City Pulls Plug On Van Cortlandt Park Skating Rink

Even The Seasonal Skating Rink Was Cancelled For This Year. During his State of the City Address on January 19th last year, Mayor Bloomberg promised the 1.4 million Bronx residents - the only borough that does not have a public ice skating rink - they would have one this year but that did not materialize. In an effort to deflect criticism from Bloomberg's upcoming address the administration was planning to erect a small temporary rink for 29 days. That plan just fell through.

Bronx

There will be no ice-skating in the Bronx this winter.

After months of delays, the Department of Parks and Recreation says the electrical upgrade needed to operate a skating rink will not be completed in time to operate this season, according to the Riverdale Review and Bronx Press.

This puts a black eye on Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy, who partnered together to bring a full-size rink to the Bronx, Bloomberg said in his 2011 State of the City address at the beginning of this year.

"Parks has explored every possible means of bringing ice skating to the Bronx this winter. The engineering and capital construction issues involved with bringing the power needed for a skating rink make it necessary to forgo, for this season, what we had hoped would be a fun activity for all,” Bronx Parks Commissioner Hector Aponte.

The electrical hookup, needed for a rink of any size, will require the installation of an underground vault that will not be ready this winter.

Jump below for the full story.

The conservancy had been discussing the rink’s logistics with Con Edison and Ice Rink Events as far back as summer 2010.

The initial plans for the borough’s only skating rink were delayed time and time again, and when it appeared too late for this year, the parks department attempted to save face by offering the community a temporary, smaller skating rink that would only run this season. However, this irked the community board, because the new, smaller rink did not have to go through a public hearing.

Last week, Community Board 8 overwhelmingly passed a resolution that stated they “deplore” the parks department’s decision “to circumvent the public-review process by installing a “mini” rink in Van Cortlandt Park.”

The “mini” rink would be a permit project, meaning it could have only operated for 29 days and would not have to go through an approval process.

The community board had scheduled and subsequently cancelled five public hearings to discuss the plans for the initial rink—a 15-year, seasonal skating rink that needs to go before the Franchise and Concessions Review Committee (FCRC).

Community Board 8 was also planning on holding a public forum on the rink in January; it is unclear if they will go forth with the hearing. Either way, the board will continue to monitor the full-size rink’s progress and, when the plans go before the city’s FCRC, will offer a recommendation to the committee.

The FCRC has the only vote on the project.

“In that process, we do have a say,” said Community Board 8 parks committee chairman Bob Bender. “We are notified before any proposal goes to the FCRC.”

“We do have an opportunity to give our opinion,” he added.

Aponte says the city will attempt to bring a rink to the area next year.

“We continue to work with the community, Con Edison, and Ice Rink Events to finalize plans to deliver a full-size rink in time for a full season of skating beginning next fall,” he said.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a stern critic of the way the parks department has handled the public’s requests for more information, said he hopes this new, longer delay will give the city a chance to complete this project hand in hand with the community.

“While I am disappointed that the Bronx will not have a skating rink this winter, this delay presents a golden opportunity to do this the right way,” he said. “I have consistently been supportive of the Bronx having an ice skating rink, but I have been critical of the closed and undemocratic process being used to implement it. Since we live in a democracy, a democratic process isn't asking too much."

Community board member Charles Moerdler said the delay of the project is a victory for the process, which was of a major concern for the board after the parks department continued to withhold information about the rink.

“That is an unfortunate thing for the community, but a good thing for the public process,” he said.

Shane Coppola, CEO of American Skating Entertainment Centers (ASEC), was irked that the city was going to allow Ice Rink Events to see how well the project works before making the long-term commitment.

Coppola also estimates that the fixed costs to build the rink is between $50,000 and $75,000, not including personnel, electricity, payment to the city and other variable costs. He also didn’t expect to see Ice Rink Events turn a profit in the 29-day rink.

“If you’re not open by Christmas, you're in trouble,” he said in a phone interview.

Read More:

City pulls plug on Bronx skating rink

Riverdale Review and Bronx Press - December 21, 2011 - By Brendan McHugh

Bronx Residents Upset Over Bloomberg/Parks Dept Ice Staking Rink Slight

A Walk In The Park - December 13, 2011

Bronx Residents Upset Over Bloomberg/Parks Dept Ice Staking Rink Slight

People enjoying the ice skating at Bryant Park in Manhattan where admission is free for people who bring skates. In the Bronx admission for a temporary rink to be installed on a handball court In Van Cortlandt Park near Broadway and West 242nd Street will be $5 dollars. Daniel Biederman, head of the Bryant Park Restoration Corp is behind both rinks.

During his State of the City Address on January 19th last year, Mayor Bloomberg promised the 1.4 million Bronx residents - the only borough that does not have a public ice skating rink - they would have one this year but that has not materialized. In an effort to deflect criticism from Bloomberg's upcoming address the administration is planning to erect a small temporary rink for 29 days. Despite repeated assurances from the Parks Department that the rink issue would come before the board, Bronx community Board 8 were recently informed that was not going to happen.

On Tuesday, CB 8 overwhelmingly passed a resolution deploring the parks department for circumnavigating the public-review process by introducing a smaller, temporary rink that only needs a permit to operate.

- Geoffrey Croft

Transparency in the Bloomberg administration is once again being called into question over the Van Cortlandt Park ice skating rink issue. This time controversy has arisen over a plan to build a temporary rink in time for Bloomberg's next State of City Address. Last year from Staten Island, Bloomberg announced the city's intention of allowing the building a seasonal rink in the park. However the administration did not see fit to inform the community. They finally presented the plan to Bronx Community Board 8’s Parks & Recreation Committee on Feb. 23, more than a month after Bloomberg's announcement.

Bronx

The Bronx could finally be getting the ice skating rink that Mayor Bloomberg promised the borough last January - but without formal community input. Local leaders are upset they won't get to vet how the facility is run, according to the New York Daily News.

"The agency has decided to circumvent the public process," said Bob Bender, Community Board 8 parks committee chairman. "It concerns me greatly."

The Parks Department had planned to install a full-size rink on unused tennis courts in Van Cortlandt Park by November, but the agency is still negotiating with the company slated to run the facility, and the proposal has yet to go before the city Franchise Concession and Review Committee.

In the meantime, Parks has asked the company to install a smaller rink in Van Cortlandt Park in January and operate it for as few as four weeks under a “temporary” permit not subject to public review, said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

"We are trying to do what we can to honor a longstanding request from the Bronx," he said. "Skating is a great way to exercise and enjoy the outdoors."

Bloomberg promised the Bronx a rink in his State of the City speech last January, thrilling borough ice skating fans. The Bronx is the only borough without a public rink, while Manhattan has five and Brooklyn three.

Parks last spring selected Ice Rink Events - the company that operates the Bryant Park rink in Manhattan - to build a full-size rink in Van Cortlandt Park for use during the winter and operate it under contract for 15 years.

Board 8 intends to hold a public hearing when the full-size rink proposal is ready for review and brought before the FCRC.

"We want to know how much it will cost and how much rink time will be available to the public as opposed to private schools in the community," Bender said.

But he claims Parks is now skating past the review process.

Benepe said the full-size rink has been delayed due to technical issues and noted that Parks recently presented its temporary plan to Board 8, even though no disclosure was required.

But Geoffrey Croft of New York City Park Advocates slammed the agency for "pushing through a poor substitute."

Croft claims Parks is desperate to install a rink before the mayor's next State of the City, in January. "It seems like they need the mayor to save face and mean to avoid community input," Croft said.

Parks plans to charge $5-8 for admission and $5 for skate rental at the temporary rink, said Bender. Benepe said the full-size rink plan enjoys "overwhelming support" from locals, citing an online survey conducted by Board 8.

But Croft called the proposed prices at the temporary rink unreasonable, noting that the Bryant Park rink frequented by "wealthy people and tourists" is free.

Read More:

Bronx could finally get public ice skating rink next month - in nick of time

for Bloomberg’s big speech

Bronx is only borough without public ice rink

New York Daily News - December 13 2011 - By Daniel Beekman

Bronx Board 8 "deplores" process with temporary ice rink in Van Cortlandt

Bronx Press Politics - December 14, 2011 - By Brendan McHugh

Plan de pista de hielo en El Bronx, en riesgo de derretirse

El Diario NY - December 14, 2011 - Por Gloria Medina/EDLP

Lack Of Transparency Over In Van Cortlandt Park Ice Rink Charged

A Walk In The Park - March 17, 2011 - By Geoffrey Croft

Lack Of Transparency Over In Van Cortlandt Park Ice Rink Charged

Location for the proposed ice skating rink in Van Cortlandt Park near Broadway and West 242nd Street. The chosen company would be required to sign a 15-year contract for the rink, which will operate between October and March. The company will also be responsible for coming with ideas for food service, lockers and rates. This proposal is a joint project between the Parks Department and the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy. (Rendering Courtesy of Community Board 8)

Bronx

The Bloomberg administration's policy of excluding the community in planning and consultation has claimed still more victims. Transparency in yet another Parks Department concession is being questioned, this time in the Bronx. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a plan to convert some parkland in Van Cortlandt Park into a ice skating rink. The Mayor made these plans public during his State of the City address on Jan. 19 from Staten Island. However this was the first time Bronx residents including Community Board 8 members heard of the plans.

The administration didn't see fit to present anything to Community Board 8’s Parks & Recreations Committee until Feb. 23, more than a month after Bloomberg's announcement. Former CB 8 Chair, attorney Tony Cassino — who lost to Oliver Koppell in the 2009 City Council race — chairs the recently formed Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy board said the conservancy started meeting with the City to discuss a rink for Van Cortlandt Park a year ago. A year ago.

Apparently the politically connected Cassino - Mayor Bloomberg appointed him to the City’s Charter Revision Commission last March - did not deem it appropriate to share his rink plans with his former colleagues on the Community board. He was tossed off the board after serving more than a decade - after his failed City Council bid.

To help with the project,

Mr. Cassino has teamed up with Dan Biederman, the founder of the Bryant Park Corporation. The

Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy is looking to Bryant Park as a model.

Mr. Biederman reportedly joined the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy board two years ago after City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe saw him at a cross country race in the park and thought he might be able to bring some of his expertise to the Bronx. Mr. Biederman is firmly of the belief that his model of park management including commercialization, and I assume also the diverting of city funds exclusively to the three public park properties the city allows him to run - can and should be replicated in other parks.

Mr. Cassino has said he would like to see a holiday market at the rink like the one at Bryant Park. No word yet on whether the funds generated from the rink will be diverted to

Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy.

Since the announcement a few drabs of information have come to light. The proposed rink would be located on tennis courts and on two very popular handball courts which are well-used year-round. The displacement of free park features obviously needs to be looked at and addressed. A number of other questions still also need to be addressed. An RFP will be released shortly. The city is looking for

a 15-year concession agreement for a rink, which will operate between October and March.

The Bronx is the only borough that does not have a public rink. That is shameful. Even when a potentially beneficial idea is put forward, this administration still manages to find a way to alienate the community. - Geoffrey Croft

Ice transparent, rink not

Riverdale Express - EDITORIAL COMMENT - March 17, 2011

You’d have to be a real sour puss to oppose an ice-skating for Van Cortlandt Park.

Who wouldn’t want to see Bronx children’s colorful scarves waving in the wind as they round corners and return to parents keeping their cocoa warm? Who wouldn’t want nearby businesses to benefit from a borough-wide venue in their vicinity?

It would have been easy to characterize anyone who objected to the idea of a winter wonderland in Vannie as the world’s biggest Grinch — hater of all things fun and a general misanthrope — if only those who conceived of the rink had been more transparent.

Tony Cassino — a loser to Oliver Koppell in the 2009 City Council race — who chairs the board of the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy, said the conservancy started meeting with the City to discuss a rink for Van Cortlandt Park a year ago.

They came up with a plan — announced by the mayor during his January State of the City address — for a rink, which a concessionaire will pay for, to be completed by November 2011.

During its months of operation, it will usurp space on some of the park’s defunct tennis courts, but also on a few very popular handball courts, which are well-used year-round.

After that, the details get a little foggy. How it will be built, operated and maintained, whether parking will be provided, how much skating will cost, are all questions for which Community Board 8 is waiting to have answered. But the project, unlike the rink in Bryant Park it is modeled after, does not require board approval.

That is why the Board learned of the Conservancy’s plans the way most of us did — when the mayor announced it during his speech early this year. Even members of the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park, which has been working to raise funds to support Vannie for decades, were left in the dark.

Public/private partnerships are nothing new to the City’s parks — Bryant Park and Central Park conservancies are examples that come to mind — and they are also not new to Vannie (the golf course is run by concessionaires and so are the stables). But the way this project has been approached has given some the notion that it is more about serving the needs of the conservancy than would-be Hans Brinkers.

And it is arguable whether the project, commendable in a bubble, constitutes the best use of the conservancy’s fund raising. Rumor has it that the Parade Ground, which sits beside the soon-to-be-rink, lack funding for ongoing maintenance even after a multi-million dollar renovation.

When the remaining fences come down around the section of the park that is home to baseball, soccer and cricket areas this spring, will there be money in the City’s coffers to keep it going?

The City may not be footing the bill for the rink, but the community will have to live with it and should be given a greater say in how it is handled. Mr. Cassino says that having a skating rink is one way to get people interested in investing in the park through the conservancy, which will allow it to fund other projects — presumably ones that won’t cost park goers a dime.

If that’s his goal, good. If it’s a way of inspiring people to invest in his next bid for office, gross.

He claims his motives are pure. But it doesn’t really matter. Either way, neither goal will be met if community members who live near the rink can’t afford it, don’t like it, blame it for traffic congestion or parking problems, or feel that it is taking away parts of the park that are important to them.

The Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy is already taking credit for what may or may not be a very nice addition to the neighborhood. It’s members should also be aware that they will get the blame if the concessionaire chosen by the Parks Department lets us down without ever asking us what we want.

Read More:

Ice transparent, rink not

Riverdale Express - EDITORIAL COMMENT - March 17, 2011

Operator will set agenda for new rink at Vannie

Riverdale Express - March 3, 2011 - By Carla Candia

Conservancy plans rink for Vannie

Riverdale Express - January 26, 2011 - By Adam Wisnieski