Lasker Rink Re-Opening On Thanksgiving After Fixes

Lasker Rink located in the North end of Central Park has been closed since November 15th after opening a few weeks earlier for the season.  "Cross your fingers" a Parks Department worker said last week after working on the Rink.  (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates

Manhattan

Welcome news for ice skaters in the North end of Central Park.

Lasker Rink will re-open tomorrow at 10:00 am after the Parks Department was able to repair the refrigeration system.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after the rink announced it would be closed for the remainder of the season.  

On November 15 the Rink issued a statement  that City engineers said the refrigeration plant must be replaced. 

"Lasker Rink will not be open during the 2014-2015 skating season," the message said.

- Geoffrey Croft

Lasker Rink is operated by the Trump Organization.

Read More:

Trump Run Lasker Ice Rink Closed - No Signs Posted -
Information Removed From Webpage & Social Media
A Walk In The Park - November 16, 2014

Trump Run Lasker Ice Rink Closed - No Signs Posted - Information Removed From Webpage & Social Media

"How can you delete all the messages about being closed from here AND your website? Do you know how many people will show up only to be disappointed? Put the message back so at least people know." -   Facebook 

The Donald Trump run Lasker Rink located at the north end of Central Park, opened for the season on October 27th but a message posted on the Lasker Facebook page on Friday afternoon said it had been closed down.   (Photo: Michael Appleton for The New York Times)

"The City engineers have been through our facility and realized the refrigeration plant must be replaced. Lasker Rink will not be open during the 2014-2015 skating season," the message said as first reported by NY 1. 

By Saturday however  announcements on the Facebook page and the rink’s Trump website had mysteriously disappeared.  And no reference of the issue can be heard on rink's voice mail message.

No signs were posted at the rink about the closing.

The Times reports that last night the Parks Department said  it would attempt to fix the rink’s concrete slab and valves to identify and repair the source of a leak “in the hope of reopening the rink to the public later this season.”


Manhattan

The day after the skating rink at the North end of Central Park abruptly announced that it was closing for the season, the parks department said on Saturday that it would try to make repairs so that it could reopen at some point this winter, according to the New York Times.  

The site, named Lasker Rink and operated by the Trump Organization, announced on Friday that city engineers determined that its refrigeration plant needed to be replaced. Rink management notified the various hockey groups that used the rink of the closing, sending them scrambling to find other places to play. 

 But on Saturday evening, the parks department said in a statement that it would attempt to fix the rink’s concrete slab and valves to identify and repair the source of a leak “in the hope of reopening the rink to the public later this season.”  




Facebook post on Sunday morning.



“In the meantime, the Trump Organization, along with NYC Parks, will work with the community and other area rinks to try to accommodate hockey and skating groups who call Lasker Rink home,” the statement added. 

“Refunds will also be issued to any organizations who reserved and paid for use of the rink during the time that it will be closed.”

The closing stunned those who use the rink regularly. 

 “It’s nothing short of devastating right now,” said John Sanful, the executive director of Ice Hockey in Harlem, a nonprofit that has used the rink for years.

 “There were 240 kids scheduled to be in the program, and we’re still hoping to get them on the ice this year.”  Mr. Sanful said that on Saturday, a group of 9- and 10-year-olds and the organization’s girls’ hockey team had gone to a rink in Brewster, N.Y., about 50 miles north of Manhattan, to practice.  

The Lasker site operates a public swimming pool in the summer. In the colder months, it has two outdoor rinks that host youth and adult hockey leagues as well as public skating sessions. 

The rinks opened for the season at the end of October, but a message posted on the site’s Facebook page on Friday afternoon said they had been closed down. By Saturday, the announcements on the Facebook page and the rink’s website had been removed.

The rink’s management did not return requests for comment.  

On Saturday afternoon, the rink, which is near East 106th Street, was empty, with pools of water gathering on the surface. No signs were posted about the closing. Finding the gates closed, would-be skaters departed to make other plans.

Blank.  By Saturday, the announcements on the Facebook page and the rink’s website had been removed.


Read More:

Parks Department Will Try to Reopen Lasker Rink at Central Park

New York Times - November 15, 2014 - By Emma G. Fitzsimmons 

Refrigeration woes to close Central Park’s Lasker Rink for winter season
New York Daily News November 15, 2014 - By Larry McShane  

Man Arrested For Stalking Minor At Lasker Pool

Manhattan

A observant Parks Enforcement Patrol Officer recognized a man wanted for "harassment and stalking a  minor," at Central Park's Pool on Tuesday,  August 10th. "Step Up" Park Enforcement Police (PEP) Sgt. Matthew Greenberg noticed  31-year-old Dylan Kelly from an NYPD wanted poster hanging at Lasker Pool as he entered Sheltering Arms Pool.  (Kelly's image was taken from CCTV at the pool.) He was wanted for an incident involving a child which occurred on July 19th at Lasker.  

Sgt. Greenberg,  who is usually assigned to Lasker pool,  on Tuesday was sent to work at Sheltering Arms where he noticed the scraggly,  goateed,  stringy long-haired man entering the pool. The sergeant called over to Lasker Pool to obtain a copy of the wanted poster which was brought to Sheltering Arms. Greenberg notified NYPD cops on duty at Sheltering Arms who questioned and arrested the perpetrator.   - Geoffrey Croft

Read More:

NYPD Daily Blotter 

New York Post - August 14,   2010 -  By Kirsten Fleming,  Jamie Schram, Lorena Mongelli and John Doyle 

Man Pleads Guilty To Installing Hidden Cameras In Female Locker Room At Lasker Rink

DAVID CANELA, Videotaped Schoolgirls. (Photo: William Farrington) 

Manhattan

A pervy ex-private school teacher admits he put hidden cams in women's locker rooms in a Central Park recreation center - and a midtown YMCA.

David Canela, 34, copped  to four unlawful surveillance charges yesterday for spying on his victims  at the 110th Street Lasker Rink and Pool in Central Park and a W. 47th St. YMCA last August and September, according to the New York Daily News.

"You installed a camera in a girls' locker room in order to view them while they were changing, is that true?" Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon demanded of Canela.

"Yes," said Canela, who was originally charged in a 90-count indictment.
 
"You knew it was a crime to do this?" the judge asked.

"Yes," the pervert said.

Canela faces up to a year behind bars or as little as probation when he's sentenced October 8.
 
"He's very remorseful," his lawyer, Mitchell Golub, said outside of court. "It's been a train wreck to his life."

The lawyer said Canela was fired from the school where he worked. He declined to identify the school but said his client has been in counseling.

Read More:

Pervy ex-teacher admits putting hidden cameras in women's locker rooms

New York Daily News - August 10, 2010 - By Melissa Grace

Perv teach's photo finish

New York Post - August 12,  2010 - By Laura Italiano