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December 19, 2003 - Image 5

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 2003-12-19

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

Securing The JCC

I

appreciate the Jewish Community Center leadership
showing more interest in the security of its two build-
ings, but I'm not happy about the new assessment of
$60 per family to tighten protection. JCC leaders
Hannan Lis and David Sorkin notified each family of the
required charge by letter. The annual fee is projected to gener-
ate about $210,000.
"Our goal is to provide as safe and secure an environment as
reasonably possible for all of our member families, while
maintaining the same level of access and activity you've come
to expect," they wrote.
I already pay $800 a year for an executive
fitness membership, an amount I froze for
three years as health club renovations began a
few years ago. That's a substantial good-faith
investment in the JCC, knowing my dues
would rise following the lock-in period. It's
too bad enhanced security wasn't built into
the $34-million capital and endowment cam-
paign that the JCC unveiled in 1998 and
ROBERT A. modified several times.
SKLAR
Still I see merit in the assessment because
Editor
I'm not about to compromise on security.
I've been a user since the Meyers-Curtis
days and believe that we're a richer Jewish community because
of the JCC, despite the funding controversies that have
dogged it intermittently. I truly hope the capital and endow-
ment campaign affirms the JCC as a great equalizer, the one
place Jews of all ages and backgrounds gather without regard
for religious understanding or social stature.
Throughout its 77-year-old history and five main buildings,
the JCC has been Detroit Jewry's central address for informal
Jewish learning and mingling, whatever one's Jewish back-
ground. Year after year, the JCC touches more lives than any
other Jewish agency. The construction dust of the past few
years hasn't changed that.
Yet the top challenge of its leadership remains simple: to
affirm the value of joining, using and supporting the JCC.
That's central to attracting members and bolstering endow-
ments.

Getting A Return

Still, the perception persists that the JCC has become almost a
black hole in terms of public support, especially since the cap-
ital upgrades came in higher than anticipated.
Federation and JCC leaders have applied a series of spend-
ing controls to rein in costs while rolling out improvements.
They're banking on new revenue from the revamped health
facilities, redesigned social halls, child development center and
Inline Hockey Center. That's crucial to recouping the substan-
tial community dollars manifested in the bricks and mortar of
the JCC.
In this scenario, the return would go a long way toward
convincing skeptics.
Federation COO Mark Davidoff is helping monitor JCC
spending; that can't help but be a plus. Nearly a third of all of
the JCC income is from Federation support — just 14 per-
cent less than what memberships and programming bring in

together. Federation, overseer for organized Jewish philanthro-
py in Detroit, clearly has a vested interest on our collective
behalf in how the JCC budget shakes out.
JCC membership recruitment must now step up to keep a
lid on dues for loyal members who stuck it out through the
dust and delays of construction. Of the $34 million raised
over the past five years, $7 million will be used to endow
informal Jewish learning. I rue that somehow the construc-
tion, important as it was, seems to have overshadowed this
equally significant endeavor.

Reducing The Risk

Better security isn't unique to our JCC in the wake of shoot-
ings at a JCC in suburban Los Angeles in 1999 and the
unprecedented terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in 2001. Notably,
40 percent have stepped up security in the past year, reports
the New York-based Jewish Community Centers Association
UCCA).
Improvements — like the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg
Judaic Enrichment Center, Marion and David Handleman
Hall and Auditorium, InLine Hockey Center, Sarah and
Irving Pitt Child Development Center and the second gym at
the West Bloomfield JCC; Prentis Hall and Natalie and
Jacqueline's Athletic Field at the Oak Park JCC; and upgraded
health and fitness facilities at both buildings — represent a siz-
able boost in usage and income. More usage means more peo-
ple in the buildings — increasing the risk.
I'm concerned about the precedent the $60 security fee sets.
Does it open the door to assessments for, say, snow removal or
parking should future budgets Liter?
Thirty-two percent of 76 JCCs surveyed by the JCCA
charged their members a special security fee this past year. The
vast majority were mandatory fees ranging from $10 to $100;
just 21 percent of these levies were labeled voluntary.
After much soul searching — and confident that under Lis,
the board will firm up the JCC as users tone their bodies and
minds — I decided to pay the $60. What swayed me was Lis'
reminder that the JCC is the best known, most visible and
most symbolic site in Jewish Detroit. Trouble seekers know
that. Deterrents aren't absolute but they do help.
I understand the need to not be too specific about security
upgrades, but I urge JCC leaders to keep members abreast in
general terms as the fruits of the new assessment begin to
appear. The JCC must strive to keep such upgrades within the
assessment's yield, and not jack it up further. That accounta-
bility will give payers a reason to find value in the extra cost.
The relative openness of our JCC is part of what makes it
so special; fences, gates and bollards are going up at JCCs in
many other communities. There's something heimish about
not having to stop at a gatehouse.
The $60, earmarked for what Lis describes as a "severe and
unexpected economic burden," will bring lasting dividends if
the mix of police patrols, uniformed guards and better surveil-
lance proves to keep the JCC out of harm's way.
I hope these reinforcements are strong, but restrained so
they spur comfort, not fear. This degree of sensitivity has
become a necessary sign of our troubled times. E

TENDER

271 WEST MAPLE
DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM
248.258.0212

Monday-Saturday 10-6
Thursday 10-9
Sunday 12-5

West Bloomfield JCC

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Open a TENDER Charge Today

12/19

2003

k>$4.74.A.,"<•

779270

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