Planners join opposition to YMCA closure
POTTSTOWN » You can add the voices of officials from eight surrounding municipalities to the growing chorus raising its voice in opposition to the closing of the YMCA on North Adams Street.
On March 28, the members of the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee — representing Pottstown, Lower Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgrove, West Pottsgrove, North Coventry, East Coventry, New Hanover and Douglass (Mont.) — voted unanimously to oppose the closing of the facility, scheduled for the end of June.
“The closing of YMCA is absolutely an issue of regional significance,” said Upper Pottsgrove Commissioner Elwood Taylor after the issue was raised by Pottstown Councilman Ryan Procsal.
“It should be in Pottstown.” Freedom Valley YMCA is “taking their money and not putting it where the people need it,” Taylor said.
“It’s like having a centralized public library in Pottstown, it’s necessary and so is the YMCA,” Taylor said.
Peggy Lee-Clark, the executive director of the Pottstown Area Industrial Development Inc., or PAID, said she is on the committee formed by the YMCA to come up with recommendations for ways to continue services after the building is shuttered.
Several sources have indicated that Shaun Elliott, CEO of Freedom Valley YMCA, attended the
most recent committee meeting March 27 but did not receive any recommendations from the committee about how to prepare for the facility’s closing — as had been planned.
“There is some discomfort” on that committee “that the (Freedom Valley) YMCA is not really fulfilling their mission” by closing the building,” Lee-Clark said.
At the suggestion of John Cover, a chief community planner with the Montgomery County Planning Commission, the regional planning officials voted unanimously to issue a statement and send a letter not only opposing the closure, but also calling for the improvement or upgrading of the current facility.
Both will be written and sent by the planning commission so as not to delay the delivery of the message until next month.
The opposition by the regional planning commission will join the resolution passed by the Pottstown School Board strongly opposing the closure and noting that the decision seems at odds with the YMCA’s core mission of which “specifically seeks to close the achievement gap for low-income youth to envision and pursue the best possible future,” the resolution notes.
“Two thirds or more of Pottstown students come from low-income and minority families” and the “Pottstown School District has one of the lowest median incomes in southeastern Pennsylvania,” the resolution notes.
Also calling for a reversal of the decision are State Reps. Thomas Quigley and Tim Hennessey, who issued a joint statement last week. ““It would be a disservice to our community and the students served by the Y to have to relocate, if that is even possible,” Quigley said.
The issue has even entered the election cycle, with Quigley’s opponent, Democrat Joe Ciresi issuing a statement agreeing with Quigley.
“It is imperative that the announced closure of the Pottstown Y by the Philadelphia-based Freedom Valley YMCA be revisited and the decision reversed,” Ciresi said. “The ongoing educational support for our area children, especially the youngest and most vulnerable, has been a top priority of mine for many years.”
On March 27, the Pottsgrove School Board reached a consensus to adopt their own resolution opposing the closing at the next meeting in two weeks, according to a report in The Sanatoga Post.
“We’ve got to let (YMCA leadership) know we disagree, and that they’re doing something that’s going to hurt our community,” the Post quoted Pottsgrove board member Al Leach as saying March 27.
Lee-Clark said the committee has been told it will cost $11 million over the next few years to bring the building up to snuff, and that $3 million is needed almost immediately to deal with issues of “deferred maintenance.”
“That’s about half the cost of a new building,” Cover observed March 28.
The Mercury has also obtained a copy of an email Elliott recently sent to Freedom Valley YMCA employees.
“The YMCA will maintain the existing School Age Enrichment Program and full day childcare. We have signed a 10-year lease for a new Early Learning Center, relocating two miles from the existing building. The new center will open on May 1, 2018 and provide full day care for more than 100 children,” Elliott wrote.
“As in previous years, the Y will hold traditional Summer Camp programs and offer an expanded list of specialty camps to youth in Pottstown and Pottsgrove School Districts. The Y is also willing to continue the additional services of wellness programs and individual/group exercise through a suitable leased location,” wrote Elliott.
“Membership and program activity is also beginning to shift to new locations. Recent surveys show that nearly two-thirds of Pottstown members intend to transfer their memberships to one of our nearby Y’s in the area. Tower Health’s senior program and Pottsgrove swim team members have already transitioned to the Boyertown Y and we anticipate many Pottstown swim team members to follow,” Elliott wrote.
He also addressed the recent media coverage.
“There have been individuals including two state representatives advocating for the Y to keep the building open and speaking out through advertisements, a petition and a resolution passed by the Pottstown School District,” Elliott wrote. “While the Y appreciates and respects their position, it simply cannot afford to keep the building open. Closing a building is never easy and we have prioritized service delivery to children, families and individuals over the building itself.”
After the regional planners concluded their vote, Lee-Clark said she wants to “change the narrative” that has been “appearing in the press” about the issue.
“Poverty does not define Pottstown,” she said. “Albeit this is a loss, and I understand anger about how it has been handled, but it is not a crushing to the borough and I think I have to change that narrative. I don’t look at it as one more blow to Pottstown,” she said.
Noting that it is her responsibility to try to expand Pottstown’s property tax base, Lee-Clark said “from my perspective, I have to go forward as if the building is vacant. I’m not interested in filling it with another nonprofit.”