THE LAST WORD:

The economy stinks, as we all know, but deflation has some advantages.

Initially, city officials figured the new Oasis Senior Center in Corona del Mar would cost about $20 million.

But the bids came in low enough to knock the price down to about $16.5 million. That meant the city won’t need to borrow money to finance it for now.

The better news, of course, is that our seniors will finally have a new center worthy of them.

They’ve gotten by since the 1970s with an old-school building on Marguerite Avenue. The bulldozers will raze that building later this month and the new center will sprout up in its place.

Special thanks go to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian for donating $2.5 million and the Irvine Co., which ended up contributing $5 million through development fees.