YMCA fights for lake front offices.

All CEOs are frustrated interior decorators and they are all obsessed with status. You can just imagine how the current CEO thinks a Lake view gives added prestige. Its quite ridiculous for the Y to be using boating facilities as office administration.

What would the Village People say.

I see the YMCA bureacracy are still at it. Students of the YMCA’s history will have noticed that many different sporting and other entities that used to have “YMCA” in front of their names now do not, due to the national organisation trying to appropriate the facilities of said entities, despite the YMCA never having had any involvement in the establishment of the entities, and certainly no financial involvement.

Back in the middle of the 1900s onward, for small grass-roots clubs and groups, it was advantageous to come in under the YMCA’s umbrella, for insurance and to enable them to negotiate bank loans. This fitted in with the YMCA’s charter of providing healthy social outlets for outdoor pursuits and other worthy and positive activities, so everyone was happy. It was affiliation though, not ownership.

In the mid-90s, however, a change at the top had the YMCA now claiming ownership of the various facilities, which prompted a flurry of legal actions, groups seceding from the organisation and changing their names. Sounds like the YMCA Sailing Club is too closely aligned with the YMCA to do this, more’s the pity. It won’t end well.

Good on ACTPLA for finally enforcing the breaching of lease usage on the lake and listening to Yarralumla Residents Association.

The ACAT decision will be eagerly awaited. The YMCA could have applied for a draft variation but just chose to stealthfully outfit the building for lakeside offices. The CEO and staff may just have to put up with their Hackett offices. Anyone associated with this organisation should contact the board and ask them how people in power have been responsible for the negative publicity this will bring them. Now the lawyers have to be paid.

It would be hoped that the YMCA sailors are not dis-advantaged by the decision.

They finally put her in there eh? The greater YMCA have been angling for this for many years. It was discussed at YMCA sailing club meetings over 10 years ago, and pointed out to the YMCA that the lease prohibits such use.

Hopefully I’ll still be able to sail with the YMCA SC when this all gets through the wash.