Y’s decision to expand fitness floor is justified

TO THE EDITOR:

I am a member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA who is extremely grateful that this steadfast and uplifting organization is a part of our community.

I am also a concerned member, unsettled by recent verbal attacks and allegations against the Y.

While I support people having their opinions represented in this paper, I ask that you represent both sides of the issue.

Recently, your paper published pieces in regard to the racquetball courts being removed from the Y. Some members are upset about this service being taken away from them.

However, I would like to remind these members, and the rest of the community, of the many other important services the Y offers.

From after-school childcare to recreational sports teams to summer camps, children are offered safe and fun learning experiences at the Y.

The Y provides us with a wide variety of fitness classes which are free to its members — I ask you to find another gym that will offer that service.

In fact, one of the things I love most about the Y is that so many people of different ages and backgrounds come together on the fitness floor around the common goals of health and wellness.

While exercising on the fitness floor this week, I took note that there were 35 of us on the floor together, and that there were no members utilizing the racquetball courts.

There is always a consistent crowd on the fitness floor though, and this crowd is represented by different genders and different ethnicities and is multi-generational.

I would love for even more people in our community to be able to join the Y and take part in exercising on our fitness floor together, but I understand this will not be possible until that space is expanded.

So, while others claim agism and discrimination by removing the courts, I would like to make the claim that we will expand our membership base and its diversity even more so by offering the larger fitness floor.

On a final note, those members who are upset about the court removals often do not mention that the Y offered to provide them reciprocity with the Durham Y courts.

However, this attempt for compromise has been denied by the group advocating for the courts. I find it crucial that before our community makes a snap judgment on the Y’s character, it understands all of the facts and details of the situation.

Katherine Phelps ’11
Chapel Hill, N.C.