By SHANNON O. WELLS
A discussion on the new Recreation and Wellness Center during the Campus Utilization, Planning and Safety (CUPS) Committee’s March 3 meeting touched on continuing work on the facility, along with usage patterns and pedestrian safety concerns outside on O’Hara Street.
Gina Bleck, vice chancellor for planning, design & construction, started the discussion, which CUPS committee members had requested, with some construction-related updates on the nine-story building that opened for use last September.
“Overarchingly, the contractor continues to work in earnest to get things finished,” she said, noting the back terrace is open “in a limited way,” but the “real important step” is hillside landscaping, a separate project that will connect the back terrace to the Petersen Events Center, “so that you’ll be able to come up through the elevator and then navigate to the Pete much more easily, especially if you’re using a wheelchair …
“The whole hillside doesn’t finish until the end of the year, but the connection should be finished in the coming months,” Bleck added.
In addition, wallpaper and graphics are being installed in the facility and set to be completed in the next 45 days.
“We’re working through a punch list and making progress on the punch list and then working through change orders and dollars the contractor thinks they’re owed,” she noted. “There’s been a lot of back and forth on all of that, because the timeline.”
Ben Gordon, associate professor in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Religious Studies, raised questions about pedestrian crossings on O’Hara Street and Thackery Avenue outside the center, noting that he’s seen “no work done at all to enhance pedestrian safety since (the center) has opened, and of course, there’s increased pedestrian traffic moving in that direction,” referring to the crosswalk on the east side of Thackery Avenue. “But we get a lot of students coming up Thackery from the Litchfield Towers direction towards the Rec Center, and there’s no crosswalk there.
“There’s just a lot of jaywalking.”
He added that he’s curious if the city of Pittsburgh has a study in mind for that street. “It just seems like a relatively dangerous corridor. It’s a straight shot for cars, particularly those going from the direction of the hospitals, going downhill,” Gordon said. “They can accumulate some speed there, and we just have a lot of students crossing. … I’m just wondering if there are improvements in mind, working in coordination … with the city.”
Bleck said Pitt Police Neighborhood Resource Officer Jeff Colello submitted a request to the city for a traffic study now that O’Hara Street construction is complete, and the city is working with Pitt’s Department of Public Safety.
“The more studies, the better,” said Ted Fritz, vice chancellor for public safety and emergency management. “I think we do get improvements afterwards, so we’ll keep pushing that.”
Comparing fitness facilities
Shifting gears to his own utilization of the facility, Gordon called himself one of the “rare employees” at Pitt who belongs both to the University Club and the Recreation and Wellness Center.
“I’ve experienced both. … My sense as an employee is that the University Club’s fitness center is going to be the much better option for people moving forward. The fitness center at the University Club has been undervalued. … I think it is such an incredible resource for us.”
He further lauded the University Club fitness center’s group classes and the “sort of human touch (with) great staff working there,” along with amenities like free personal training, towel service, rentable lockers and “nice locker rooms.”
Gordon said it’s “obvious” that the Rec and Wellness Center’s pool locker room was designed to serve the “residential community — the undergrad, mostly — community of users who don’t need to change or shower at the Rec Center. For those (who want) to do both, the facility is inadequate, in my view.”
He called the men’s locker room “pretty small” and having “just two showers in there. There are two small spaces for changing. It gets very cramped during the busy time. You’re changing clothes amidst undergrads, and it can be uncomfortable very quickly.”
Gordon noted that while there’s a “plethora of changing rooms” in the all-gender space, those rooms “have not been properly fitted for comfortable use.”
“There are no benches in there, at least last time I used them. So, you’re coming in with your clothes. You want to change. There’s nowhere to sit,” he said, adding that he notices drainage problems resulting in water puddling on the floor. “That makes it particularly difficult to change clothes.”
Gordon said he wondered if there are plans to put in benches or “improve that experience.”
Responding to Gordon’s comments, Gina Bleck noted the all-gender changing room setup was a “specific desire” by prior leadership of Student Affairs. She said although the architects referred to the all-gender changing areas as “cabanas,” “I think that’s a stretch … I’ll definitely look into the benches. They weren’t included in the program initially, but I think they’re kind of an obvious need for changing.”
She said addressing the trough drains “are on the punch list because the slope is too steep. It doesn’t address the concern that you’re raising about the slope being inadequate to drain, so I’ll have to look at that.”
University Club updates
Matthew Sterne, vice chancellor for business services, thanked Gordon for feedback praising the University Club team.
“They’re a great crew. I think they really try to focus on the personalization and creating relationships with the members, making sure that it’s really a customized experience,” he said. “I’ll pass on that feedback.”
Gordon went on to note that the state-of-the-art exercise equipment at the Rec and Wellness Center tends to make the University Club equipment “look a little bit old … and it is kind of a cramped space.
“I do hope that there will be some plans for updating both the equipment and also how space is utilized and arranged,” he said. “People in these fitness environments are not using equipment the way they used to. Open space is as important as it’s ever been, and that’s in short supply in that relatively small facility down there.”
Sterne replied that while “funding is a little bit tight right now,” upgrading exercise equipment is “high on the list,” he said, adding that the staff is advocating to “see what we can do there in the coming 12 to 24 months.”
Responding to a question about how much the Rec and Wellness Center is being used, Gina Bleck said Student Affairs would provide the most accurate answer.
“When I’ve been in the building, it’s been very active throughout, and I don’t recall off the top of my head the numbers, but they far exceed anything from the Baierl Center in the past,” she said. “There’s been significant increase in the number of students using the facilities.”
Gordon said based on his experiences and speaking with others, the pool does “fill up” in the evenings. “If I go around noon, odds are every lane there — there are six of them — will be full,” but when he goes closer to 11 a.m., “I’m always getting my own lane.”
Collaborative efforts
Moving on to other CUPS committee business, Fritz provided a safety update.
Referring to the “new situation” of the United States’ war with Iran, he said his department is spreading the word about the “If You See Something, Say Something Campaign.”
“If you see anything suspicious around the city, be sure to call 911. If you see anything suspicious around the campus, be sure to call Pitt Police, and we’ll check it out,” he said. “We just ask to err on the side of reporting anything unusual (or) appears to be threatening around Oakland.”
In other safety news, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) work continues.
“I don’t know if you looked at Fifth Avenue today, but it was quite the treat,” Fritz said of watching cement being poured over three lanes of Fifth Avenue, leaving about half a lane open for buses and other vehicles to traverse. “I felt for those guys that were trying to hurry and do their job, but try and do their job safely …
“You could just sense the frustration there in the middle of the rainstorm, etc.,” he added. “But that’s pretty much Oakland in a nutshell, in the last year on these streets.”
Fritz noted that the city’s Department of Mobility & Infrastructure advised that they will repaint crosswalk markings by May 21. “That’s still a couple months away, but I guess it’s weather related. They like to do that painting when it’s going to stick, I suppose.”
He also mentioned a faulty traffic light at Fifth Avenue and DeSoto Street. “It wasn’t working properly, and we sent somebody up to make sure that that was fixed, and it was. But that’s been off and on for the last couple of weeks as well.
“We’ve notified the city about that too, because that creates a pedestrian issue, as you can imagine,” he said.
Responding to a question about PRT work in front of the Barco School of Law, where students are seen crossing Forbes Avenue under the elevated walkway rather than across it, and the sidewalk being clogged with people waiting for buses, Fritz said he wasn’t sure when improvement work would begin.
“I do know that they’re putting one of the PRT stops there,” he said, noting that it’s “going to happen shortly.”
Regarding the avoidance of the elevated walkway, Fritz commented, “It is one of my pet peeves that people do that. It’s very dangerous to do that there. Often, you’ll see officers on the other side of the road there, where it goes under the Towers, just to remind people that they should be doing either the crosswalk, where the Original Hot Dog used to be, or the bridge.
“It’s not a matter of shortage of crosswalks,” he added. “It’s just a matter of people want to take shortcuts.”
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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