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Town Newscontinued from page 1Seniors have ‘got it good’ in Ciceromunicipalities provide extra services for them. But in Cicero,courting seniors is on a whole other level.Cicero seniors, most people say, have had it good at least asfar back as the Betty Loren-Maltese administration, whichbegan in 1993. The former town president started a seniorhousing program and a senior services department. Loren-Maltese, who is serving an 8-year prison sentence for stealingmillions from the town, is still popular with seniors.The Cicero Senior Center gets rave reviews from seniorswho take part in exercise classes, cooking classes and otheractivities. Located in a ground-level brick building on West35th Street, the center has four buses and three mini-vansthat provide free transportation for seniors seven days aweek.Stepping away reluctantly from her bunco game at thecenter recently, lifelong resident Helen Antczak, 89, saidprograms like these keep residents content with staying intown. “I could never leave this place,” she said. “You couldnever find a better place to live, especially if you are a senior.”Cicero, a town of about 82,000 that was once home formany Eastern Europeans but now has a majority Hispanicpopulation, offers people 62 and older free lunches, daylongjaunts to casinos and other entertainment venues, free grasscutting, snow shoveling and even home repairs.While Loren-Maltese gets credit for spearheading theprograms, others said they’ve flourished since LarryDominick became town president in 2005.“They spent all their lives paying taxes and they deserve this,”Dominick said. “Many seniors are on a fixed income. Somemight have a lot of money, but we treat them all the same.Let them keep their money for something else.”Dominick, who’s up for re-election next year, concedes thatsenior citizens in Cicero are avid voters who come out indroves on Election Day.“Voting is one thing they cherish in life, like bingo and the[casinos]. The senior program is separate from politics,” hesaid.Cicero resident Alma Marble, 72, said she believes Dominickand other elected officials.“They don’t come to the senior center and tell us who to votefor,” Marble said. “One lady who comes to the senior centerhasn’t voted in 60 years. Never have they talked to us aboutvoting.”For services, seniors simply call the Senior ServicesDepartment, which has 14 full-time staffers and a budget of$1.6 million (out of a total town budget of $225.8 million).For seniors, the town last year spent $240,000 for lawn care,$190,000 for snow removal and $120,000 for a program thatprovides free home improvements and repairs, according totown records.And now Cicero will soon have a new department to assistseniors who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and to protectseniors from abuse or other crimes. The new program, calledthe Department of the President’s Ambassadors for SeniorCitizens, was approved by trustees in January and will havetwo full-time employees.Berwyn officials said seniors in their city are jealous of theirneighbors to the east.“They want us to provide the same services as Cicero,” saidJeanmarie Hajer, Berwyn’s community outreach director. “Iwish we could, but we don’t have that kind of money. Theygenerate more taxes than us.”The total budget for seniors in Berwyn -- a city of about54,000 -- is $150,000 per year, a fraction of the amount Cicerospends.Hajer said that Berwyn provides free grass-cutting and snowremovalservices for low-income seniors, but that the city canset aside only about $8,000 yearly.The Oak Park Township Senior Services Department, whichserves neighboring Oak Park and River Forest, has a budgetof $1.5 million that’s used mostly for seniors who are lowincomeor have a hardship. In those cases, the departmentoffers meal programs, chore services, transportation todoctors and grocery stores and occasional excursions, saiddirector Desiree Scully.Oak Park is testing a snow shoveling program for peoplewho need physical help or are low-income.Dominick said some senior residents who’ve moved out ofCicero have come to regret it. “They don’t get these serviceswhere they live,” he said.He said he would like people to think of Cicero as somethingmore than a town known for its mob influences and hardnosedpolitics.“I want Cicero to be known as a town that cares aboutpeople, not [Al] Capone,” he said. “The town has put up with alot of baloney in the past.”4