Senior News, How to Save on Your Water / Sewer Bill!

Well, here we are, at the start of yet another "New Year", halfway thru a considerably milder winter than last year (ok, it's cold, but there's alot less snow at least!), and I'm here to kick off this new column for the Collinwood Observer, a Seniors column.

Considering that here in Collinwood, we boast the largest senior population cluster in Cleveland (or so I'm told), the Observer thought we seniors would appreciate a column in this paper that focused on seniors. So here I am.

You may well ask why me? I admit, at a mere 63 years old, I'm on the younger end of senior, but hey, you can join AARP at 50, so at 63, I figure I'm at least in the ballpark.

What I'm looking for though, is where this column should go, and for that, I'm looking for feedback from all of you. There's so many topics , issues and information out there, that I think I need to hear from you about what you need to see here in this column. Meanwhile I'll be looking for and checking out information that'll be useful. In fact, I've got great information on lowering your water and sewer bills.

If you haven't yet checked out, or signed up for, the Water Affordability program, you need to. Quoting from the website: The Affordability Program offers a 40% discount on all standard water charges. This includes both the quarterly fixed cost recovery charge and the consumption charge.

Seriously, you need to look into this! I did it, and my entire water and sewer bill went down very nicely. That doesn't count the "local charges" for trash pickup etc, of course, this is for just the water & sewer, but we're still talking big savings here.

It's easy to do, no going downtown, just get the application, fill it out, mail it back with the documentation they need, and they'll let you know in 2 or 3 weeks. For questions or to apply for the Affordability Program, contact the Cleveland Housing Network at (888) 901-1222.

And let me know how it works for you.

But it's not just the information side of things I think we need, but our stories too. No matter how long we've been in Collinwood, we all have experiences that need to be recorded and no saying that "no one would be interested in that". As an amateur historian I will tell you really don't know that.

That's it for this issue then. Looking forward to seeing everyone out and about.

Thanks for reading!

Elva Brodnick