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posted October 18, 2006

DUFFERIN RINK NEWS – HELP FROM COUNCILLOR GIAMBRONE

Dufferin Rink will open one week before most City outdoor rinks – on Dec.2. That means lots of crowds, but staff will try hard to make it work, especially for the opening-week crowds on the shinny hockey side. Most other outdoor rinks will open on Dec.9 (it was traditionally Nov.15).

Last year’s rink season had some troubles, leading to a February meeting about running the rink with a board of management. Further exploration showed that such management boards, being creatures of the municipality with very limited independence (but with even more paperwork required) would not solve the problems of ice maintenance, management, and outdated job descriptions. So rink friends will keep on trying to work with the City for well-run outdoor rinks.

At the public meeting, Director Don Boyle spoke of cutting the entire park budget back drastically. Councillor Adam Giambrone promised than that he would not allow this to happen, and he was as good as his word. He persuaded Mr.Boyle not to shrink the park. The park budget has stayed at around $164,000, just a little more than the salary of one Parks and Recreation director. It costs considerably more to run the park, but the difference is made up with all the food-related fundraising, which last year added almost $130,000 to the resources available to run this fourteen-acre “community centre without walls.” The total is still less than half the cost of operating a community centre with walls.

Councillor Giambrone also supported the new Parks manager, Sandy Straw, to get funds for paving the path where the zamboni travels between the pleasure-skating and the hockey side of the rink. This paving will be done before the end of October, and will solve many of the safety (and mud!) concerns raised last season.

A new rink program this year is an hour of open shinny time on Wednesdays (10 to 11 pm) restricted to beginner shinny players. A rink staff person will be on the ice, helping new enthusiasts for the sport to play as they learn. This year the rink will also sponsor some more youth league play between City rinks.

Councillor Giambrone is brokering a meeting between on-site rink staff, some long-time rink friends, ice maintenance staff, and the new City Rinks manager Kevin Bowser (from Etobicoke). This will be an attempt to get past the troubles of last year, and make a fresh start for a fine rink season to come.

For lots more detailed information about this rink and many other outdoor rinks, go to city rinks, Or call Dufferin Rink staff at 416 392-0913.


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