Glenna Cox

Review of Briggs YMCA

LOCKER ROOMS: This is quite a large and busy faci...

LOCKER ROOMS: This is quite a large and busy facility, and there is ONE "Family" locker room (as in private locker room.) ONE. And, this is totally confusing, as the entire women's locker room seems to be a "family" locker room! It's an absolute nightmare! My first time in there involved kids running wild everywhere... and an oblivious mom right by me with 3 young kids, one of which was a little boy, picking his nose and staring at me the whole time I changed.... NO THANKS! Since then, I am not shy about taking the ONE "family" room, for some peace and privacy.
This facility really should have several private rooms! There are many reasons that some of us don't want to change in front of others, particularly little kids!
There should also be a designated area in the women's locker room specifically for women with kids, so that others who don't mind a typical locker room scene can at least use it without little eyes peering and total chaos. I cannot think of one single reason that young children in an ADULT locker room would be acceptable.
The other day I was waiting for the one "family" room to come available. The "occupied" sign was on the door, and I could hear the shower running full blast. After about 10 minutes (thinking there might be a mom with a couple kids in there,) I only heard the constant water flow but no other noises, so I got suspicious and knocked. Knocked several times, and finally slowly opened the door, saying "Hello?" NO ONE WAS IN THERE, and THE SHOWER WAS RUNNING HOT WATER, FULL BLAST! No idea how long this had been happening - there's a great chance that other people waited and gave up - it could have been an hour or more! So, I went to report this at the main desk, and the (nice but disinterested) young man on duty was unable to even take a complaint, took no notes, couldn't tell me who to talk to and said that there was no manager on duty. Pffft.
This issue really is off-putting enough to cancel my membership. I'm only going for the pool, which seems fine (although strong chlorine - good for killing all the germs though.) I don't know where else to go for water fitness classes, and am investigating what options there are locally.

Otherwise, the location of the facility is good, and the parking seems safe. The people who work there seem really nice. I did get a tour of the whole facility, and it looked nice and well maintained. The locker room situation is the only serious drawback that I can think of.