Dear Editor. The return on investment (ROI) from bringing the YMCA to town according to the formula currently on the table, is not zero, but much less than zero, and becomes more negative as time goes on. The YMCA was a great organization at its inception a century ago.
Currently it is not a great organization. People need to understand this, quit apologizing for being against the YMCA, and go to the heart of the matter.
I consider the YMCA business model an example of: Socialism as a Self Fulfilling Prophesy.
All current arguments against the “Y” are nibbling at the edges of this concept without saying it, but that is what it is. The YMCA knows but will never admit it, because it is their business model, and how they garner a competitive advantage and ensure perpetual viability. Their business model in this way “creates” a further and ever increasing need for the “Y” to exist. The “Y” needs the “poor” and “low income” sector of society to justify their benevolent presence. Once established they “grow” this sector, by allowing a gullible city such as Abbotsford to “take from the haves and (through the “Y”) give to the have-nots until…”…
You can see where I am going. It is perfect. Someone needs to bring this awareness to the people in such a way that they see it clearly, and can agree to its fallacy. This will be difficult in our age of entitlement.
Cheers,
Eric van Steenis