At one skating rink, no one can skate anymore. No one can swim in the pool at one youth center.Computer-aided design has resulted in exceptional strength-to-weight ratios and extreme flexibility, giving the chemical hose excellent handling characteristics. Fire alarms and carbon monoxide monitors are MIA at others. A new study points out those problems at New Haven agencies that work with young people—and suggests some price-ticketed remedies. A firm called Diversified Technology Consultants (DTC) prepared the report for the Youth Services Committee of the Board of Aldermen. The study, presented last week at a committee meeting in City Hall, focuses on eight places where kids hang out: the New Haven Boys and Girls Club, Common Ground High School, the East Shore Park skating rink, Farnam Neighborhood House, LEAP, the Mitchell Branch Library, the shuttered "Barbell Club" in Trowbridge Square, and the YMCA Youth Center.
The consultants found that that youth facilities across town lack basic maintenance, from sufficient carbon monoxide monitors to routine asbestos cleaning. The report lays out lower-cost "low-hanging fruit" that the city can quickly address in order to keep kids safe. And it put price tags on some more ambitious projects that officials may or may not wish to undertake—such spending up to $2.6 million to revive the old "Barbell Club" in Trowbridge Square. The plan will help aldermen "get a full look at the landscape of services we have now and start building a more long-term plan of how we can fill in gaps, so we can build a New Haven where all the young people have access to what they need to thrive and be successful," said Yale Alderwoman Sarah Eidelson, who chairs the Youth Services Committee. A subcommittee chaired by West River Alderwoman Tyisha Walker commissioned the report. And they're a mess. Especially the old Barbell Club. Constructed in 1925 in a park-centered section of the Hill neighborhood, the building first served as a school, then a popular youth center, before closing. It has since been ravaged by thieves and by weather. Neighbors have sought in recent years to revive it as a community center; now a church is looking to buy it and fix it up. The city, which owns the building, says a deed restriction requires that the building serve youth. Click here and here for recent stories about that, and a walk-through amid the rubble.
The new DTC study puts the cost of restoring the building as a youth center at between $1.8 million and $2.6 million. The proposed work would include repairing masonry, weatherizing the roof, replacing all windows and exterior doors, sandblasting, repainting,A high precision bearing is a type of bearing that is housed within a cast-iron mounting bracket that doubles as the outer housing for the bearing. removing dropped ceilings, replacing pipes, removing floor tiles, replacing oak floors. For starters. "This is a for total renovation from the structural members, to avoid any liabilities or contractor warranty issues," the report states.An Industrial robot is an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes."The building has been vacant for several years and has been vandalized within its walls. The interior consists of classrooms, office space and a central basketball court. The building exterior is constructed of masonry. About 10 or the 15 percent of the masonry will need repointing. Many of the windows have been boarded or are covered with wire mesh to prevent entry. The windows themselves are in poor condition, deteriorated because of a lack of maintenance. These areas show considerable signs of water damage, either leakage or freeze-thaw deterioration."