there was a significant presence for the YMCA in downtown Middletown not so many years ago. I seem to remember:
3 pools, 2 running tracks 2 gyms, two health centers - men and women's, one child care, 4 racquetball courts, and half a dozen handball courts, aerobics studios and an adjacent park with 8 or 9 soccer fields, ball diamonds and a walking trail and an indoor tennis facility a few blocks away. I'm probably leaving more out.
Downtown economic conditions and the loss of so many companies contracted the current facilities to a fraction of what they use to be.
Today's Cinti Enq. has http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130607/NEWS/306070054" rel="nofollow - this article on Lebanon's YMCA with the following description for it:
600 employees, 5 pools, 1 indoor soccer arena, 3 gyms, 6 racquetball courts, 2 running tracks, 1 childcare center, one gymnastics center, 8 tennis courts, 7 soccer fields, and one nature trail.
the article states that this YMCA has brought a lot of people to the Warren County area with over 22,000 members in a town of 20,000.
Do big recreational facilities follow growth and economic development or do they help create it?
Middletown's example seems to be "let it follow" the surrounding conditions - let the recreational facilities shrivel up and die with the rest of it.
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