev-
in Drew, residen-
tial and special
projects zero
waste coor-
73
(((

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