Member Notice: Four Things

Dear Member,

With summer soon behind us and the fall season starting next week, I was asked by some of the Club’s department heads to reach out to you about a few areas of day-to-day concern. I do try to minimize how often I interrupt your days, but I also want to support our Club directors as much as possible in fulfillment of their responsibilities. As always, I very much appreciate your attention.

15-Minute Parking
I did not think this needed further explanation because some of the parking signs out front read “15 Minute Parking”. 15-minute parking would mean parking for no more than 15 minutes in these designated spots. But because this 15-minute parking policy was never enforced until now, Katharine suggested I elaborate on it further.

When we designed this building, we knew from our experience at 1240 Soldiers Field Road that many members and visitors have quick business at the Club, or need space to wait by the front doors for their skaters to exit. (Because how often does a skater leave right at their appointed time??) Hence, we designed the front entrance to have long curbs for idling, and 15-minute parking areas when needed to wait longer or to leave your car unattended for a short amount of time. Truth be told, the previous Club Director did not think this was worth their time to manage, and cars have been allowed to stay in these spots unattended. When Mia Bailey joined our management team in late May, I wrote the membership to announce Mia’s arrival, and to share that members should expect better and more even application of the Club’s rules and policies. This included outside the building as well as on the ice. I think Mia and her team are doing a great job of gently but firmly educating members who have relied upon those spots for long-term parking that they can no longer rely upon the same. (If left to my own devices, I would have likely just levied fines and put boots on the wheels of the offending cars. A sign is a sign, right?) But that is just one reason everyone is very happy to have Mia in her role as Club Director and not me. Thank you everyone for gracing management with this opportunity to catch up on what should never have been allowed in the first place. I promise that you will thank us each time you need 15-minute parking and there is an available spot for you.

Rest Rooms Closed for Cleaning
This is a very important message that I ask every member to communicate to their skater. When the restrooms are closed for cleaning during the day, they are closed for cleaning. We try to minimize this happening, but with all the many folks using them throughout the day, we want to keep them as clean as possible for everyone. When the door is propped open and the cleaning cart is blocking access and folks are cleaning, that means the restroom is being cleaned and is closed for use. But many of our skaters are ignoring this, moving the cart and entering and using the restroom while it is being cleaned. This puts our cleaners in a very vulnerable, and frankly, untenable position. This is especially true when Tony is cleaning the women’s restrooms and he is not comfortable telling a member to leave. He is an adult male and the kids are mostly underage. This is a clear SkateSafe violation and not by Tony’s doing. We are going to add hanging signs that say the restroom is closed, as well as block the entrance. Please also know we never clean all the restrooms at once. There are restrooms in both the east and west lobbies on both levels of the building. Please educate your skaters to not use a restroom when it is closed for cleaning. We cannot put our Club employees at risk for any confusion or misunderstandings.

Reduction in Paper Products
As part of the Club’s desire to be more green and less wasteful, we will no longer be giving away empty cups from the 1240 Cafe. These are being used to fill with water at our complimentary, filtered water stations, and then dumped in the trash after a single use. And from what I am told, it appears to be the same members who do this on a daily basis. We installed the complimentary, filtered water stations for the convenience of our members and to save them from feeling the need to purchase bottled water – which is also damaging to the environment. Please bring a water bottle. Or purchase a Club water bottle. Or worst case, purchase a bottle of water. But securing empty paper cups from the 1240 Cafe will no longer be an option.

On the same subject of paper products, we are going to try eliminating paper towels from the restrooms to encourage members and visitors to use the installed, Dyson hand dryers. This will not only save on the amount of paper towels we dispose of, but also to stop the ongoing flushing of wads of paper towels in the toilets. Signage or no signage, folks continue to improperly use the toilets for flushing these large items. The paper builds up and blocks the sewer pipes. The pipes are also not pleasant for our facility team to continually unblock. At times, our team is unblocking sewer pipes on a weekly basis. It has to stop.

Reminder of September 25th Closing
We will continue to send you reminders that the Club will be closed from 8:00 AM to Noon on Monday, September 25th, for organization-wide emergency response and evacuation training. Please make a note in your calendars, and if you regularly skate during that time, to make alternative plans with your coach.

As always, thank you for your time in reading these messages. Wishing everyone a great holiday weekend! We all look forward to seeing more of you at the Club with beach weather and summer vacations now slowly receding.

Sincerely,

Doug Zeghibe
Executive Director