January 12, 2011
Officials on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard have been told the Social Security Administration will no longer send representatives to the islands on a regular basis because of security concerns stemming from the weekend shooting in Arizona. but federal officials are saying money not safety is driving the decision.
Eliminating the service will affect hundreds of residents and visiting workers who meet with the federal representatives to answer questions about Social Security cards and other needs, island officials said today.
“I don’t make any connection,” Nantucket Town Clerk Catherine Stover said about the idea that the killing of six people in Tucson during an assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords warranted the decision. “It’s safe enough for the Vice President to come here but not for a Social Security official to come?”
Vice President Joseph Biden and his family spend Thanksgiving on Nantucket each year.
Social Security Administration Deputy Regional Communications Director Stephen Richardson said there may have been some confusion surrounding the decision.
It was based primarily on budgetary constraints and in the works before the weekend’s shooting in Arizona, he said.
“There may have been some misinterpretation of the message,” he said.
Stover’s office refers up to 50 people a month to the Nantucket Council on Aging at the Saltmarsh Senior Center where Social Security representatives usually visit on the fourth Wednesday of the month, she said.
The Social Security Administration office in Falmouth called the council Tuesday to say “all travel had been terminated for the foreseeable future,” council director Linda Roberts said, adding that the shooting in Arizona was cited as the reason for the move.
Between 500 and 800 people use the service each year on Nantucket, Roberts said. The number has declined in recent years because of fewer immigrant workers seeking temporary Social Security cards, she said.
There are still hundreds of people who need access to assistance who will now be forced to travel by ferry to the mainland if they have lost their card, need to change their name or have another issue that requires they appear before a Social Security official in person, she said.
“it is a big deal,” Roberts said.
On Martha’s Vineyard Social Security Administration officials visit monthly in the winter and twice a month during the summer, Oak Bluffs Council on Aging director Roger Wey said.
“sometimes we have 80 to 90 people at these meetings (in the summer),” Wey said.
Wey said he received a voice mail message Tuesday from the Falmouth Social Security Administration office about the cancellation of most of the visits that referred to the “incident” in Arizona.
The Falmouth office’s manager said in the message that the service would continue during June and July if more than one representative is available, Wey said.
The decision is confusing and unjustified, Wey said, adding that security might be available if a threat existed.
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<a href="http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110112/NEWS11/110119922/-1/NEWStag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110112/NEWS11/110119922/-1/NEWSWed, 12 Jan 2011 20:38:47 GMT 00:00″>Social Security ends regular visits to Islands
