Local Rant: YMCA

The gym I used to belong to (yes, I let my membership go since I couldn't really do much working out with my back the way it is), the YMCA finally sold their building. They sold out to a funeral home. Their current location, "The Church Street site has been the home of the YMCA for 70 years. Originally known as the Phillippe mansion, it was built around the turn of the 20th century and acquired in 1937 by a group that formed the McKinley Family YMCA." read the entire article here from the local newspaper The funeral home wants to demolish they building and build a new one. What a waste! The building is a landmark in Champaign. I remember passing by when I was a kid and thinking it was a huge mansion. I didn't realize that it was a gym. While I agree the building does need some repairs/updating, but I do feel that the reason it hasn't been taken care of is because they just want a new building. Currently the Y is located on Church Street, very close to downtown Champaign. Their plans are to build a new building located near Windsor Road and Staley Road. The current location is 3 miles from where I live. The new location is 8 miles. So they added 5 miles to my drive.

The biggest complaint I have about the new location though is the neighborhood that it is in. One of the ideas behind the YMCA is providing services to everybody. They even provide free or discounted memberships for people who can't afford to pay. The location at Church Street was centrally located in Champaign and was very close to some of the poorer neighborhoods. The new location is on the outskirts of town. The only thing over there is lots of corn fields and fancy subdivisions where the average house starts at $200,000 and up. Now which location would better serve everybody?

The Y has been talking about moving for a few years now. One of the reasons for the move, the land was donated to them by some people who wanted the gym closer to them. The Y even had one of the local hospitals backing them in the financing, but that hospital dropped the financing this past year since it had taken over 5 years without any progress. That hospital also just built a new clinic very close to where the Y wants to move. So the Y has been begging the members for more money. They are constantly sending out requests for more pledges from the members. I never cared for that, I already pay more than I wanted to go to the Y. I am not poor, but I also am not rich either. I can think of better ways to spend the $36.50 a month.

I know a lot of the members (while I was still going) were not happy about the move. Most of the people enjoyed the location. The Church Street location has separate fitness centers for the men and women. They also have separate locker rooms for the adults and the kids. The rumor is that the new location will have 1 steam room, 1 hot tub and 1 sauna for everybody to use. I used to enjoy the fact that there were no kids allowed back in the men's locker room, where the men's steam room, sauna and hot tub were located. I know the Y had already lost some members due to the equipment always breaking down (due to little maintenance) and not being fixed.

So when it comes time to find a new gym, I will keep in mind that the Y will be moving soon, to a place not very convenient. They are saying they can stay at the current location until Dec. 31, 2010, but they will be moving sooner than that if they can get their new building built.