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Health & Fitness

Why Not A Y?

Building a YMCA could serve our community for decades if not a century.

The city is developing a new project Village Marketplace, in the old Lucky's lot which has been used for parking of late. The plan calls for 5 stores on East 14th Street and a small 10,000 square foot grocery store in the back of the lot. Local citizens were asked to attend and with the developers and come up with suggestions.

At the meeting I suggested building a YMCA on the site instead of a grocery store. This is the ideal time to do something like this with . There will be 3,000 new Kaiser employees and what better way to lure them downtown than with a YMCA and some interesting stores and restaurants.

Kaiser likes to promote health through exercise for both their staff and for their members. Not only would a "Y" help them meet this goal, it might also persuade more of their staff to settle in our fair city. You can never have enough doctors and other health care professionals in your community .

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The city could also work out a package membership program for its  own employees which arguably in the long run would mean lower taxes because a healthier city work force is cheaper to insure.

 I've done some initial leafleting on this issue and got a very positive response from almost everyone I talked to.

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Leah Simone Hall, who is also an enthusiast about this idea has been contacting  the key East Bay YMCA administrator and could play a pivotal role in helping us get a facility.

We should consider setting up a community meeting with YMCA adminstrators and people from Kaiser.

Concerened citizens at the meeting have also hoped the development would include some interesting stores or restaurants instead of chains. I am not an aficionado in this area but have noticed quite a few interesting Bay Area restaurant on the Food Network programs such as The Best Thing I Ever Ate and Diners, Dives and Drive Ins.

According to my count they have featured 53 Bay Area establishments which you can access at their web sites.

If Steve Jobs was an innovator in the computer field these restaurateurs fit that bill in the cooking trade.I'm pretty sure whatever restaurants end up in the project they would rather be across from a YMCA than a grocery store like the proposed Fresh & Easy that specializes in take out dinners.

Some might also argue that the project, which so far only includes chains, is a Big Business attack on Pelton Plaza across the street which doesn't have any chains.

The city also draws a lot of Oakland residents who spend their hard-earned  money benititing our businesses and sales tax revenue. Several soul food attempts have bit the dust in a restaurant front near the corner of East 14th Street and Dutton. Village Marketplace might also add some soul to their plans which would be not only a decent jesture but good business.

Lets hope the city council and mayor can be open-minded about how we develop for the future and hopefully a few will stand up and champion the YMCA option.

Many economist have argued lately that we have too many stores, too many credit cards and have had too few pay increases over the past few decades.

The phone numbers and email addresses of the mayor and city council are on the city web site www.sanleandro.org. Call them and ask them "Why not a "Y"?

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