why?

Do you know something that we don't know? Tell us why....vague and unsubstantiated statements like this don't work for me...

Nothing good will come of this for those that pay for services. There are purchasing benefits touted as a good thing but the long haul does not appear promising. Giving up local control leads to a distancing of the outfit from its members. Sort of like shopping Main street v Walmart.

Please get your facts right before you spew your lies and hatred...Rather get with the program or get the hell out!!

Where in the world do you get this mis-information from??? Not one Freedom Valley Y employee or volunteer that will make a dime because of this merger ... other than ALL full time employees who will have a better retirement plan. I am one of a few board members who sets the compensation plan and retirement plan for the CEO of Freedom Valley and I was on the merger committee that helped draft the merger plan. This is just factually untrue. Please stop saying things that you have no knowledge of. I would be happy to meet with you or anyone who wants us to repeat the facts that have been provided.

My sentiments exactly Michelle...especially in view of the fact that we will still be able to enjoy the marvelous facilities that we are so privileged to use..The fact that we are a part of a larger community does not alter or diminish us in any way..The Board of the YMCA has never let us down...There is no ulterior motive in what they have done...none are being enriched by it...They are all volunteers..most have held senior positions in Companies...and are definitely not leading us off the cliff like a bunch of lemmings ..There has not been any valid reason given by anyone of why this merger should not have happened..I attended the Town Hall meeting and could not believe how rude and arrogant people were as well as the insinuations that were made. I was disgusted at the personal attacks made on Board members..Believe me I know we all have a right to know exactly what was happening...but this was blatant disrespect..and offensive..as were the insinuations that theft would increase as a result of the busloads coming in from Philly...Some people need to catch a wake-up...and step into 2012...

How can they be losing local control when half the board is from FV?? The Board has gone to great lengths to explain that Philadelphia had 50 members on their Board and that they are now reduced to 18. There will only be 36 slots...FV will have the other 18...(Their Board pre-merger had 24 members) If anyone is losing out it is Philadelphia.

You do realize that the Philly Y consists of 10 branches, half of which are outside of Philly like Ambler, Abington and Haverford. Y management did a lousy job of communicating that becoming part of a larger regional Y system that by bringing together the Philadelphia and Freedom Valley Y's that more large-scale corporate funding would be possible, and many costs would go down due to greater purchasing power.

Am I not mistaken- was it not the investment and vision of the Phoenixville YMCA BOARD that is responsible for the very existence of Spring Valley?? Was the SV Y not expanded last year by BOARD decision to make it the first class facility that it is? Because the Y is there for the community and not customized for you, you feel the need to denigrate it, and the outstanding efforts of the Board!

Closed sighted ignorance like yours is what is bringing this country down. Thank you for your insightful comment.

I like that the person who is pointing out the possibility that the clamor could be racially motivated is the person who is being closed-sighted and ignorant. I would choke on the irony of that statement if I didn't already expect that type of reaction from some of the bigots who normally post here.

I'm not that familiar with the terms of this merger, but I was somewhat clued in about (what I think was) a similar situation in another state. The Philly Y is not one YMCA. It's a system of locations under the same management. The Freedom Valley Y is joining that system.

Where I was involved, the Y that joined the system was small and struggling to provide programming (which I gather is not the case here). The benefits to being part of a broader system include collective purchasing power and also the opportunity to share programs across locations. There's some benefit to being able to plan for multiple locations all at once. It's less time consuming, you get more perspectives, you can learn from the experiences of more people. And, different locations can help with one another's shortcomings (by providing knowledge or equipment, sharing personnel, or just letting members travel for specialized services). The downside is that the management is further from the local members. They're physically farther away & the voting power of people at the local Y is diluted by members from other locations. Also, while there are benefits to sharing programs, it can lead to more of a one-size-fits-all feel.

In the merger I saw, people continued to mostly go to their local branch. People travelled for a few programs, but that effect was small. There was a little less local involvement in decision making, too, but the impact was mostly positive. FV's results may vary, of course.

I am a member of the freedom Valley board and I made some comments below that might help explain the "big picture" and the reasons behind this merger. Please see below ...

I am a member of the FV YMCA board and I posted some comments below to try to explain further why we want to merge with Philly. Most of the negative comments and concerns are about the short term effect that the merge will have on members. The REAL reason for the merger has little to do with the short term impact on members and almost everything to do with our ability to provide the same and better facilities and services to MORE people (especially the needy and challenged) and to areas that are not served by a Y now. We invested in the construction of Spring Valley and we will have similar facilities in Upper Perk and Audubon/Norristown soon. We will be able to continue to reach out to more and more people who need out services with this merger. Also ... by becoming one of the most financially stable Y's in the country we will be able to react much more effectively when a current branch runs into financial problems in the future. Please see further comments below.

In the email that was sent to members about the flyer left at the Y branch it was pointed out that the author was not only warning against bus loads of inner-city Y Members coming to our branches but it also pointed out that a merger with the Main Line Y or Exton Y would be fine. The email sent to members did not specifically state their was racial bigotry (although it is very possible) but it was at a minimum culturally biased. The Y is here for people of all races, religions, income levels and cultures.

The Freedom Valley Y certainly understands that the author of the flyer only represents a very few people who feel this way but it is imperative that we make it clear that the leadership of the Y does not tolerate this line of thinking and we don't want it used as scare tactics.

Considering that this flyer wasn't ever even seen by the overwhelming majority of the voting membership, it should be obvious that this was a shameful attempt to manipulate the vote by insinuating that anyone who didn't go along with the agenda was simply a bigot. For all the complaints about misinformation - there was an article in the Pottstown Mercury (Nov. 5) which stated:
"Members of current Freedom Valley YMCA branches won’t be able to patronize the Philadelphia-area branches and vice versa, he said. Schaeffer noted that the merger of the Pottstown and Phoenixville YMCAs five years ago was “very, very positive,” and that “the same will be true here.”
You would think that people who were so concerned about misinformation being spread would have made it a point to correct this obvious falsehood immediately.

I personally hope this all works out, but I have NO respect for the shamefully manipulative tactics that were used to ramrod this idea - whose benefits were so obvious that no one even considered them until four months ago (3 months of which the membership was kept completely in the dark) - and then suddenly became a matter so urgent that there was no time to waste.

I want to add some additional comments to help members understand as many issues as possible. Again ... this is coming from a board member of the Freedom Valley Y.
There has been many false statements made about the motivation of the top management of the Y.
The compensation of the CEO of Freedom Valley is set using guidelines established by the national YMCA. His compensation is fair and is lower than it would be if he were working for a "for-profit" company.
His compensation is not effected at all by the merger. The CEO announced his retirement plans a year ago and his retirement would take place with or without the merger.
Unlike board members of "for-profit" companies the board members of the Y have nothing financially to gain from the decisions they make. Most board members are members of the Y ... they use the Y ... their families use the Y. We want the best for the Y because we want great service and great facilities for ourselves and our families.
More importantly we also are committed to the mission of the Y. We want to help needy families who can't afford what we have to offer. We are currently building two more major facilities in Upper Perk and the Audubon/Norristown area that will enable us to provide services to many, many more people. The merger with Philly will allow us to continue this expansion in the future and it will and allow us to reach out to even more areas that are not served by a YMCA ... WITHOUT negatively impacting what we have now

How many elections do you right wing nuts have to lose before realizing you are the problem? The majority does not agree with you. Period. End of story. From the Spring Valley YMCA to the White House, you are on the wrong side of history.

Get a clue or get a passport and leave. It's really that simple.

John Q ... I posted some comments about this shortly after you posted your comment so you may want to check out the comments above. The Flyer used by an opponent to the merger was left on our information tables and it used our logo to make it appear it was from us. While we never claimed it was racially biased it was clearly culturally biased and meant to warn people about the problems with people from the "city" ... including theft. There have also been many, many absolute mis-statement of facts in emails, newspapers and verbally. Are you suggesting that it is not appropriate for us to address these attacks head-on? If these comments were just verbal between members that is one thing but when they attempt to distribute obviously false statements with inflammatory remarks on flyers with the Y's logo ... this had to be responded to. As a matter of interest ... do you think it was an appropriate tactic for those opposing the merger to distribute anything ... even if it were truthful ... on documents with our logo???

The Race Card! Never leave home without it. What could be more effective that suggesting 'racism' to stop the loyal opposition in their tracks, while claiming the moral high road? We can all pat our collective selves on the back, with a sense of relief, knowing we aren't the racists. Well done.

John Q, I'm guessing you aren't even a member of the Y and are just here trolling with your racist BS!

You and Jack Minster should meet up in Valley Forge park or a rest stop on the turnpike!

Dear 1, I do feel people - with little evidence - are much too quick to flash the 'race card' to win arguments, although I cannot deny its effectiveness. Merger proponents, who may be the only people who saw the flyer, merely suggested 'racism,' and that was enough to suppress the opposition vote, who simply stayed home. I was in the Y the night the flyer was allegedly distributed, but knew nothing of it until I read about it here. The alleged 'racist' flyer certainly helped the merger to succeed.

do you know what you are talking about? Such drivel...get a life and stop talking baloney!!You would not even be able to organize a bird in a cage..I don't see any of you numb nuts standing in line to volunteer ...probably never did anything in life except whine and moan...Catch a wake....time to move on..

Well said ... bravo.

What debacle? I looked at your previous comments and I could not find any details about what negatives you think are occurring other than you are assuming there will be some loss of financial stability. Perhaps you could get a group of other dissenters and I would be happy to meet with you to give everyone more details and answers to your questions. As you point out we are now very financially stable and the board who helped provide this financial stability is the same one that wants to merge with Philly. Is there some reason to think that our judgement suddenly became less effective? The national YMCA has been promoting mergers of Y's because they have observed how the financial condition of the larger Y's are able to weather bad times so much easier. Where are you getting your "facts"? Perhaps you are hearing things from members who are just making assumptions without any facts. Ironically when we decided to invest in the construction of Spring Valley, Upper Perk and Audubon we had minimal complaints or concerns about any of those decisions which were mush more likely to cause a negative financial impact to the existing members who gained virtually nothing from these large expansions. Fortunately a majority of the members (shareholders) did vote to support our decision so it looks like our volunteer ... unpaid ... positions are secure for a while. Despite this support we still want to address the concerns of those who were against the merger ... including your concerns.

What mismanagement are you talking about...? Do you just suck these things out of no where?Do you know what the word secession means...? Have you ever worked in the corporate world? Your comments are unfounded and totally beyond the realms of reality...You are just spewing and spewing the biggest lot nonsense...check it may be time for your meds...

I'm sure nobody will miss one less fatty blocking two lanes on the indoor track.

In hind-site I think we should have held the Town Hall meeting about one or two weeks earlier and then we could have offered to meet a second time with those who did not get their questions answered. I have been involved with several mergers and expansions since 1984 and this is the first one where there was so much emotional interest from one branch. This did take some of the leadership by surprise but I frankly felt that every question and issue was addressed between the handouts, emails, web site and the meeting. Is there a specific question that was not answered? I realize that members may not have liked some of our answers but I can't see how we hid anything or jammed anything down anyone's throat. If a member does not believe that the leadership is telling the truth, it typically means the member has already decided which way they are going to vote. We communicated to our members in many ways for at least a month and we had little resistance or problems from any of our 5 branches except Spring Valley. Frankly if members were allowed to vote by mail or online ... or ... if they could drop a ballot at their local branch when they visited over a one week period the results would have been much more in favor of the merger. I am sure you will agree that it is typically those who oppose an issue that are motivated to come out and vote. From my personal experience in talking to members at Phoenixville I would say that a vast majority favored the merger but few voted.

Thanks for your comments. Your point about Philly having most of their branches in the suburbs was probably not communicated clearly to many members but at theTown Hall meeting where hundreds of concerned members from Spring Valley were present we presented the maps of both FV and Philly and then what the map of our combined branches would look like. At the meeting members who supported the merger disputed that Philly members would skip all of the other nearby branches and come all the way out to Spring Valley but apparently some SV members were still concerned that their facilities would become even more crowded. Also ... the Pennsylvania state laws require that members must be present to vote at not-for-profit special meetings like Thursday's vote,

Thanks again for your support and I think I am going to stop commenting on Patch for now but if any member would like to meet with me or others you can approach your branch management and I am sure they will help to arrange a meeting with someone to answer questions and address issues. I am very enthusiastic about the future of the YMCA and hopefully years from now members will conclude this was a good decision when they see ... the current services and facilities have only improved and that ... we have at least two new full-service branches in Upper Perk and Audubon/Norristown serving tens of thousands of additional members and ... that we are able to provide substantially more scholarships to needy families than we are now.