No Bus For Seniors

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- More than 200 residents live in the Towers of Jacksonville and most of them do not drive.

Jack Ingram is one of them.

"We depend on the bus," says Ingram.

So when they learned that the Tower is losing funding to operate the passenger bus they were upset.

"If we don't have the bus we are prisoners in this building," says Ingram.

Administrator and CEO Michael McClernon says he just learned about HUD's decision.

"We've had the bus funded since 2000, so I don't know what happened," says McClernon.

The Tower receives housing dollars from the U.S. Department of Housing Development. The budget has always included money to cover the lease and associated costs of the passenger van.

But HUD now says housing dollars should be used for housing and not transportation services.

Residents say this service is critical to their independence. They need the bus to go to the grocery store, something many may take for granted.

The Administrator is encouraging the residents to contact their Congressmen to get HUD to restore the funding.

The cost is more than $11,000 a year.

"We are upset. We are very upset," says Ingram.

HUD's Field Office Director Nicholas Shelley says after they reviewed the Towers contract they determined that the passenger bus expenses are not permissible as part of the HUD budget.

Shelley says, "Housing dollars are for housing."

Shelly says his office is more than happy to help Baptist Towers of Jacksonville to find another funding source.

He says they know that the passenger bus is necessity and not a luxury.