Why is a YMCA closing/moving a headline story?

Well, the fact that the YMCA-JCC serves over 300,000 people in the Lake Erie West region probably has something to do with news coverage, plus the fact that this is over a $30 million operation plays a role. I suspect that the activities of the YMCA-JCC affect quite a few more people than your average health club, and of course there is the fact that the YMCA-JCC offers many more services than Gold's Gym (not to mention outreach programs to the community).

Add to this the fact that over 89,000 people received some form of YMCA scholarship in 2009, and I suspect that this means that many Blade readers have some sort of stake in the YMCA-JCC.

Of course, you could always look at the Board of Trustees on the YMCA-JCC and develop some sort of conspiracy theory about why the YMCA-JCC gets so much coverage. This probably wouldn't have much basis in reality, but tin-foil-hat types are much more interested in connecting random dots than they are in more mundane explanations like, oh, a newspaper's mission having something to do with its readership base and the community in which it is located.

I initially thought what a great idea... until I read they wouldn't be building a gymnasium nor a pool. Total bummer.

In the early 1990s I used to play basketball with friends at the Y on Summit and the place was a typical gym.

Since it's part of a larger organization it gets a great deal of press.

Certain days Toledo and certain Toledoans want Toledo to have all the bells and whistles like a major city. The next day, a YMCA moving less than two miles from Summit and Bush to downtown is proclaimed to be worthy of front-page news.

Whomever handles PR for the YMCA/JCC has a friend or two at the Blade. Perhaps they're trying to get a positive story about the Y in the paper after all the negativity about tearing down the South Toledo (Anthony Wayne Trail) branch?

Plus, it's Saturday--the lowest circulation day for any newspaper and the lowest news viewership for every TV station. Ever notice on Saturday's news broadcasts--unless somebody lights themselves on fire and jumps from the High Level Bridge--most of the time the lead story is some community gathering/dinner/festival, etc? Same thing at work here...it's a slow news day.

I think it's great to see them looking to move downtown. Working only a couple blocks from the proposed new location, I'm actually considering signing up. I stopped being a member of the north toledo location right around the time someone threw a brick at my car after working out! :)

Wasn't Carty demanding at one time that someone open a gym downtown? Looks like he was a visionary, years ahead of his time. What other great ideas did he have that might finally come true? ;-)

It was JRB of Block Blade fame, who demanded they build a gym downtown and close to Blade headquarters, too. When the Y's prez didn't do it, that became the genesis of Block's antipathy toward the YMCA and later broadsides against the organization. Looks like the Y finally caved in to the guy who lives in Pittsburgh.

I didn't have any idea just how politically sensitive the Y is as an organization.

I now see that not only is it a quasi-political entity, it's also deemed an engine for downtown Toledo's economic growth.

Whodathunkit?

the Blade for years has called for a downtown facility. That's why it's a front page story. Very simple.

Fred has spoken - now everyone can rejoice and stop wondering!

This is the Y's "Sputnik Moment".

The YWCA used to have a publicly accessible gym when I lived downtown. It was a small little room with a minimal amount of equipment, but I worked out there for a couple months before joining another gym. They closed it shortly after.