This morning finds T-Mobile exec and mayoral hopeful Joe Mallahan at a

This morning finds T-Mobile exec and mayoral hopeful Joe Mallahan at a Rainier Senior Center to announce his plan to increase city spending on such centers and expand a program to help retirement-age people looking for work. The only potential hitch is how to pay for it.According to Mallahan, Bellevue, Auburn and Tukwila dramatically outspend Seattle on their senior centers (relative to the number of seniors living in the city). “It is embarrassing how Mayor Nickels has turned his back on seniors in Seattle,” Mallahan says in a press release. “By 2011, twenty percent of Seattle’s population will be 60 years of age or older, and seniors are living longer too. If we improve our commitment to them, we can improve their quality of life. As Seattle’s next mayor, I will not abandon our seniors.”According to Mallahan spokeperson Charla Neuman, Mallahan believes we can double amount of money going to senior centers without it having a dramatic impact on the overall city budget. The problem is, the city, much like other local governments, is facing a budget deficit–so extra cash isn’t exactly floating around. Neuman says Mallahan hopes to find the money for his plan by making the city run more efficiently. “You can do a lot more than what city government is currently doing with the dollars that they have,” Neuman says.Unfortuantely for Mallahan–and possibly the seniors–he doesn’t yet know where those inefficiencies are. Neuman says they will find them once they get into office.