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LONG BEACH, CA -- There's no doubt that when California State University Long Beach (CSULB) opened its $70 million recreation center last August, it was a good thing for the university and its current and future student population.
In addition to the obvious health and fitness opportunities the 126,500-square-foot complex offers, research at several universities shows that students who get involved in on-campus activities, such as working out in the rec center, are more likely to return the next year.
But the facility's opening wasn't good news for everyone. In December, the Frog's Fitness club that has been on the CSULB campus for 15 years announced that it would close its doors for good at the end of the month. Kari Bedgood, a spokesperson for Frog's parent company, Club One, San Francisco, says the club had about 2,500 members before the student rec center opened, and about 700 to 800 of those members were students. The club's membership levels started to drop immediately after the rec center's opening, Bedgood says, and Frog's could no longer extend the service levels its customers deserved and expected under the circumstances.
Despite that, the company is not placing the onus for Frog's closing entirely on the new rec center.
"There were a number of factors that contributed to the closure of our club," Bedgood says. "It's difficult to say if things could have been done differently."
The closure of Frog's is a disappointment to many in the community who will now have to find a new place to work out. Unlike some other university rec centers today, CSULB's new facility does not offer memberships to the general public. In an attempt to assuage any inconvenience when the club closed, Club One approached the university about extending privileges to its current members, but as of press time, a deal still seemed unlikely to Bedgood.
"Because the rec center was built and operates on student funding, a massive vote would be necessary to allow Frog's members into the rec center," she says. "Therefore, it does not look probable for our members getting access."
However, there is some good news for the seniors and disabled club members who chose Frog's for its specialized wellness center and physical therapy program—the club and the university have found a way to continue to offer these services. According to Bedgood, Frog's Beach Wellness Center and Golden Aging program will remain in its current space until June. After that, CSULB's College of Health and Human Services will take over the program and run it elsewhere on campus.
Frog's isn't the only for-profit to find it could not retain its members after a new university rec center opened its doors. Leading Edge, a fitness center in Amherst, MA, hung on for one year after the new recreation center at the nearby University of Massachusetts opened, but it finally closed its doors last October for financial reasons. Last June, Amherst Athletic Club, also in Amherst, MA, closed after 28 years. Its owner, Larry Kelley, told the Daily Hampshire Gazette of Northampton, MA, that both the low-price Planet Fitness club in the area and the university rec center were factors in his decision to close the club.
"I knew we'd be in trouble if the recreation center opened," Kelley said. "You can't compete with free."
It's difficult to blame the students for moving their memberships. Use of the spacious, state-of-the-art facility is paid for through the university's mandatory student union fee. And you can't find fault with a university for building a facility its students wanted and voted to pay for through a fee increase.
However, some for-profit club owners say that university rec centers present unfair competition, especially when the school opens memberships to the community.
"The International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) believes universities should restrict usage of their fitness facilities to their students, faculty and employees," says Meredith Poppler, IHRSA's vice president of industry growth. "Any use of such facilities by the general public should be subject to the appropriate federal and state taxes."
In at least one recent case, club owners decided to speak up.
Last spring, Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA), Nacogdoches, TX, elected to raise its monthly membership fees from $30 to $55 for alumni after hearing complaints from local for-profit club owners who said their business was being unfairly undercut by the university.
"The director of campus recreation at the time met with the vice president of university affairs and others, including some from the local [for-profit] club, to discuss the issue," says Ken Morton, who took over as SFA's director of campus recreation last fall. "After careful consideration, research and discussion, they made the decision to change the membership fee."
The compromise wasn't popular with all of those affected, explains Morton. He says that although some alumni members understood why the change was made, others were not happy with the decision and chose not to renew at the higher rate.
Although losing members is something every fitness facility—whether private or university-affiliated—wants to avoid, Morton says the university acted in the best interests of the community at large.


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LOS ANGELES >> You almost had to wonder who would come out of the locker room after halftime. Then again, if the Lakers were unrecognizable on Wednesday, what will they look like after today's trading deadline.
At Staples Center, though, maybe it didn't matter because the fans who have already given up on the 2013-14 season were there for some unfinished business from last summer.
Dwight Howard returned after spurning the Lakers in free agency last year, and the booing was basically a distraction from the 134-108 thumping the Houston Rockets put on the Lakers.
Inside the Lakers blog | Box score
Worse, Howard put on a show the first three times he touched the ball. The first was a left-handed hook over Chris Kaman. The next was a baseline dunk, after which he drew a technical foul for a little extra celebration.
Howard, who didn't play after the third quarter, followed with a rebound dunk, and he finished with 20 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. James Harden added 29 points and 11 assists. Chandler Parsons had 18 points.
Kendall Marshall had 20 points and 16 assists and Wesley Johnson scored 24 for the Lakers, but it was all about the boos.
There were torrents of jeers for the big man who chose to take his talents to South Texas. They started when he walked on to the court for warmups an hour before tipoff. They continued during the national anthem when he appeared on the scoreboard video board, team introductions and every time he touched the ball.
He might as well have been a member of the Boston Celtics. They might get a better reception Friday.
Howard was ready for anything, since he had already gone through a similar welcome from the fans in Orlando. And aside from the technical foul, he kept his cool, talked to a couple of fans, smiled now and then and even joined in one of the "Howard sucks" chants.
"We're always going to have fun when we're playing basketball," Howard said. "We love what we're doing.
"I wanted to come out here and show the fans here that I'm about winning. Unfortunately (last season) I just wasn't healthy enough and neither was the team."
So the eight players left in uniform for the Lakers trotted out to take on a team that won its eighth consecutive game. And they were depleted once again.
In the first of many expected moves before Thursday's noon trading deadline, guard Steve Blake — who had just left the court after warmups to change into his uniform — discovered he had been traded to Golden State.
In return, the Lakers get MarShon Brooks and Kent Bazemore, who had received scant playing time for the Warriors. Blake will fit right in as a reserve guard for a team gearing for a deep playoff run. The Lakers will simply try to shave their payroll.
And the rumors continued to swirl around the Lakers. Jordan Hill, who could apparently end up in any one of four or five cities, was still playing in a gold uniform.
Injured center Pau Gasol, another piece of the rumor puzzle, joined the Lakers on the bench for the second half. He's still a practice or two from returning from a strained groin.
"He had a good practice (Tuesday), looked upbeat," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said of Gasol. "But the trade deadline is for everybody. Everybody has to deal with it. When you're with a team that's out of the playoff hunt right now, obviously that looms over everybody and I'm sure a lot of guys will breathe a sigh of relief when it's all over."
Not to mention D'Antoni, who had to wheel and deal on the fly after Blake left the building. The coach didn't feel much like looking ahead to whatever other moves the Lakers will make.
"Right now I'm just anticipating getting a bunch of Advil because I've got a little knife stuck in my eye right here," D'Antoni said afterward. "We'll see what happens, we'll deal with it."

subset: commoncrawl


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text: On Sep 17, 2008, at 11:39 AM, Lux, James P wrote: > > > A big disadvantage of in-house is that it leads to an inventory of > ancient gear that becomes hard to maintain, and balkanized ownership > (we bought that for Project X, and though Project X is long gone, > the former staff of Project X still owns it). A big advantage of in- > house is that you can walk across the street and pick up an > oscilloscope. > > Jim We had some issues with these NASA owned machines in the previous department i worked for. Because of arcane rules of ownership and what could be done with these machines, they sat in a closet for years (they may still be there) because noone knew what could be legally done with these extrememly outdated and useless machines. Naveed


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I had to leave AirVenture before Elektra One finally got cleared for take-off, so the description of her flight on Saturday afternoon comes from my colleague, Mike Mularski, SolarWorld's account manager based in Milwaukee, WI, who joined me at Oshkosh for the week.
Elektra One was moved to the airshow's center stage, the ConocoPhillips Plaza, on Saturday morning for her flight, attracting a huge crowd. Piloted by PC-Aero's test-pilot Norbert Lorenzen, she took off under crystal clear skies. The official flight announcer emphasized that Elektra One was an actual plane, not a powered glider, and he mentioned the additional 15-percent flight time she'll get with the use of solar on the wings.
All thumbs-up at pre-flight: Norbert Lorenzen, pilot, Sasha Voitle, mechanic, Calan Gologan, designer, and Mike Mularski, SolarWorld account manager
He called the plane "the wave of the future", and much to SolarWorld's delight, even noted that it will be marketed as a very affordable package, complete with our solar hanger. Evidently, the challenge was not in flying the plane; it was tougher to roll the plane back to the Innovation Hangar through a crowd estimated at 100,000 without clipping anyone with the wings!
Take-off of Elektra One
Mike Mularski, who's been attending the Oshkosh airshow for more than 30 years, part of a long-standing family tradition, was thrilled to be at this show this year in a professional capacity. "I jumped at the chance to promote SolarWorld's leadership in transforming the aviation industry through electric powered flight," he said. "This truly is the Wright Brother's plane of electric flight, and winning the Lindbergh award for innovation was just icing on the cake for the week."
In the air at last