Metroland: The YMCA's bad faith

It appears that any last hope that the Capital District YMCA will cooperate with the community that is trying to save the Washington Avenue branch was torpedoed yesterday by Y CEO David Brown, when he told the Times Union:

You just cannot win with an unreasonable group.

He was speaking of the community-based task force that came together at the end of last year to try to save the branch. According to multiple members of this task force, it is Brown who has been unreasonable, demonstrating a "consistent disrespect and obstruction" to those working to keep the branch open.

In fact, one task force member, Chris Mercogliano, has kept a log of the alleged insults Brown has leveled against members of the community throughout, detailing the pivotal moments of his apparent obstructionism over the past three months. I was able to report on Brown's at-times condescending interactions with Y members who are tying to save their branch a few weeks ago when one of Brown's e-mails landed in my inbox.

Metroland has reached out to Brown, but he has refused to speak to the paper since we published an editorial questioning the Y's motives and management. As you'll see in Mercogliano's time line, Brown has even refused to allow copies of Metroland to continue to be distributed from the the lobby of the Y.

This week, we are calling for Brown to resign.

I just received word from a task force member who says that the Y last night removed the group's membership-drive sign, that big thermometer, from its place outside in front of the building. UPDATE: The sign has been returned to its spot out front.

You can download Mercogliano's full chronology of events here. After the jump, read some of the highlights.

12/11/2009 – David Brown, CEO of the Capital District YMCA, holds two small meetings with the leaders of the neighborhoods surrounding the Washington Ave. branch and informs them that due to declining membership and persistent deficits, in January he will be forced to publicly announce the branch’s April closure. Several people in attendance express their concern that the CDYMCA has not come forward sooner with the Washington Ave. Y’s fiscal problems and asked for community support. When Betsy Mercogliano asks why only a handful of neighborhood associations were invited to the meetings, David Brown replies, “Well, I don’t want 100 angry people coming to my office.” She responds that either way, many people in the city are going to be shocked and upset when they hear the news.

12/17 – Metroland magazine runs an editorial and a news story critical of David Brown’s shifting statements about the impending decision to close the Washington Ave. Y. Both articles question the validity of David Brown’s statement that the CDYMCA wants to keep the Washington Ave. branch open.

12/21 – David Brown telephones me at 9:15 a.m. to say that he is willing to keep the Y open, but only if people start signing up to be members. Later in the conversation he calls it a “money pit,” and says they have “tried everything” over the past ten years to rein in the deficit, but “nothing has worked.” Then he reverts to saying he doesn’t want to see the Y shut down – he reminds me he used to be the director there – and he tells me about the membership drive he plans to launch on New Year’s Day with a waiving of the joiners fee and special rates for those who only use the Washington Ave. facility. I reply that only offering discount memberships won’t be enough to reverse the longstanding trend in declining membership and increased operating costs, and will simply provide justification for closing the Y when not enough new members materialize by April. I tell him about our petition and its call for a strategic task force to address all of the causes of the Y’s growing deficit.

12/22 – David Brown meets with concerned city councilmen to discuss the Washington Ave. Y situation. Anton Konev, the councilman-elect from the district in which the Y is located and a lifelong YMCA member, later reports to his supporters in an email: “I ask you to get involved in saving the Downtown Albany Washington Ave YMCA. Capital District YMCA CEO announced that they will be closing that branch unless an unrealistic goal of more than doubling the membership in 3 months is reached. This will have a severe effect for many Albany City residents, especially those who cannot afford other gyms (500 people are currently there on scholarship) and children who are there every Saturday with Gang prevention program. If it closes the effect will be felt throughout the region: more obese children and families, more crime, more stress on the rest of the YMCA branches. It will have a detrimental effect on the currently walkable and livable community.”
– Fifteen minutes later David Brown responds in an email: “Spoken like a true politician, instead of discussing the truth that was shared with you at our meeting you want to twist things so you can come off as if you are saving the day, I'm replying to all so they know I think you are a lightweight kid who got kicked out of school, you have no credibility, grow up young man and help be part of the solution instead of the problem. You know what you wrote is inaccurate, but keep lying, it will catch up with you. I look forward to our meeting January 5. Merry Xmas”

12/23 – David Brown requests a one-on-one meeting with me at the Y at 1:00 p.m. He begins by telling me how much he appreciates our efforts on behalf of the Y, but then he immediately follows with, “The petitions and the public meeting are a waste of time because I’m not the mayor and I’m going to do what I’m going to do.” He complains to me about the online petition and how many of the signatories are not members. I remind him about the written petition being circulated at the Y and predict that there will be over 1000 member signatures on it by the time we present it to him at the Jan. 5 public meeting. He says that won’t matter either because “those people are already members.” He asks me what we have in mind with our task force idea and I explain that it will be a combination of highly committed Y members and community stakeholders who have expertise in marketing, youth programming, building maintenance and repair, energy conservation, capital campaigns, and so on, and Y staff. He tells me that this isn’t a good idea because the Y has already hired experts to do all of these things and none of it has helped the Y solve its financial problems. Then he pointedly questions why we as “outsiders” think we can accomplish what Y leaders and a series of paid consultants have been unable to do.

12/31 – In the morning Betsy and I receive an email from David Brown requesting that we allow him to begin the public meeting with a Power Point presentation addressing “many of the questions, concerns, and rumors.” He also expresses his “hope to work with the neighborhoods to keep the doors open.”
– In the afternoon Troy Record reporter Dave Canfield interviews me by phone and tells me that David Brown told him that the North Albany Y is more than adequate to take over everything that happens at Washington Ave, so that its closure will have little impact on the community.

1/5/2010 – At the public meeting at the Albany Public Library David Brown states that he will close the Y unless there are 700 new members by April 1. After we present him with the petition with over 1000 signatures he agrees to work on membership recruitment—and only membership recruitment—with our community task force.

1/6 – David Brown calls the Washington Ave. Y “obsolete” in a Channel 9 interview.

1/13 – David Brown . . . he goes into a litany about how unfairly people are treating him, making false accusations, twisting his words in the press, etc. At one point he says that the reason he included the 700 new members by April 1 or else figure in his presentation at the public meeting was because a member of the Y who was upset about the Y closing had demanded exact figures from him. Prior to that he was on record as stating that he only needed to see a “positive trend.” I say nothing, only listen, and when he looks to me for a response I say that I came to listen and to show good faith because I very much want him to attend tomorrow night’s meeting with an open mind and a willingness to cooperate fully. He then says he will only attend if people promise not to be angry with him if he closes the Y in April. I respond by saying I don’t want to think that far ahead and don’t want to focus on the negative. Complex problems like the one the Y is facing need to be addressed a step at a time, I say, and the first step is for us to form a focused working group of which he and the Y staff are full partners.

1/20 – I reach out to Senator Gillibrand’s office and am told that David Connors, her regional point man, will call me. I then email the task force and David Brown to say, “Just a heads up to let everyone know that the Task Force's funding and capital campaign committee is organizing itself in order to meet with local, state, and federal representatives to explore possible sources of funding for our Y. I realize we haven't had the opportunity yet to go over our plans as a group, but time is of the essence because we have to make these contacts before the various budget windows close for 2010. Although I am not on the committee, I have already emailed Senator Gillibrand because I have a personal connection with her.”
– David Brown’s email response: “I’m confused by this email. We agreed to discuss these matters as a task force and then move forward strategically. As a group we identified a number of key action items that will be in place and completed by the next task force meeting. Those items were emailed yesterday. The task force does not represent the YMCA; it is a group working with the YMCA. YMCA officials and board members are the appropriate people to meet with elected officials. This action potentially harms funding that is designated already to the Albany Branch and programs. YMCA officials and volunteers have scheduled meetings the first week in February to discuss several key items for the YMCA including the Washington Ave site. We continue to work in good faith on the action items we identified as a team. Today’s email and other recent actions jeopardize continued cooperation.

1/26 – At the joint task force meeting with David Brown and Joseph Vitale, David Brown begins the meeting by objecting to my letter to the editor, to notifying members on the Save the Albany Y Facebook page that he refused the city’s parking offer, and to reaching out to Senator Gillibrand. He cites my actions as a violation of the “spirit of cooperation” between the CDYMCA and the task force. Joseph Vitale adds that task force member Larry Becker’s request for financial information regarding the Washington Ave. facility reflects a “lack of trust.” Together the two officials threaten to sever the CDYMCA’s connection with the task force if there are further expressions of “negativity” by task force members. Also the task force has invited Bill Kayo so that as a group we can revisit his idea for reaching out to area organized labor. Bill repeats his proposal, adding that a number of union heads he has spoken with have told him that there is likely to be a large positive response from their memberships. Unfazed, David Brown states three reasons for opposing it: The Y just doesn’t do discounts because in the end they don’t bring in very many new members; discounting is unfair to members who pay the full rate and it also undermines the Y’s financial assistance program; and discounting would jeopardize the Y’s tax-exempt status. When members of the task force press David Brown to at least give the idea a try, given the desperate straits our Y is in, Joseph Vitale says that he and David would be willing to give the idea further consideration. With regard to reaching out to elected officials for funding for Washington Ave. David Brown reiterates that the CDYMCA has its own people whose job it is to seek out government funding.

3/3 – The task force meets in the evening with David Brown and he informs us that despite the fact that 655 new members have joined the Y since January 1, the actual membership revenue is up only slightly over last year and therefore the CDYMCA will be moving forward with its plan to close the Washington Ave. facility on April 1. He says the problem is the increase in membership non-renewals, which total several hundred. When we ask for the go-ahead for the task force to work on membership retention, he says no, adding that this is the YMCA’s responsibility and that it no longer wants to address the problem and instead has decided to close. When we then ask him about the offer he claims to have made to sell the facility to us for a dollar, he ignores the question and says that he has already spoken with leaders of the Israel AME church and the Boys and Girls Club and made that offer to them. He also says he is absolutely opposed to the Washington Ave. Y taking on a new identity as an independently chartered YMCA under new leadership, but refuses to state why.

Comments

I wrote a LTE to the TU a month or so ago calling for Brown to resign, and quickly got a 15 minute phone call in the middle of the work day berating me for doing so. Perhaps Mr. Brown should spend his days working on improving the Y's pecuniary condition instead of attacking critics.

Posted by: Bill | March 11, 2010 at 11:49 AM

Just what does this task force propose to do for the Y? Rebuild it brick by brick? Whether it stays open or closes, it's an outdated dump with little to offer compared to a modern gym. I don't mind paying more for a place that helps kids and others who can't afford it, but the place itself doesn't give me much return for my money and I can't see how in its existing form it can.

Posted by: Mark | March 13, 2010 at 11:35 AM

One city's outdated dump is another's asset, as has been proven in countless cities around the USA and the world who have rebounded from suburban flight and urban blight partly by capitalizing on the real value of their already built resources - turning abandoned warehouses, old hotels and other outdated dumps into highly coveted loft housing and mixed-use residential areas. I have no idea of the real condition of the Wa Ave Y building, but the argument that it's a completely lost cause is based solely on the assertion by the CDYMCA's board, who have not been willing to share minutes from Board meetings, building assessment studies or other pertinent information with anyone who - apparently - does not support their - apparently longstanding - agenda to abandon this site. This site has 2 pools, a sauna, a steam room and whirlpool (which especially attract the seniors – and don’t even get me started on how they abandoned our people with disabilities and elderly members when they summarily closed the therapeutic heated back pool in 2006); racquetball courts, two family- and community-friendly gymnasiums, and a ton of other space I don’t even know about. Building a new facility with these features and this much space would be prohibitively expensive, and its potential value in and of itself or to the surrounding communities has, so far we know, not been assessed by anyone familiar with forward-thinking, 21st century technologies or restoration theories & practice. If I’m wrong, please, someone, tell us about the building studies. (And don’t even get me going on the complete absence of innovative programming opportunities). If all you want is a gym with some workout equipment, there are plenty of those available. But the influx of new members, feedback from existing members and the site’s surrounding neighborhoods is saying that PLACE MATTERS. We want an integrated place in the middle, where “young and old, people from affluent and… not-so-affluent neighborhoods” mix. It’s about community building. It’s about the health of our city, and about public safety, which should matter to all of us – including people in Bethlehem, Guilderland and East Greenbush who park on the city streets and walk to work. And by the way - why aren’t other CDYMCA branch members speaking up for us? Sadly, I am concluding that the YMCA is no longer in practice whole-heartedly pursuing its historic mission of targeting social need in the community. Founded in response to “unhealthy social conditions arising in the big cities at the end of the Industrial Revolution,” the Y’s city-based activities are largely provided to age-segregated groups (elementary-school day care, senior activities) which build may offer support and build character at the individual level but do not take into account what we know about the importance of family and community engagement. Bye-bye, Y. I am really hoping some other social service organization or philanthropist or corporation will recognize the value of the community you are leaving behind, and come in and help us help ourselves. Meanwhile, I and my family will support the JCC.

Posted by: LH | March 14, 2010 at 02:22 PM