1. Do you feel an entity or individual demonstrated negligence in the facts presented in either the Popke or Steinbach article? Justify your answer by using the definition and the requirements of negligence as presented in class.

I feel that there was negligence on both parts pertaining to the track events of the Steinbach article. Is it just me or were these incidents for the most part all very similar? Person is down range retrieving or measuring and another person is throwing a heavy or sharp object. Seems to be a lapse of judgment on all accounts. I personally go shooting quite often and have never seen an accident as a result of a lapse in judgement at the range. It is well known that it is dangerous. The only time you go down range is when you know that those around you are aware. You make sure that you are able to go down range safely and everyone puts down their firearms. Common sense isn’t so common anymore. Why did the officials allow others to continue and throw? Why did the individuals head out into the zone in which they were an open target without confirming that the coast was all clear? Negligence is as simple as not acting in a manner that a normal person would.

2. What role do you think the facility itself plays in this case and how can risk management and the prevention of negligence be included in the facility or area desgin process? Include at least two examples from the text to support your answers. (Chapters 2 or 7). These examples are the references for this assignment. Additional outside references are not required but are welcome.

Being that they are both accountable for their actions I’d say that the facility should be held at least 50% liable for these unfortunate events. The design of such events is often limited in space which means even great attention should be paid to monitoring for safety. Risk management plans should consider all potential problems and how to deal with them. How could they allow this to slip through the cracks? Supervision is one of the main factors in whether or not injuries happen at facilities. Lack of supervision is one of the most common allegations in lawsuits according to our textbook. Signage is also very important to facilities according to the book. Proper signage can help keep some liability off of the facility. Ultimately it is always going to fall back on what you could have or should have done and covering your bases is critical. That is why making such rules as 1 supervisor for every 6 kids can lead to problems if you don’t strictly follow that and the ratio isn’t in your favor while an injury occurs. You must act in a reasonable manner and maintain reasonable safety to all users. These legal terms are very loose and allow for wiggle room. Setting constraints on your facility can come back to haunt you if you are unable to always follow them.

Program Statement Eppler Complex

Improvements to Eppler Complex: Redesign the interior to make the entrance into the building more appealing and pleasant, as well as the hallways. When one walks through the complex maze that is Eppler they are lucky to see a window to the outside and when they do it is a small square placed up high. It feels like walking through a jail when you enter Eppler. It is very plain and drab. The lounges they have for students aren’t very comfortable and welcoming either. The layout is just a mess. Try going to an office on the first floor and you’ll notice that a small loop has been carved off the normal hallway with offices inside of this loop. It is very odd and peculiar. I have never once seen a building not for an art center so complex and confusing. Judging by the perception of most students in our TLEP4830 class Eppler is confusing. These are students who frequently use the facility too. If this is the case then a survey should be conducted on a wider scale to all those who have used Eppler before. I am fairly positive that a majority will come back with the results of being complex or confusing. I recommend changing the lighting to LED to provide a brighter yet more energy efficient source. I would also paint the walls a more natural color besides the bland off white/taupe that they currently are. Windows would be a nice addition where possible and also make sure they are large. For the lounges I would put in actual furniture instead of the linked chairs and end tables. It gives the appearance of a seat of ballpark seat linked in a group of 4 with no arm rests or table in front of you. It just is not a welcoming environment. Another possibility would be to open up the offices to feel like more of a wing of the building by removing the center offices that create the loop. A central large desk would be able to fill the void of those offices removed but would create a more open and friendly environment. The mailroom could also be used as an additional office if the mailboxes are relocated behind the central desk. This could even be handled by the secretary at her desk instead of having to leave her small office.

Program statements are vital to a construction project because it lays out the groundwork for what you want to accomplish. It essentially is the blueprint that goes to the designer so that they have some guidelines to follow while putting together what it is you wish to accomplish. This can include ADA compliance codes, lighting requirements, eco-friendly requests, special build requests, etc. Anything and everything you would want to see done needs to be laid out in the program statement.

While walking around campus and checking out the ADA compliance of the buildings I noticed a few things that stuck out both positive and negative.

Positive-
Ramps leading into buildings
Braille on all signs inside the buildings
Drinking fountains with cut-outs in front for wheelchair access
Automatic doors at all flat or ramped entrances
Elevators in all buildings with multiple floors
Pool access for the handicapped
Motion sensors to open some doors on campus
Flat campus with easy access to classes
Desks in large lecture halls to allow for wheelchairs
Disability Services office on campus
Sidewalks that have a ramp at the corners of street intersections
Grip on the ramps of sidewalks

Negative-
Disability Services office is on the 4th floor of South Hall
Vending machines don’t have Braille
Anderson Arena seating is very tough for handicapped
Fraternity and Sorority houses in the Conklin units and Sorority row have no wheelchair access
Eppler has uneven floor levels making the center entrance the only access point for wheelchairs
Small number of ground level dorm rooms
Ramps are not always completely cleared of snow and ice
Lines for food can often be too tight for wheelchairs to move through
Bookstore with 2 levels makes one in a wheelchair have to split it into 2 different stops as there is no ramp or elevator within the store
Building layouts are not always straight forward and have centralized elevators which can make getting around in a wheel chair a difficult task

Our campus is very good about complying with ADA Standards however there is still more to do. Nothing will ever be perfect when rules and regulations are constantly changing but there are many different things that can be changed and should be changed. Having a Disability Services office in one of the older buildings on the 4th floor hardly seems appropriate. There has got to be room in another building with easier access. The fact that the land is relatively flat helps a lot. Some universities are built in such a manner that you have to climb up and down stairs all day in order to get around campus. There is a reason Western Kentucky University is known as the Hilltoppers. Their campus is built on a large hill that is not too friendly for those who are in a wheelchair. Also think about the famous scene from Rocky in which he runs up the giant set of stairs. I didn’t see a ramp there. Bowling Green is lucky to benefit from the flat surface of the campus. Now the university needs to focus in other ways to better help comply with ADA Standards.

http://www.ada.gov/regs2010/2010ADAStandards/2010ADAstandards.htm#c5

I wasn’t too sure what all Capital Planning involved until this particular presentation by Bob Waddle and two of his colleagues. After listening to what all they had to say I understood that there is still a large amount of cost cutting involved in a project even when the budget exceeds 30 million dollars. The Stroh Center having a roof structure that wouldn’t allow for a catwalk system struck me as odd because that also means you wouldn’t be able to have the typical large center court scoreboard most arenas have. This was a cost cutting technique for the structure of the roof. I personally do not agree with it as now the scoreboards have to be placed all around the arena and don’t quite give it the feel you would expect from a high dollar new venue. I have been to a game at the other Bowling Green (Western Kentucky University) and they have a central scoreboard as well as others around in each corner. Their facility the “Diddle” was built in 1963 but underwent a 32 million dollar renovation in 2002. They have fluctuated in seating from the original 8,500 up to over 13,000 and now back down to 8,000. They also have 16 luxury suites. I feel that this is something that BGSU could have used as a base point to go off of. I understand that it wouldn’t need to be as big but there is no reason why the facilities can’t rival a school comparable in size. My absolute favorite basketball arena for college is the Cintas Center at Xavier University. Coupled with a very strong basketball program and a noisy atmosphere it was ranked as the 3rd toughest place to play on the road in 2009 by EA Sports. Growing up in Cincinnati with my mom going to UC and my dad going to XU college basketball has always been big. So when I see the Stroh Center being built it gets me excited for what is to come for BGSU. I just hope that eventually they can use the state of the art facility to put together a strong and exciting team for years to come. The new basketball court itself will be very nice and hopefully the acoustics of the arena allow it to be deafening to the opposing team. I am sure that with the compromises that needed to be made it will all work out fine. The outer flooring of the court didn’t need to be of the same high cost and high quality material as the actual flooring in play. The color contrast also will look very nice. Also the full-size auxiliary gym will be vital to ensuring that both men’s and women’s teams are able to practice as much as possible as per NCAA rules without worrying about sharing or splitting court time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._A._Diddle_Arena
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cintas_Center

People may dislike my opinion on this subject as I sound like I’m insensitive. However, I personally believe that removing eyesores from cities and trying to renovate and renew the city is a great idea. I love the feel of cities and the urban environment, but I do not like the crime and other things of that nature that are often associated with cities. Having traveled to many different places including abroad I have a different perspective than that of others who haven’t had this opportunity. I stayed a week at the Victoria Thistle hotel in London with a view down one of the streets that meets up with the front of the hotel. The area was very wealthy and had plenty of shops and restaurants associated with a higher class. If I were in charge of developing an area or the mayor/governing body of an area this is the exact crowd I’d be after.

Being that we are a free market capitalist society I feel that this only makes sense. Why wouldn’t you want to attract business from individuals who spend money? Brooklyn hasn’t had a professional sports team since the Dodgers left for Los Angeles. Truth is sadly they would not be able to afford that type of thing in today’s market without bringing in outside help. I am not saying kick everyone out and tear it all down to start over from new. Those who live there should be given the opportunity to stay in Brooklyn at an affordable rate. However, the other spots are going to be pricey due to the type of people they want to attract. This also is a great way to create jobs for those looking for lower-mid range income levels and even high levels of income. If Brooklyn truly wants to keep the neighborhood feel they will need to understand that the income levels will always vary depending on the lines of work and education. Not everyone is able to make 100k+ a year. It is just not feasible to pay a fry cook at a fast food joint that amount of money due to the lack of skills needed for that position. Sure it is important in the process but it is not the most valuable.

With the slowing down in the economy and the legal battles it has killed a lot of the momentum and added to the costs of development. This is only going to cause more problems. I was always taught don’t count your chickens until the eggs hatch and also to finish the job. Well now that most of the proposed plans aren’t going to happen even though the new arena is being built it is only time until we see if the rest of the project collapses around it and being a huge waste of time and money or if it gets built but is haphazardly thrown together. How long will it take for the Nets to move out if they can’t get a consistent fan base to support them in Brooklyn? NBA teams take a lot of money to support them. It’s tough to charge big money and draw in a crowd when the surrounding area isn’t too pleasant to the eyes. Being from Cincinnati I have seen them try to do the same thing. Newport on the Levee across the river is always crowded and a great place for nightlife. Cincinnati has a few spots but nothing compares to on the river and in between the ball parks with that whole environment and crowd. That’s why I am a big supporter of The Banks project. A private company placed a museum in prime real estate next to the river where this project is being built. No problem with that until now they want state funding to keep their museum open. You don’t build a non-profit or struggling business in prime real estate and expect to get bailed out. The city needs to make money and attract visitors away from the competing areas. It’s tough to justify keeping a place like that when others are willing to spend big money to buy and develop that land for retail and housing that will generate far more in money for the area and also tax dollars. Cities compete against each other for money, that’s just a way of life, especially in the tourism industry. And for an added kick The Banks Project is being built by a bridge slightly older than that of the Brooklyn Bridge. Maybe not as famous, but more important than most could ever imagine. Without the Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati there wouldn’t be a Brooklyn Bridge as it is seen today. It was designed by the same architect. Something most people are unaware of when they see the bridge in Brooklyn.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/03/24/2009-03-24_atlantic_yards_project_in_brooklyn_is_de.html

http://www.thebankscincy.com/

Facility Reflection

The Olympic size swimming pool was unique in most universities do not have one of this size available to the students. It had a cooler water temperature than that of the recreational pool due to swimming times being faster in the cooler water. Another great feature was the underwater viewing windows which can be used by coaches during practice and photographers for a unique view of swimmers and divers. Unfortunately we did not go over the guidelines or specs of the pool itself pertaining to depth. Although from what it appeared the starting blocks were positioned by the fold out bleachers giving them plenty of depth to safely enter from a diving start off the blocks. I am able to assume this as the diving platforms are positioned off to the left hand side when starting at the blocks. I grew up swimming competitively in the summer and also for my junior high team. I am very familiar with pools and would have to say that this is one of the nicer pools I’ve seen aside from certain places where the competition is much higher. Ann Arbor is home to one of the top collegiate teams and also has trained such athletes as Michael Phelps. As for high school pools Keating Natatorium at St. Xavier of Cincinnati is by far nicer than the pool here. They have a long history of winning state just about every year. The Keating family has also made large donations to the University of Cincinnati and a few years back one of the Keatings attended BGSU and was on our swim team. One feature that I have seen used is a temporary bridge splitting the pool in half so that it is only 25M on each end. This allows for coached to walk across the middle and help instruct the swimmers. It is not necessary but can be a helpful tool during practice.
I had never been to a racquetball club back home and so the tour was the first time I’d ever seen any indoor courts. I was very impressed with the amount and the quality of them. The window up above to instruct players seemed like a very useful tool. I also like the glass walled courts. It would be very interesting to watch a game being played from just behind that glass. I like how they have tried to transform some of them to be used in various other ways. I liked the idea of archery in the one and also the spinning and dance/aerobics. It seems that sound proofing them a little to cut down on echoing would be very helpful in the future if they wanted to use them more frequently. Also encouraging students to try new sports such as Wally ball, Squash, and Racquetball would possibly create a bit of a comeback for these activities. I understand that it might be tough but stirring up interest with curious students couldn’t hurt. I know that I would like to at least give some of them a try. I understand that the book has certain dimensions and court requirements for these facilities but we weren’t told if they were all regulation or not so I am going to assume that they indeed are. I highly doubt 14 courts that weren’t regulation would be constructed. I would like to see the Rec Center get updated and a bit of a facelift. They need to be able to compete with other schools and their construction. The onslaught of varsity athletics is nice, but when you don’t field a strong contending team it can go to waste. Not many students who choose to come to BGSU because of their storied sports program. As of late it has been somewhat lackluster. As for recruiting students, they need new facilities to house, feed, and entertain/occupy them. They are building two very nice new dorms, one new dining center, and now need to fill the void of recreation. The facilities now are adequate and nice, but they don’t draw the attention that others do. That is why I believe updating the current facilities would be highly beneficial.