Rally for Washington Ave Y tonight

save the y board

The organizers of the Save the Albany YMCA campaign have planned a rally tonight outside the Washington Ave location at 5:30.

The Capital District YMCA recently told members in a letter that it would be closing the Wash Ave location March 31. The parent org said the decision was "very painful and difficult," but the location has been losing $400k a year. Earlier comments from the YMCA have indicated the location has been losing money for two decades. [TU]

Save the Y organizers thought they were making progress toward keeping the location open by helping to bring in 700 new members -- until the Capital District YMCA said the new member count had to be balanced against non-renewals. [TU] That led Save the Y to argue that the finish line was being moved as they approached it. The relationship between Save the Y and YMCA officials broke down, each side accusing the other of acting in bad faith. [TU] Save the Y organizers were further irked when the progress board ended up locked behind a fence near the trash (photo above).

Jerry Jennings has reportedly asked the YMCA to hold off closing the Washington Ave location for another four to six weeks. [Daily Gazette $]

The YMCA advertised its membership campaign on AOA last month.

photo via Save the Y Facebook

Comments

Screw them, and never give them a taxpayer dime again.

The Y had no problem with the government donating valuable land and giving them grants to build that ridiculous North Albany YMCA that has no customers and is no doubt losing a fortune, since a dozen teachers from the school next door isn't enough to meet the costs. The new, empty, taxpayer-funded Y in North Albany is also alot cheaper to maintain than an actual YMCA that get used, and allows the Y to feel good about serving the "urban" population.

Maybe if the CEO of a nonprofit/charity gym that costs $75/mo didn't have a healthy 6-figure salary, they would be able to afford to perform their mission?

It's been losing money for a decade and they can't wait another 4-6 weeks to close in spite of the herculean effort the community has put forth to increase membership? I think the YMCA gave up on this location before the membership drive even started, and for some reason (Pride? Stubbornness?) don't want to be proved wrong.

I've sat in on 2 of the public meetings with David Brown. He has projected an image of cooperation to the everyone that was never genuine. His actions since announcing the Y closing have undermined the volunteers actions to save the Y.

The desire to close this branch of the Y was a done deal and Mr. Brown and the board never gave the community more than a absolute minimum amount of cooperation since January. That absolute minimum was in an effort to pacify outrage that this branch was so poorly maintained and let left to dwindle in membership.

If it is Mr.Browns job to keep a flourishing Y membership then why were VOLUNTEERS able to get close to 700 new memberships in such a short amount of time. Why? Because the volunteers actually did the work to get the community involved, something he was not willing to enough effort into.

After signing the petition to save the Y I got a polite email from David Brown asking if I was a member. I promised to join, and did the day of the public meeting. At the meeting Brown seemed overwhelmed, prickled even that the community was so angry. I can understand that he is frustrated by the community, but I think he fails to empathize. The TU article hit the nail on the head: "e-mail Brown sent to a Center Square resident, and copied to Mercogliano, which concluded with this seeming jab a Mercogliano's hairstyle: "It takes more than protest and a ponytail to pay the bills, last time I checked National Grid does not accept emotional checks." Brown said to the TU

"I'm a very seasoned YMCA professional, and I've always conducted myself as a professional, and I treat everybody with respect," he said, "but I'm also going to defend myself if my person is attacked, and clearly through the e-mails and the meetings I was attacked.

Really? 'always conducted myself as a professional?'

There seem to be two types of clients at the Washington Ave facility: those that go there because they don't need to drive and those that won't go because the facilty is out-dated and there is no parking. Taxpayers can't, and shouldn't have to pay for the expensive to retrofit for downtown to accomodate more cars.

Will the Y consider building a smaller, more energy effiecient facility near the old one? Will the city help them do it? Will it work?

@daleyplanit: "Will the Y consider building a smaller, more energy effiecient facility near the old one?". As far as the Y is concerned, I think I recall Brown saying at that very meeting at the library that this was an acceptable solution, raze the old building and build a more efficient in place.

My family thought about joining up when this whole thing first started, but you could smell the done-deal-ness of it all a mile away. The irony is that when we looked into it they had a bunch of stuff we were interested in, especially for children. Why had I never heard about any of those things before?

If the YMCA wanted to succeed in the city of Albany there were many things they could have tried long ago, financial problems requiring closure don't just crop up out of nowhere. David Brown is defensive because he has proven himself incompetent and utterly unworthy of the trust placed in him by the YMCA and its members. The fact that he would deride the people scrambling to save the neighborhood institution he screwed them out of tells you everything you need to know about this farce. For shame, Mr. Brown.

Somewhere the Indian from the Village People is shedding a silent tear.

Am I the only one who sees it as a bit hypocritical that people who for years patently ignored the Washington Ave YMCA are now so vehemently outraged that it is going to be closed.

I like a good rally as much as the next guy, but a 25th hour effort by the community to save a branch that has been bleeding money due to a complete lack of interest from that same community just rubs me the wrong way.

Too often in the Capital region local institutions are under utilized and when they are (understandably) taken away, only then does anyone seem to pay it any mind.

Just my two cents...

"Will the Y consider building a smaller, more energy effiecient facility near the old one? Will the city help them do it?"

The the city, county and public authorities did, it's in North Albany and was supposedly going to serve the underserved community there. Our taxes are high enough -- perhaps a cheaper, for-profit gym will setup shop at the soon to be former Y.

@Bill: "Am I the only one who sees it as a bit hypocritical that people who for years patently ignored the Washington Ave YMCA". And who are those "people", what are you based this on? Were you at the library for the meeting? Because that's where Brown asked who was a member already, and a vast number was. I saw the same faces last night. So if anything, the issue here was that the people who were involved and outraged were members already, and therefore, noticed Brown, this wasn't going to make much of a difference. I think he was proven wrong by the membership drive that was set in motion later on, but he was right, it's the net number that counts at the end of the day.

In *any* cases, if there is something that is clear, is that there was a lack of communication from the Y, who informed its member and the community way too late about the problems this branch was facing. He acknowledged that. Had the Y informed us "for years" (I quote you), then there would have been more time to do something.

Under-utilization is not that relevant, because the Y is way more than brick and mortar, most of the activities that involve the local youth take place outside this building; you can still exercise at home and keep your membership for that reason (I do), or you can decide to sponsor a young kid and not exercise, etc.

The North Albany Y is in the middle of an industrial zone 3 miles & a $6 bus ride from downtown and the underserved community. The downtown Albany Y a COMMUNITY CENTER, not just a gym. It's home to aging seniors who go there to socialize & use the whirlpool and steamroom, these.health-preserving features are not available at any other Ys. The down Y has 2 big old gyms, 3 raquetball courts, a boxing room... it's that old kind of building that will never be constructed again, but can be successfully restored if done right instead of sticking bandaids on it. There are plenty of gyms, they're terrific but not what we are trying to preserve. We want a place for kids, families and elderly to meet, swim & play.

i've posted the bus map for folks who think the north albany Y is just at accessable for those served by the washington ave location. You'll notice the most of the western portion of the city (including pine hills and center square) are not able to access the north albany facility without driving accross town or spending 45 per trip on 2 busses.

The market demands that businesses either evolve or die when customer demand changes. The product the Y offers, it's building, has fallen behind the times and the clients have since dwindled. What the customer wants is an accessable comtmunity center type of facility, not a gym. The Y wants a less expensive facility to run.

If the YMCA isn't willing to fullfill it's mission to provide services where they are needed, then fine, the customers will spend their money somewhere else.

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