I attended a meeting of the Printing House squash minds last night. No one’s wasting any time in taking action to save our squash community. A few plans were discussed. In brief….
- Plan A: to persuade Equinox to preserve the courts and squash program in some way.
- Plan B: to locate, lease, and build a squash only club in the downtown/Village area.
- Plan C: to see if another existing club (ex. Chelsea Piers) could be persuaded to add courts.
Plan A is being implemented immediately. A meeting with the heads of Equinox is already on the calendar. However, most time was spent discussing the details of Plan B, since it would mean the most coordination. Sub committees were formed and the one I’m on (Communication, what else?) will be in touch with Printing House squash members as soon as possible to keep everyone apprised of developments. We hope to get a website up as well.
In the meantime, Roberto Cymrot has an “Equinox, Keep My Courts!” facebook group page with lots of ideas on what actions to take now. Check it out, become a member of the page, and let Equinox know exactly how you feel! Don’t want to lose your courts? Then don’t sit back and let it happen without a fight….
squeaky feet 
If there’s enough initiative for Plan B to be a serious consideration, then I’d like to propose a Plan D as well: Get the West Side Y to convert their courts to regulation size. I’m an enthusiastic Y squash player (I could go on at length about its virtues), but there’s no getting around it that the racquetball-width courts are a liability. If there was a serious influx of new members who were willing to help fund the conversion, I think it could happen. The location isn’t downtown, but it’s very central. And the Y is a great bargain — rates are around $80, with no court fees, and more extensive non-squash facilities than other clubs have.