News

South End Fitness Center closed, converted to shelter for Long Island homeless

by Anonymous .
Thursday Oct 16, 2014

On Wednesday, October 8, Mayor Martin Walsh ordered the Long Island bridge closed, which forced the evacuation and relocation of all shelter and human services programs from Long Island indefinitely. According to Melina Schuler, senior media liaison for Mayor Walsh, the closure stemmed from an inspection conducted last week using updated safety criteria that found the bridge unsafe for passage. The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), which operates shelter and treatment programs on Long Island, closed the South End Fitness Center (SEFC) to members and re-purposed it as the new location of its Long Island services. According to the BPHC, the Long Island Shelter averaged about 440 guests per night and 250-300 people received mental health and addiction treatment services there as well. No timeline has been announced for the design and replacement of the Long Island bridge, although it is estimated to take up to five years with a total cost of approximately $90 million. In a letter dated October 9, interim BPHC executive director Huy Q. Nguyen informed members of the indefinite fitness center closure, told members to remove their belongings from their lockers by October 15 and offered a refund on their memberships.The SEFC was valued by its members, mostly from the South End and Lower Roxbury, for its reasonable $360 annual membership fee with discounts for seniors and students; its convenient evening and weekend hours and its 75-foot, 6 lane lap pool.

Reports have swirled for years that the Long Island bridge was in dangerous disrepair, and according to a Boston Globe report, Mayor Walsh visited Long Island's addiction programs approximately 10 years ago and noticed the bridge's poor condition. "Even then, it was obvious," Walsh said. "This bridge should have been addressed five or six or seven years ago. Why it wasn't comes down to the cost of it."

Retirees James Keeney and his wife, Dorothy are members of SEFC who became active in the Friends of South End Fitness Center group that fought the proposed closing of the fitness center as part of Trinity Financial's redevelopment of Northampton Square. James Keeney weighed in via e-mail on what SEFC meant to them and their future fitness plans. "We use the SEFC on average two to three times a week. We think the exercise facility at the SEFC was functional but in need of modernization.  However, the pool facilities there were excellent.  The basketball court appeared to be well used by both men and women's groups. We did get an e-mail notice on Wednesday night that the Center would "temporarily" close.  We have not heard from the BPHC.

Keeney continued, "We can understand the plight that led to the closing of the Center, though some reports are saying that the situation was known for a time before the event.  Thus, there might have been time to create alternative plans for the housing other than the Center. We think that some prior thought also should have been given to the needs of the populations that use the Center for health needs, namely, seniors from the area, populations from upper and lower Roxbury, and not least, BU medical and dental school students. We also are members of the BU-supported exercise facility at Blackstone Community Center, but Dorothy is reluctant to swim there in the pool as it doesn't compare to the Olympic-sized lap pool at the SEFC.  Moreover, the exercise area there is much smaller and does not have as varied equipment compared to what was at the SEFC.  Furthermore, Blackstone facilities don't open to the public until after school at 3:00 PM. We have investigated joining the privately-run Boston Sports Club at Harrison Ave and Union Park Street.  That center charges a lot more than the SEFC, but it is contemplating lower costs for "refugees" coming over from the SEFC. Another SEFC member who preferred to remain unnamed said, "I worry that [BPHC] decided to use the gym as a backlash," referring to the ongoing campaign to preserve the existing South End Fitness Center as part of the Northampton Square redevelopment project.

Dr. Robert Simms, a rheumatologist at BMC and professor of rheumatology at BU school of medicine, has led the Friends of the SEFC for over two years. "Although the initial estimates were not well defined, we understand that this is a temporary housing situation for these unfortunate folks who cannot get to the Long Island shelter. Our understanding is that this is a temporary solution. Our position is that certainly those unfortunate homeless people take priority. That said, it is surprising that BPHC didn't see this coming bridges have been falling down for years and that BPYC didn't have a contingency plan in place and is lacking on the part of BPHC. It speaks poorly of the ability of BPHC to respond to and anticipate problems with their infrastructure." Ironically, the closing of SEFC came about 10 days after two September 29 meetings between the Friends group and BPHC to get member input on a planned $7.4 million renovation of the fitness center. According to Simms, The SEFC was also slated to come under the management of the YMCA, which would oversee its management, promotion and the upcoming renovation. Simms added, "We would hope that it is a temporary solution and I think that time will tell. I don't know if you are aware that a couple of weeks plan is to hand over the mgt talks underway with YMCA senior staff to transition SEFC to the YMCA to manage it, promote it and oversee the renovation, the funding of which has been approved through city council. The city had planned to spend a substantial sum of money to renovate the facility. I am assuming BPHC was forced into it and had no other options to house the homeless people. It was kind of a striking halt to the renovation plan in progress," Simms observed.

Ironically, prior to the SEFC's emergency closing, the Friends group was coming to view itself as having fulfilled its purpose. Now the Friends group has a new challenge to address in finding new fitness accommodations for its members. "We have not met officially to discuss plans. After meetings on the renovation and YMCA takeover, people felt it was sort of mission accomplished. We were dedicated to fitness center's preservation and renovation and that was taking shape. We were planning not to meet as frequently and we have not met yet to discuss the shelter change. Earlier last week I did get a note from Bill McLaughin, the manager of SEFC that Boston Sports Club had made an offer of short term membership to refugees of SEFC. I think it was $30 per month," Simms said. Calls to Boston Sports Club to confirm this offer were not returned by press time. Simms concluded, "I think we are still interested in preservation of the SEFC. We hope disruption will be minimal for the homeless people and for us. It's hard to imagine in its current state that the gym is an adequate place to spend the night as a homeless person. Apparently there are there is no place to sit and eat and no cooking facilities. It's hard to imagine that it is adequate for this purpose for very long."

BPHC was contacted for comment on future plans for housing the dislocated Long Island shelter and treatment clients, but did not respond by press time.