Quakertown YMCA - stop the removal of the men and women’s locker rooms

We are asking the Upper Bucks YMCA to stop the proposed plan of removing the men's and women's locker rooms to replace them with only universal space.  There is no objection to ADDING more universal space to the Y, and there are several ways to do this, without impacting the current spaces. 

The Quakertown Y has several improvement projects planned, and one of them is to remove the men's/women's spaces.  While many other local and national Y's have universal space (including the Quakertown Y), none we found removed the men's/women's spaces completely, but have added to the existing men and women’s locker rooms.

Concerns: 

 - A common shared space is not comfortable for all members

 - Some members have expressed concerns for safety.  

 - Having universal only space is simply not enough space - members will be waiting for bathrooms, or spaces to change, as there simply will not be enough.  With current usage, there are often more people using the current locker rooms than what will fit in the proposed space, when making all "individual" spaces (25 planned).  It simply does not scale for events, even for classes. 

History:

A meeting was to be held to inform some Y and community members about this project - after the news was leaked (it still has not been officially shared by the Y). A meeting was proposed to the concerned members who got the information, and a meeting was held with approximately 25+ people who were on a zoom call, and several more in a meeting room.  Several people spoke during the call, and shared concerns about safety, comfort levels (especially for younger girls), and realistic usage constraints.  No one in the meeting from the community had positive feedback. Despite sharing this feedback and concerns, there has been no follow up from the Y on this topic, despite efforts to get information on the next steps.  We would like to get an even more feedback from members and the community and bring this information to the Y, and also potentially share with donors who support the YMCA. Even if you are not personally uncomfortable with this change, hopefully you understand that the lack of space will impact everyone, especially if you use the Y during more busy times.  

Please share your thoughts in the comments section of this page, and we ask that you sign this petition, and share with other Y members. Again - we have NO objection to ADDING more universal spaces to the Y to support any community members that need or prefer this option.  This can be achieved without removing the existing locker rooms.