01/26/1989 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mary Sarion December 29, 1988 Parks and Recreation Director -` 2401 Highway 10 Mounds View, MN 55112 Dear Ms Sarion, The ice skating season looks bleak for the northern Mounds View residents with the city's planned size of the pleasure rinks at Hillview and Groveland parks. I invite the developer of the plan to take a drive to these parks and take a good look at the two puddles the plan has produced for resident ice skaters. If it is not sensed that problems will exist with overcrowded rinks and inadequate skating area, then obviously the developer has not laced up a pair of skates and participated in the activity. It totally baffles me that the city would allocate funds for new lighting and improved warming houses and in turn offer skating rinks that are grossly undersized. Mounds View rinks in their present form will create dangerous skating conditions due to lack of area to maneuver in and will severely limit skaters enjoyment of the activity. The situation can be compared to playing racketball in a closet. My initial inquiry to your department regarding size of rinks was answered with the response that past attendance was examined when the rinks were graded this year. It was also stated that the P.W. dept. determines the size of rinks based on available maintenance and previous year sizes. I had a conversation with a P.W. employee and he advised that the recreation dept. fully dictates rink area and that he seriously questioned this years size of all rinks. What is different in 1988 that the subject parks pleasure rinks are half the size of previous years? If past attendance is the criteria for determining rink area, then I would expect that next year the city will throw out a few ice cubes at Hillview and Groveland, because this season will certainly curtail attendance based on available rink area. I do not know where attendance statistics are derived from. My family skates regularly at Hillview park and there are always a good number of skaters,despite poorly maintained skating surfaces and lack of city organized activities at the local rinks in past years. Resident skaters respond to skating conditions, activities available and reasonable ice area. If the city continually opens ice rinks two weeks after neighboring cities, neglects weekend, holiday and routine ice maintenance and drastically reduces the available skating area, then obviously skaters will pursue the activity elsewhere or not engage in the sport at all. If you have determined a decline in partic- ipants at the city's rinks it is a direct reflection of parks dept.'s past effort and planning to provide decent facilities and programs at the rinks. If it needs reminding, our climate is such that winter activities represent a substantial portion of our yearly park activity. Ice skating is one of the few winter sports that provides easy access for residents and can offer inexpensive and rewarding activity, especially for cabin fevered children.