Editorials

The Berkeley Downtown YMCA rescinded the membership of Berkeley resident Scott Prosterman last week for inappropriate behavior on the organization’s premises over a period of time. 

Prosterman said that he has been the victim of a campaign by YMCA administrators to discredit him for complaining about safety and hygiene problems at the facility. 

Although YMCA Executive Director Peter Chong said he could not comment on the reasons why Prosterman’s membership had been rescinded, he said that YMCA members had to abide by certain rules and decorum, and if they failed to do so, membership privileges could be taken away. 

“Our members are treated equally and fairly,” Chong said. “The safety and comfort of all our members come first. The YMCA has certain standards and certain policies that have to be maintained and if a certain member fails to do so, we have to act accordingly.” 

Prosterman is appealing his loss of membership. He said his dismissal was retribution for the dozens of complaints he has sent YMCA administrators about the problems with the swimming pools and locker rooms over the past year and a half. He said he was encouraged to submit the complaints by staff, but never received any response. 

“I have repeatedly complained about the Y’s reluctance to discipline badly behaving children in the pool, locker room, and throughout the building,” Prosterman said. “I have also repeatedly complained about the atmosphere in the men’s locker room and shower area, in which gay men feel free to openly solicit non-gay men.” 

Prosterman said his complaints were sent to Chong and Aquatics Director Aaron Dence, but nothing ever became of them.  

“I was humored with a position on the Health and Fitness Committee, which proved to be a useless indulgence and waste of time,” he said. “My repeated requests to make a presentation to the Y’s Board of Members was denied and ignored.”  

Jon Crowder, a YMCA member and a Berkeley resident, who was at the meeting where Prosterman was informed of his loss of membership, echoed some of Prosterman’s concerns. 

“I think part of the problem has to do with the lack of understanding between the management and Scott,” Crowder said. “Although Scott is the messenger who is being shot, I don’t think any of this is exactly intentional. However, I think that the hearing lacked fairness because it wasn’t up for discussion whether he would be staying. The management had already decided and they presented Scott with a check.” 

Crowder also mentioned that he had been harassed in the men’s locker room by a man on April 8, 2006, and had reported it. 

Chong said the Berkeley YMCA was in compliance with every regulation the City of Berkeley requires. He said the city Department of Health inspected the facilities on May 18.  

Manuel Ramirez, city health director, told the Planet that the May 18 inspection had been unannounced, as is standard procedure, but was prompted by a complaint filed by Prosterman on May 12.  

“At the time we were there, it was found that the pools were in compliance for the most part,” Ramirez said. “There have been earlier cases when either the free chlorine standard or the pH balance was not in compliance with our standards and were later rectified, but in this case it was in compliance.” 

Complaints against the Downtown YMCA, however, continue. Krassimir Stoykov, a former Olympic swimmer and teacher, was designated as the on-call lifeguard at the YMCA whenever someone didn’t show up or couldn’t complete a shift. Because of conflicts with his schedule Krassimir resigned in April.  

“I think they were trying to get rid of me because they thought I was trying to build a union,” he said in a telephone interview from Florida, where he now lives. “I had a good relationship with the members, and I liked my job, but the management was trying to make it into a private club. I couldn’t get the days I wanted off, couldn’t meet people when I wanted to, it was very frustrating. As for Mr. Prosterman, I never experienced any problems with him. There is a serious lack of direction at the Y.” 

A current employee, who did not want to be named, said that another ongoing complaint was about the aqua bikes. 

“The Y spent more than $10,000 to buy them and they are almost never used. One or two are usually left in the walking lane of the lap pool, which limits the walking/exercise space” she said. “Pool users frequently complain to the lifeguards about how the money could have been better spent.” 

According to the same employee, in March of 2005, “The lap pool began experiencing serious problems with air quality caused by diesel fumes from the construction of the Vista College building on Center Street directly north of the Y. The air quality problem persisted through the summer, and the Y’s solution was to turn off the ventilation system and open the pool doors. This created problems for the lifeguards, who sit in the direct path of the cold breeze from one of the open doors. There were many complaints, and at one point a swimmer who works for the Berkeley Building Department said that it was illegal to have our air intake system shut down.” 

Kate Bernd Barnett, a disabled member at the YMCA, who wanted to form a committee with other disabled members to help resolve issues faced by them, was told by the YMCA management that “they could make suggestions, but that they could not be an official committee.” 

“I have been with the YMCA for four years and in all those years I have faced tremendous difficulty to change clothes in the cramped confines of the women’s locker rooms,” she said. “There are kids running around and mothers have to change diapers on the filthy floors. It took us eight years, a couple of injuries, and a petition with 200 signatures to finally get a button for automatic access for the disabled. I would suggest an oversight committee to evaluate how disabled members at the Y are being served. What we have at the Downtown YMCA right not is definitely not a community-building situation.”