Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor | Lease agreement deserves greater scrutiny
Respectfully, your article published today (Monday, July 27) regarding the absurd $50/month the Peninsula School District is willing to accept from an organization that has zero experience operating a senior center leaves readers with a materially incomplete — and therefore misleading — understanding of senior services in Gig Harbor.
The Peninsula School District did not restore a senior center that had ceased operating in 2019. It approved a $50-per-month lease of public school property to Olympic Civic Services for a **new and separate program**, Harbor Senior Connection. That organization’s own website states that it will open on August 15, 2026.
The established **Gig Harbor Senior Center has operated continuously since May 1, 2019**, when it became a program of the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation following the sale of the former Boys & Girls Club property to the school district. With the support of Peninsula Lutheran Church, Pierce County, Catholic Community Services, volunteers, donors, and other community partners, the Center successfully transitioned to its interim location and continued serving seniors — even during the extraordinary challenges of the pandemic. Its programs, meals, activities, resource connections, and opportunities for friendship have been well documented publicly for years.
This history is neither obscure nor unknown to those involved. When the Gig Harbor Senior Center was established under the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation in 2019, Joyce Schultz served as president of its board and Betty Lilienthal served as vice president. Any statement or presentation suggesting that Gig Harbor has been without an operating senior center since 2019 — or that seniors have simply had nowhere to gather during that time — is contradicted by the public record.
Joyce Schultz and the Center’s dedicated volunteers have spent years serving older adults consistently and professionally while also working toward the permanent home our growing 60-plus population deserves. Their work should not be erased or minimized simply because the Center currently operates from an interim location. A temporary home does not make an organization temporary, nor does it negate seven years of uninterrupted service.
The school district is, of course, entitled to consider partnerships that provide additional opportunities for seniors. More programs and more places for older adults to connect can benefit the community. But this decision should be described accurately: the district is providing a highly subsidized public lease to a newly established, separately operated senior program — not replacing a senior center that disappeared in 2019.
The rental arrangement also deserves greater public scrutiny. The district has explained that the $50 monthly charge reflects limited additional utility and custodial costs. That explanation, however, does not fully address the value of approximately 1,900 square feet of publicly owned space, the criteria used to select the organization, whether established community providers were notified or given an equivalent opportunity, or the precedent this arrangement establishes for other nonprofits seeking district facilities.
This is not about opposing additional services for seniors. It is about accuracy, transparency, fairness, and respect for the people who have already done the hard work.
Gig Harbor Now and the Peninsula School District should correct the public record by clearly stating that:
• The Gig Harbor Senior Center has remained in continuous operation under the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation since May 1, 2019.
• Harbor Senior Connection is a new and separate program operated by Olympic Civic Services.
• The established Gig Harbor Senior Center has continued serving seniors from its interim location while actively developing a permanent community home, going through all of the hoops and hurdles since 2021.
Our seniors deserve expanded opportunities — but they also deserve an honest account of the organizations and individuals who have faithfully served them all along.
Betty Yost
Gig Harbor