The theft has angered both staff and senior citizens - many of whom rely on walkers or wheelchairs to get around.
WESTFIELD – Police are probing the theft of an automatic door opener that has long stood in front of the Senior Center - apparently for the value of its metal.
The device, freestanding on a plastic post, automatically opened the center’s double-doors with a push on its palm-sized metal plate.
The theft apparently occurred over the Labor Day weekend. It has angered both staff and senior citizens - many of whom rely on walkers or wheelchairs to get around.
“It’s been an inconvenience,” said Tina Gorman, executive director of the Council on Aging. “But honestly, to target a building that is clearly designed for older adults is a pretty low blow.”
Gorman, citing the ongoing construction that has been going on around the Senior Center, said she initially thought that it had been temporarily moved. She finally called police last Wednesday and a construction worker found what was left of it the following day on the edge of the parking lot,
“They had taken the metal plate,” she said.
The Senior Center, located at 40 Main St., posts greeters in the morning who can open the doors for those needing assistance to get inside. The afternoons, however, when there are no greeters, have been problematic.
“People have to knock or struggle, which a lot of them are doing,” Gorman said.
General Shepard Corp., the Senior Center’s landlord, will install a new post and door opener, this time encased in a concrete footing, within another day or two, Gorman said.