 Recognizing that the Bushwick section of Brooklyn received little attention from City Hall and senior citizen programs there received even less in terms of program support, Lopez began organizing senior citizens there.His first attracted citywide attention by organizing in November 1981 an assembly of 100 senior citizens at Brooklyn Borough Hall to protest what they saw as the "serious neglect" shown to them in programs for decent housing, nursing homes and medical facilities.Lopez began researching the programs for senior citizens available from local, state and federal funding sources in order to supplement the relatively meager services offered at the Stanhope Street Senior Center.