Community rallies for gym owner

“I was supposed to get my measurements done today,” shouted Charlene Black from the back of a press conference discussing the state of the local Curves Gym, which has been shut down.
Black is just one of 400 female gym members in the Springfield Gardens community displaced from their usual place to work out since it was closed in late July.
To show support for the distraught business owner, Shauwana Dill-Darby, local politicians, community leaders, Curves members and staff came together at the Merrick Boulevard location for a conference held on Tuesday, July 31.
“I feel like I’ve been railroaded,” said Dill-Darby, about the abrupt closing of her neighborhood fitness center.
After hiring contractor Satroghaun Singh in August 2006, plans were laid out to help transform the building, previously occupied an auto center, into more of a ladies’ gym.
Based upon blueprints Singh drew up, renovations were made and in October, Singh verified that the work was completed according to New York City Department of Building (DOB) codes and standards using a seal, which was allegedly forged.
Singh was also negligent in filing the paperwork necessary for the gym’s operation and his failure to comply with the DOB left the Curves Gym suffering the consequences, according to Dill-Darby.
On Thursday, July 19, Dill-Darby received a letter ordering the gym be vacated on grounds that her business was incorrectly categorized, as Singh allegedly registered it under a massage studio, when it should be listed as a physical health center.
Another issue in conflict was an air-conditioning system, placed by Singh during the remodeling, that violated zoning rules.
Though Dill-Darby had these problems fixed by a separate contractor since last October, the DOB still ordered her to close down.
“I’m out $50,000, and I stopped charging customers,” she said. Even though the women are not bound to the membership fee, they are still out a place to exercise.
“We have ladies who are now going to other gyms to work out,” Dill-Darby said, and she fears that some of them might not even come back.
Though some have left, most women, like Delouise Jones, vow to stay true to their Curves center.
“This is my gym, and when she reopens is when I’ll start working out again,” said Jones. A member for a year now, Jones gives the work that Dill-Darby does through Curves credit for her 40-pound weight loss.
New York State Senator Shirley Huntley is another member of the gym, and said that since joining, she has shed inches.
“I’m a member here, but this is my district, which makes it my problem, too,” said the senator. Huntley said that it was a great injustice to Dill-Darby, to be the “victim of all this red-tape” and insisted that her business be reopened for the people of Springfield Gardens.
“I thought I was doing a good thing by opening a gym in this community,” said Dill-Darby. After losing 25 pounds through Curves herself, she saw a need to bring a fitness center to her neighborhood, where there is none.
“We have members from 16 to 83 and she’s helped with diabetes and hypertension so much,” said Black, a member since its opening.
As for the new contractor, George Perotto, who fixed the issues in question, he also conducted an inspection on the building and sent his findings to the DOB in a letter dated Tuesday, July 24.
In it he declared Dill-Darby’s building to be, “in good structural condition,” and that his office has “no objection to the building being occupied as far as health and safety issues are concerned.”
On Tuesday, July 17, Singh was finally arrested, along with four other men on similar charges, as reported in The Courier Sun.
Charged with 286 counts of forgery in the second degree, criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, falsifying business records in the first degree, offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, and one count of conspiracy of the fifth degree, Singh is facing up to seven years in prison if found guilty.
“We congratulate the DOB for finally catching this fraud, but businesses like hers shouldn’t be collateral,” said Assemblymember William Scarborough.