Residents who battled to keep the Queen Anne Community Center gym open have finally won. Today, the City Council voted 8-1 in favor of a plan to keep the gym open and add back 15 hours of drop-in time each week at the center.
Queen Anne Community Center gym
Councilmembers went against the mayor’s proposed budget that called for the gym to be closed and rented out as a production studio. That planned rental agreement later fell apart.
Councilman Tom Rasmussen voted against the measure as a whole since he opposed turning some space at other community centers into offices for Parks staff.
It appears the Seattle City Council may save the Queen Anne Community Center gym. During budget discussions this morning, council staff members presented a plan that would keep the gym open next year. The gym would be available 30 hours a week during drop-in time, and would also be open to the extent that people pay registration fees for basketball lessons and for facility rentals.
Queen Anne Community Center gym
The staff proposal would add back 15 hours of drop-in time to the community center as a whole on top of the 15 hours proposed by the mayor. The City Council must still approve the changes when it votes on the budget later this month.
Mayor McGinn had proposed closing the QA gym next year and turning it into television studio space. That plan fell apart after producers of the television show for children decided to back out in the wake of community opposition.
BizKid$ has pulled out of the proposed partnership with the Queen Anne Community Center, in which the national children’s public television series would have rented out the gym as production space for at least a year, according to the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation.
The proposed partnership was part of Mayor Mike McGinn’s 2011 budget. Parks and Recreation says the deal would have “expended revenue to continue Parks and Recreation programs, and expand financial literacy for children in the Queen Anne neighborhood and throughout the City.”
Seattle Parks and Recreation did not give a reason for why BizKid$ decided to walk away from the deal. We’ve put in a call to BizKid$ executive producer Jamie Hammond, but have not yet heard back.
Under the new budget, the Queen Anne gym would be closed in 2011 to make room for BizKid$, a national public television series for children. BizKid$ would use the gym as a production studio until the end of 2011, and possibly longer.
Now that fight has moved to the Seattle City Council website, where hundreds of community members have posted ideas and suggestions regarding alternative solutions to closing the Queen Anne gym, such as looking for another building to use as an income-generator from the BizKid$ program. Can’t make it to a meeting? Tell the City Council what you think here.
The proposed closing of the gym at the Queen Anne Community Center will be one of the topics of discussion at this month’s meeting of the Queen Anne Community Council. The meeting is this Wednesday (10/6) at 7pm at the community center. The public is invited to attend.
As we reported last week, the mayor wants to close the gym next year so it can be used as the production studios for a children’s television program. There is some talk that the Magnolia Community Center is volunteering to help take on some of the programs that would be lost in Queen Anne.
1) No further charges will appear on your credit card and all credit card information will be destroyed.
2) No memberships will be transferred. We are working out deals with all the other local health clubs to assist in an easy transition to another club. Please keep your Om keytag, this will be your proof to the other club. If you do not have it anymore, your contract will work too.
We have contacted one clubs, so far, that are offering discounts at this time (we will contact the rest Friday, July 16th and will post thereafter)
LA Fitness- 1 month free trial (no obligation to join). We are working on the details regarding membership dues. LA Fitness’s dues are around $65/monthly however we are going to get them down to Om’s membership dues. You will probably have no enrollment/processing, as well. You are invited to try out LA Fitness, to make sure that you like their club and that they are convenient for you. LA Fitness is Currently having a member’s Summer Party this weekend so stop by and check them out. They are committed to welcoming all former Om members.
3) All outstanding dues/fees are in the processed of being refunded. Insurance will be processing this so it may take time. Refunds will be issued in check form and will be send to the address on file.
4) Any personal belongings in the lockers has been itemized and placed in storage. If you have any personal belongings that you want back, email (info@omqueenanne.com) your locker #, lock #, and your mailing address. If you do not know your locker/lock #, provide a description of the belongings in the locker and we will do our best to find it. If you have already sent an email requesting your personal belongings, we have received it and will be processing it shortly. If we have any questions, we will contact you.
Om’s closure attracted the attention of the local TV media, who contacted the owner for an interview on Friday. For more information on the water damage that led to Om’s closing, watch this KOMO4 report:
Those of you who are members of the relatively new Om Lifestyle & Wellness have probably already heard the news: the Lower Queen Anne gym has closed its doors. For good.
Om, which has been closed for the past week and a half due to water damage, was expected to reopen yesterday, Monday, July 12, as per a message on the its website. However yesterday afternoon a mass email was sent out by the owner to the gym’s members (myself included) announcing that the closure would be permanent:
Dear Om Members,
First, I apologize for the delayed communications regarding the current issues with the club. We have not been able to access any of our databases in order to contact anyone. As most of the older members are aware, Om has sustained multiple incidents of major water damage over the past 9 months, as well as, constant water leaks that continue to destroy the facility. We have been trying to work with the landlord, Archstone Smith, over the past several months in order to resolve these issues as well as the underlaying issues of the structure damage to the building. Archstone has refused to adequately address these issues.
This has forced Om to make a decision in the best interest of our members and the business. We have decided the only available alternative is to shut down the club and transfer all membership to another local club.
We will have further information available, today or tomorrow, regarding the membership transfers.
It is with much disappointment that we had to come to this decision, however, we did not have any other real alternative. I understand that some members are upset with the past and current issues, and if it was under my power, this would not happen.
I greatly apologize for this inconvenience.
Ryan Matthews
Om Lifestyle and Wellness
I haven’t heard anything else, but will keep the community posted on which gym Om will be transferring its memberships to, if there will be refunds, and how members may go about retrieving any personal items that may have been left inside the gym (as we’ve heard that all of the equipment has already been removed from the building). If you have any more information or are a member who would like to share your questions or concerns, please comment below.
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Those of you who are members of the relatively new 