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Social Security Goes Up in Lights as AARP Takes Over Times Square
To celebrate the program’s 90th anniversary, AARP rolled through New York City with a clear message for U.S. lawmakers: Keep it strong, safe and solvent
AARP volunteers head toward Times Square for a Social Security celebration.
Bryan Anselm for AARP
As the sun began its daily drop behind Manhattan’s skyline, a red double-decker bus rolled Thursday into the heart of Times Square, parking between two of the biggest and brightest billboards.
On those billboards, gold coins appeared to fall from the sky before landing in a shiny, larger-than-life piggy bank representing Social Security contributions. Meanwhile, from the upper deck of the bus, roughly 50 Social Security recipients wearing bright red shirts and waving sparkly red pom-poms chanted, “We earned it! We earned it!” as a crowd of onlookers stopped, smiled and waved.
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“If you want to get your message across, this is how you do it,” said Beth Finkel, AARP New York’s state director. She was behind the celebration unfolding at “the crossroads of the world.”
AARP celebrates Social Security’s 90th birthday with billboards in Times Square.
Jackie Molloy for AARP
AARP’s takeover of Times Square was the showstopper of a summer of more than 600 AARP events nationwide honoring Social Security’s 90th anniversary. The program has never missed issuing a check and is considered one of the most successful anti-poverty initiatives in American history.
But AARP also has urged Congress to address the program’s funding shortfall, the agency’s customer service problems and staff cutbacks.
“Social Security helps tens of millions of Americans stay out of poverty and retire with dignity after a lifetime of hard work,” Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, AARP’s chief executive officer, said at the event. “For so many, it’s a lifeline, and we’re here to celebrate it today. But we’re also here to highlight that we need it to remain strong.”
Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, AARP’s chief executive officer, at Times Square.
Jackie Molloy for AARP
Social Security is ‘everything’ for many
Atop the double-decker bus and amid the bustling Times Square crowd, Social Security recipients spoke about the importance of their monthly payments.
Brooklynite Annie Stevenson King, 88, said the income is essential to her happy and healthy retirement.
“I never wanted to be one of those retirees who sat at home and watched soap operas all day, so I try to stay as active as possible by seeing my girlfriends, volunteering, getting involved with my church, some travel,” she said.
“If I didn’t have my Social Security, I don’t know I could do all those things I love doing,” Stevenson said. “And that’s what keeps me going.”
Annie Stevenson King (left), Danielle Packer (middle) and Leotta Hutchins (right) pass by One World Trade Center during AARP's tour of New York City landmarks.
Bryan Anselm for AARP
Monthly disability payments from Social Security are “everything” for Queens resident Wendy Petties, 56. In 2017, Petties had a stroke that left her unable to work.
Since 2019, she’s mainly relied on her Social Security disability checks to remain financially secure. They pay for groceries, rent and transportation.
“I still have a business that I get residuals from every once in a while, but I wouldn’t be able to take care of myself without the disability check,” she said. “I’d be in big trouble if it were cut or disappeared.”
Changes needed to ensure solvency
The core of AARP’s Social Security campaign is ensuring that Congress and the American public know the program’s value and importance. Retirees are living longer than previous generations, and fewer people are in the workforce to contribute to Social Security’s coffers. Since 2021, Social Security has been using the trust funds built up during years when more workers were kicking in money to make up the difference.
The trust funds are projected to run out of money by 2034, according to the Social Security Administration’s latest estimates. If the funds are depleted, retirees would only be able to receive 81 cents for every dollar they should. But fixing the shortfall is possible, said AARP’s Finkel, pointing to 1983 changes to Social Security, passed during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, that addressed an imminent shortfall back then.
“We just need both sides of the aisle to put their heads together and prioritize this sooner rather than later,” she said.
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Barbara Hughes, a 73-year-old retired mental health nurse living in Manhattan, echoed Finkel’s comments. She lives off her Social Security payments and a small pension.
“It’s a relatively easy fix compared to other issues we’re facing in the world right now,” she said. “Delaying it is just causing unnecessary stress for millions of people who fear not having money for their basic needs.”
Americans are increasingly stressed about Social Security, according to AARP’s June survey. Only 36 percent of those surveyed said they felt very or somewhat confident about the program’s future, a seven-point dip from AARP’s 2020 survey on the issue.
Calling for better customer service
After taking in the lights and sights of Times Square, AARP’s Social Security cheerleaders took a ride around the island. Along with the Times Square takeover, more than 20 New York landmarks were illuminated in red, white and blue Thursday night in honor of the anniversary.
Patrick Hoover, 63, and his wife, Audrey, 62, were on the bus to see some of those icons — Grand Central Station, One World Trade Center, New York City Hall, among others.
“If you think about it, Social Security is really an icon in itself,” said Patrick Hoover, who filed for Social Security when he turned 62. “It’s held so dearly by the country and its citizens, so it needs to be vigorously protected.”
The roof of the Manhattan Municipal Building lit up during AARP's Social Security takeover.
Bryan Anselm for AARP
Part of that protection includes ensuring that the Social Security Administration — the agency responsible for processing applications, delivering payments and answering beneficiaries’ questions — is running smoothly, Audrey Hoover said.
“We need to address the shortfall, yes,” she said. “But we also need to make sure cuts to service don’t happen ... because when there aren’t enough staff or lines are too long or forms change, people can miss important deadlines that they need to hit for their checks to arrive.”
Twice this year, AARP successfully fought SSA proposals that would have harmed customer service. Specifically, AARP’s advocacy helped defeat two proposals that would have cut routine telephone services, forcing millions of Social Security recipients into already overwhelmed local field offices. Yet despite these victories, the administration’s years-long customer service crisis continues, thanks in part to staff cuts earlier this year.
Audrey and Patrick Hoover in Times Square for a landmark tour through Manhattan.
Bryan Anselm for AARP
AARP is calling on SSA leadership and Congress, which finances the agency’s services, to do more to fix chronically long waits for in-person appointments, phone conversations with customer service representatives and disability application processing.
“People have paid into this system in good faith, not just for their benefits but also for timely and correct answers to questions that can impact their financial security,” AARP’s Finkel said.
For the entirety of its 67-year history, AARP has sought to protect Social Security and ensure its future viability. We have fought hard to stave off cuts to the cost-of-living adjustment, to keep Congress from tapping Social Security to deal with budget deficits, to prevent turning Social Security’s guaranteed benefits into risky private accounts and to ensure that those on Social Security received stimulus checks during the pandemic without the need to file income tax returns.
AARP’s fight will continue long after the program’s 90th birthday celebrations cease, AARP’s Minter-Jordan promised: “We’ll fight as hard and long as we need to ensure that Social Security remains the economic bedrock of retirement for generations to come.”
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