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GYM MEMBERS RALLY AFTER POOL CLOSES SUDDENLY

April 14, 2015 | 9:56 PM
in NEWS
19

west end gym

A gym that recently changed ownership has suddenly closed its pool, and is charging members $10 a month just to maintain their memberships while they wait for the fixes, a member tells us.

The West End Health & Fitness, formerly the Paris Health Club, at West End Avenue and 97th street, has changed ownership at least once since last year, and members have complained to us about everything from the change in contracts to a lack of heat and hot water in the gym. The protest last month centered around the gym’s decision to close the pool on short notice for six months, giving members the option to use a pool at the 92nd street Y on the East side. “Who among us wants to go all the way over to the East Side?” wrote Mark Levy, a gym member. Levy said the members had a few relatively simple requests.

“The members had three main requests: a) Waive any membership fees for pool users until the pool is re-opened; b) guarantee that those affected will not be required to pay a new-member initiation fee; and c) that club management use all their best efforts to develop alternate temporary access to nearby (west side) pools.”

The release also asks the gym to treat the staff better. “The club has suffered a tremendous turnover in staff as it has gone through repeated management changes in the past few years.”

Though the pool has closed, the gym continues to highlight it as an amenity: “West End Health & Fitness boasts one of the largest privately owned pools in Manhattan and is one of the only fitness facilities in the area to offer such an amenity.”

The gym did not respond to requests for comment.

Photo courtesy of Mark Levy.

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Evan
Evan
10 years ago

Holy First World Problems, Batman. Protest signs, really? I can get as indignant as anyone but people need better things to do with their time if they’re making homemade oak-tag protest signs over their GYM! I’ve lived on the UWS for 12 years and live a block from the Paris gym…

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Mark
Mark
10 years ago
Reply to  Evan

It’s important to note that Health Club members went outside with our “homemade oak-tag” signs only after having several conversations inside with facility management trying to reach some sort of compromise. It seems that regional and/or national “NFC Amenities Management” kept dictating policy actions to the local facility managers. “NFC” brags on their website that they have experience servicing “gated communities” and high end resort facilities. Is that what our west side is coming to? If so, this is just one of many that local residents and seniors will be fighting over the coming years. We tried talking to management, but they turned a deaf ear — hoping we would just go away. Hey, that’s the West Side we know and love.

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Jeremy
Jeremy
10 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Your demand of: “Waive any membership fees for pool users until the pool is re-opened” is kinda bananas. You probably should just quit the club, no?

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Old Broad
Old Broad
10 years ago
Reply to  Evan

The closing of the pool may seem like a first world problem to you, but for some of the residents at the Williams Residence for Seniors just down the street, the pool was the best physical therapy they could get. Crippled by arthritis and other problems, the daily swim offered relief from pain and exercise they could not otherwise get.

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Jeremy
Jeremy
10 years ago

They seem happy.

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Pedestrian
Pedestrian
10 years ago

I wish these member much luck. Most corporations large and small treat both staff and customers as nasty annoyances they have to put up with to make money. They promised a pool; they are still promising a pool and these people paid for a poll. I say protest away!

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Aunt Renie
Aunt Renie
10 years ago

Wonderful pool on 60th St btw 10th & 11th Ave. $25 a year for seniors! I usually have to take a bus there and back but its a beautiful facility. Its run by the NYCParks Dept….unfortunately it is always closed on Sunday. I was a member at Paris years ago…but prices increased too much and facility upkeep went down. It needed a big shot of cash to upgrade….and owners with good business sense. I hope it succeeds and they learn how important a happy staff is….customers notice.

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Barbara
Barbara
10 years ago

Every day there is a problem at this gym. Doesn’t seem like anyone is really running the show. The whole facility should be renovated.

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Melissa
Melissa
10 years ago

I was planning to join West End Health and Fitness because of the pool. I definitely won’t be joining now, especially as long as they continue to treat members this way. It seems only reasonable to reduce the monthly fee while the pool is closed.

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Dr Dave
Dr Dave
10 years ago

There is a huge indoor (and outdoor in season) NYC pool in the Hudson River Park complex at West 135th. It has NO membership fee, and charges $1 per session (bring your own lock for the locker). Even with bus fare, this is FAR superior to Paris/West End. Let’s have a pool party!

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whatsupduck
whatsupduck
10 years ago

The saddest part of this situation is that these aging hippies were making signs 40 years ago….IN THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, JUSTICE, ETC.

Kvetching over your pool membership?

“Where have all the flowers gone, lalala….”

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Joe
Joe
10 years ago
Reply to  whatsupduck

Anyone think this disrespectful millennial “whatsupduck” will make it past 40 himself?

(Probably not — he obviously doesn’t care about his own health and eats pee-ZHAAAAH three times a day!

Just for the record, the Paris has a long, long history of bad management. I was a member for a couple of years back in the 80s. Lots of broken equipment, disinterested staff, etc.

I get by these days with walking, and using free weights in my apartment.

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Sharon
Sharon
10 years ago

SO glad I canceled my membership to that POS gym months ago. The pool was closed more often than not, with no notice. Also there was supposedly swim lessons but every time I made an appointment I was stood up, five times in a row because their “scheduling system was down.” Really? Five times in a row, after both a call and email confirmation?

For $93 a month I can go a lot of other places.

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Myra Friedman
Myra Friedman
10 years ago

Everyone who uses the Paris does so because it is a neighborhood gym or is economical. A gym that slashes services is no longer economical and not even a neighborhood gym. As a member for 32 years this comes as a blow to my routine and my health.

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Jason
Jason
10 years ago

A lot of people join the gym specifically to swim. The new ownership purchased the gym last year, and constantly close it under the guise of repairs. One time I asked and the real reason was that they didn’t want to hire a lifeguard. The new management is shifty and should never have purchased the gym in the first place. It seems they are more interested in turning a profit to flip it then to actually run and welcoming gym.

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Jaye
Jaye
10 years ago

WEST SIDE RAG ROCKS!!!!!
Evan & whatsupducks, you are obviously new to the UWS, therefore, you have no idea of the way we live. You should pray and wish that you could GROW YOU to be like Mark!!!!!!
Jaye

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whatsupduck
whatsupduck
10 years ago
Reply to  Jaye

Born and bred 10023-er, but point taken!

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Joyce
Joyce
10 years ago

I have heard that there is a good chance that the pool may never re-open. It is very expensive to fix and it may not be cost effective for the owners. If that is the case, let the buyer be ware.The pool made the club special and it is why many of us were members.

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Bruce Bernstein
Bruce Bernstein
10 years ago

good for these UWSers for protesting. they are simply asserting their rights and attempting to get a grievance redressed — an old UWS tradition!

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