Despite this afternoon’s heat, dozens of protesters crowded the sidewalk in front of Rosslyn’s Social Security Administration office to rally against its potential closure.
The office, those speaking at the megaphone argued, is a vital component of serving the area’s Social Security benefit recipients.
“If you close this office, you’re cutting a social security benefit,” said J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees. “It’s just like cutting somebody’s social security check — you’re cutting the ability for them to access the services that they need.”
The activists’ argue that many people who receive benefits are either aging or disabled and need an easily accessible, local office. That portion of the population needs to be able to consult a human being face-to-face in order to maximize their benefits.
Using an internet portal, they say, was inefficient for some benefit recipients because they tend to not include sufficient or accurate information on forms, have difficulty using a computer, or don’t have the ability to access the internet.
County Board member Christian Dorsey made an appearance, arguing that there’s plenty of room for the Social Security Administration to maintain an Arlington presence.
“This pains me to say as a public official, but office space is not that expensive in Arlington right now,” said Dorsey, pledging to use county resources to find the SSA a more amenable lease. “There are plenty of opportunities for the SSA to stay.”
The Social Security Administration has an office in Alexandria, but anyone looking to get there from Arlington would have to take a trip down the Blue Line to the Van Dorn Metro station and then hop on a bus. The SSA’s website doesn’t even list that office as being nearby if users enter a Rosslyn zip code to find a location.
“To lose the ability to connect people to an office thats within a short walk of heavy rail and to put them in an office more than a mile away from the closest Metro station speaks of poor planning and speaks of insensitivity,” said Dorsey. “We want to reverse that.”
Dorsey himself only learned of the closure a few weeks ago from an Arlingtonian who works with AFGE.
“You would expect, in a world where there’s a governmental asset, that you’d at least get a heads-up when there’s a rethinking of delivering that service — but that’s not the world we live in,” Dorsey said.
About 90 people come to the office every day to use the office, according to Dorsey.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) has also written a letter to the SSA’s internal watchdog requesting an investigation into the agency’s decision to close the office.
A full video of the rally has been made available by Social Security Works, an organization in favor of expanding the program.
Thank you to everyone who turned out for the rally to stop the closure of Arlington's only Social Security field office is happening now.
Watch the full video of the rally: https://t.co/gq721lzHnh
— SocialSecurityWorks (@SSWorks) May 3, 2018
Closing the Arlington SSA office without public input is unacceptable and will hit our most vulnerable neighbors hardest – Noah Simon, District Director for @RepDonBeyer
WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/TKJguItqlH
— SocialSecurityWorks (@SSWorks) May 3, 2018