Women's Club Not Suitable as a Meeting Room

IRONWOOD, MI - Thursday, August 14, 2008 - EDITORIAL - More and more meetings recently are being held in the Women's Club Room at the Ironwood Memorial Building. Although the room is quaint and reflects bygone era, it is not designed to be a meeting hall, nor is it suitable as one.

Few people know that I was born with the measles. This is an extremely rare occurrence. The fever that accompanied the disease permanently damaged my hearing. I am completely deaf in my right ear, and the hearing in my left ear is getting progressively worse with age.  I must also point out that is not possible to correct my hearing loss.

Under most conditions, my hearing is adequate. I struggle severely, however, to hear in crowded rooms, and where the acoustics are poor.

The Women's Club Room is not designed to be acoustically stable. The walls, the ceiling, the windows and the floor are all hard surfaces, and there is nothing in the room to absorb reflective sounds. The echo is horrible. Whenever a meeting is held in the Women's Club Room, I am forced to rely primarily on lipreading. Unfortunately, no matter where I sit, most people will not be in my line of site to make it possible to read what they are saying.

On Tuesday night, I read Dan Petersen's lips to understand what he was saying about the Blueprint program. In order to write my story, I had to listen to the amplified recording to clarify what I thought I read through his lips. I was also able to read George Goerig's lips when he was addressing the crowd. His Texas accent made it a bit challenging, however, because I'm a lifetime Yooper. Southerners tend to drag words out when the speak, and they often throw in words and phases that are somewhat different from what we commonly use here. Quite frankly, reading Goerig's lips made me "nervous as a pole cat in a room full of rocking chairs!"

I had to gather most of the audience comments AFTER the meeting by listening to the audio recording, because I was unable to read their comments.

Because of sound quality complaints, the City Commission Chambers were recently equipped with an amplified sound system. The Chambers are carpeted, so much of the echo and waste sound is absorbed there. The Commission Chambers could easily hold as many, if not more people than the Women's Club Room. There is no reason to be using the Women's Club Room for City meetings.

Trying to gather photos for our meeting reports is also a challenge. The same problem that exists for my hearing is true with the lighting. The Women's Club Room is dimly lit. Sun light, during day time hours floods the windows so every photo is washed out. Gathering quality photos under such conditions is nearly impossible.

The very best room in the Memorial Building for meetings is the Community Development Conference Room. The ceiling is low and it is covered with acoustic tiles that absorb waste noise. It's carpeted, so more noise is eliminated. It's well lit, and the windows are shaded and have blinds to hold back the harsh sunlight. The problem is, the room is too small to hold a larger meeting.

I find it hard to believe that anybody actually enjoys meeting in the Women's Club Room. It is simply not suited for such events. I hope the City realizes how important it is to include EVERY CITIZEN in the governing process. I take an active interest in what goes on in the City. I care very much for this community, and I am also trying my best to pass along information as I hear it. If the City wants accurate reporting on what is heard at City meetings... people need to be able to hear the information in the first place. The Women's Club Room either needs to be upgraded, or the meetings need to be moved to a place that is better suited for those of us with hearing issues.

Jim Albert
Editorial