Around Town: A ‘why question’ for the local Y
I was excited when the YMCA of the Foothills announced the purchase of the former Foothill Athletic Club on Lowell Avenue in La Crescenta. At last, there would be a solution to the horrible parking issues at the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA in La Cañada.
The new venue in La Crescenta would allow existing members to use the La Crescenta facility, “which could help ease long-standing overcrowding and parking issues at the Y’s La Cañada site,” according to a Dec. 31 story in the Valley Sun.
Tyler Wright, president and chief executive of YMCA of the Foothills, told a reporter, “the facility we’re purchasing is going to give us an opportunity to take some of the pressure, if you will, off the La Cañada facility.”
By “pressure,” Wright was speaking of “parking,” I believed when I read the story. There are not enough parking spots at the La Cañada facility. The YMCA relies on street parking on both sides of Foothill Boulevard.
Parking was the reason for the YMCA’s surprise visit to the City Council last November. The LCF greenbelt proposal was on the agenda. Despite its commitment to health, the YMCA opposed the LCF greenbelt. Bikeways be damned, the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA needed its parking.
The new greenbelt would eliminate parking on the north side of Foothill, create bikeways and pedestrian walkways, add a center median to reduce speed, and realign the traffic signal at Palm Drive and Foothill.
The YMCA opposed it.
The proposed project’s design was approved by the City Council, perhaps because former YMCA board members spoke in favor of it. Most notable was former City Councilwoman Laura Olhasso. According to the article, Olhasso, “a former Y board member, said it wasn’t right for the YMCA to rely on public street parking to avoid the cost of constructing an on-site parking structure, which past estimates have put at $7 million, especially while continuing to increase its membership.”
Two months later, the YMCA bought the Foothill Athletic Club in La Crescenta. Everyone was hopeful. It seems to my eyes like half of the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA traffic comes from the direction of La Crescenta. The new facility would help spread out the existing membership, thus eliminating the parking and traffic issues in La Cañada. The key phrase is “existing membership.”
In January the YMCA launched a new membership drive. Last week, our household on the west side of town received a card inviting new members to join the YMCA of the Foothills, where members can use any or all of the three facilities, including the La Cañada site.
By the way, the Crescenta-Cañada Y, unlike the new La Crescenta site, offers child care. “Child watch” is offered while the moms and dads can work out, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. That’s a good thing, but why advertise for new members when the goal is to reduce traffic and solve the parking issues?
The YMCA does a lot of good things. Exercise is good and even I make the occasional guest appearance on one of the YMCA ellipticals.
But the membership solicitation is too much of a good thing. At issue is the expanding of membership in the absence of suitable on-site parking.
There are daily near-misses between YMCA members who park on the north side of Foothill, then cross in the middle of the boulevard in front of the fast cars traveling west.
There are daily traffic jams in and around the La Cañada YMCA.
Many YMCA members leaving the parking lot consistently violate the posted “no left turn” hours. Those hours are posted for a good reason — to avoid Foothill Boulevard collisions during peak traffic.
And now, the YMCA is inviting more people to work out at its facilities, including the La Cañada Y, where there are not enough parking spaces to accommodate existing members. Why?
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ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Follow her on Instagram @realanitabrenner, Facebook and on Twitter @anitabrenner.