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Those “Missing” Bathrooms Part 2 of 6: The Decision to Delete Bathrooms from the Community Services Building or, the failure of common sense to prevail
Consider this. With those bathrooms already designated for the annex building, the building's occupants would not have to walk the 375 feet from the annex building to a bathroom off the main corridor in the recreation center building. They would not have to endure the searing heat of summer, the bitter cold in winter or the rain they might encounter in the process of simply going to the bathroom in the nearby recreation center. No, it would be a genuine relief not to have to exit their workplace and go outside to find a bathroom in the adjoining building. In the case of the CS Building, the presence of a bathroom was a real and needed personal convenience. Regrettably, though, that was not the view of our resident led design team. Despite being a real needed and personal convenience utility, bathrooms were not on the short list of items having a priority for the design team. Had they been on the design team's list, the bathrooms would not have eliminated. So why were the bathrooms eliminated? At the time Del Webb fixed the size of the annex building at roughly 3,300 sq. ft., the issue came up on the best way to utilize that limited space for the various services occupying the building. And when it came down to a decision to either retain the already present bathrooms in the design or to provide an additional 110 sq. ft. of working floor space, the amount of space needed for a men’s and women’s bathroom, our resident design team decided to eliminate the bathrooms. It was either keep the bathrooms or free up 110 sq. ft. In the minds of our decision makers, the obvious convenience of having nearby bathrooms in the CS Bldg., compared to ones 375 feet away in another building, was not sufficient reason to meet a convenience need for all occupants compared to the "benefit" that an additional 110 sq. ft. of floor space would provide. The bathroom issue was never about cost since the bathrooms were always present in the design and the decision to eliminate the bathrooms was ours to make. With roughly 3,300 sq. ft. of space in the annex building to work with, finding that 110 sq. ft. of space for bathrooms was considered unacceptable to our decision makers. While that was their judgment call back then, in retrospect, one can ask whether more effort should have gone into finding that 110 sq. ft. of space to meet the convenience needs of the building’s future occupants. Of the six users in the building, that's equivalent to only 18 sq. ft. per user! ** Can we free up 110 sq. ft. of space for bathrooms at this late date? Of course. A little leadership from the right parties can do wonders to remedy this serious omission. Will that leadership be forthcoming? Ron Johnson, 24 July 2006 _________________________________________________ ** RMI staff; Security; Emerg. Prep; Minuteman; Community Service Club; & Communications volunteers
Part 1 of 6: On Doing the Right Thing While everyone knows there are no bathrooms in the Community Services Bldg., there is less agreement on what to do about it. The right thing to do would be to sit down and work together to see what can be done to acquire a badly needed convenience facility for the use of our residents and staff. However, such efforts are not yet underway. Has something gone astray or terribly wrong? Logic would lead most residents to conclude that the one person most responsible for Del Webb’s gift to the community—the addition to Independence Center of the Community Services Bldg.—would be heading the charge to do the right thing. If anything, doing the right thing is what Favil West is all about. He, and we as the beneficiaries of his enduring will to prevail, take great pride in Favil doing the right thing. But today, as we search our minds and hearts for that right thing to be done, Mr. West is acting like the reluctant bride being dragged to the altar. For Favil now to turn his back on the community on a matter of providing a needed convenience facility in the CS Bldg. would be a tragic mistake and a very disappointing outcome for all concerned. Most of us understand that now as president of the Association, Mr. West is in a unique position to overcome any reluctance he might have had in the past to address this pressing matter of personal convenience. We all know that Mr. West is capable of overcoming great obstacles when he sets his mind to it. While I am not accustomed to asking much, I will be sending out a swarm of positive thoughts asking Favil to do the right thing. While he may not be receiving my thoughts at this particular moment, hopefully he will be more receptive to the guidance offered by others. In the end, we should be able to agree and trust in our hearts that Favil West knows only too well what the right thing to do is in bringing this matter to a successful and beneficial outcome. Ron Johnson, 12 July 2006Part 1: On doing the right thing |
The most intriguing and yet the most troubling aspect of the missing bathrooms in the Community Services Annex Building is that the bathrooms were actually included in the original design of that annex building. Yes, this most valued personal convenience was right there a few feet away for staff, volunteers and residents to use as the need arose. Who in their right mind would have thought otherwise.