Despite Hype Ice Rink Sits Unused

Despite Hype Ice Rink Sits Unused

What to Do With An Empty Ice Rink?

Riverdale Report

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS)- It seems that after Mayor Bloomberg had to have an ice skating rink in Van Cortlandt Park, the space is now empty, and becoming an eyesore to the community. 

I am talking about the old unused tennis court that sits on Broadway just south of the end of the # 1 Subway line. Over 3 years ago Mayor Bloomberg had the Parks Department put out a Request For Proposal to have an Ice Skating Rink be put in the unused tennis court on Broadway. The RFP was sent out, and a contract was drawn up with the vendor and the city. It was for 15 years with an increasing scale of fees to be paid to the city after the first two free years of the contract.

Ice Rinks Inc. which has other ice skating rinks in city parks was the vendor, and for the first year of operation of the Van Cortlandt Park Ice Skating Rink everything seemed to be going well. In the second year of operation was where things seemed to fall apart. It was a rather warmer winter, and the equipment that Ice Rinks Inc. had put in seemed to be having problems. The ice was soft at times, and the rink could not be used. This led to a decline in attendance and in revenue for Ice Rinks Inc. The rink was shut down more than two weeks before its scheduled closing as the chillers were no longer effectively making the ice hard. Ice Rinks Inc. was unsure if they could return the next year as new chillers would have to be installed, and that was going to cost to much money to be profitable. It seemed that the vendor wanted to redo the contract that gave them two free years of operation, so they could continue rent free.

The result was that Ice Rink Inc. pulled out of the contract with the city, and the city and community were back to having an eyesore of an empty area that now had permanent electrical equipment, and other permanent large metal casings so tennis was no longer an option for this space in Van Cortlandt Park. That was over a year ago, and looks like it will be permanent since the Kingsbridge National Ice Center in the nearby Kingsbridge Armory will become a reality.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., State Senator Jeff Klein, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, and Councilman Andrew Cohen have come up with an idea for the unusable tennis area on Broadway. The four elected officials want to have a weekend market similar to the one that is currently in Bryant Park, which by the way Bryant park also has an ice skating rink that is very successful. You can go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to see the letter that the four elected officials have sent to NYC Parks Commissioner Michael Silver requesting that this eyesore of an area in Van Cortlandt park be transformed into a marketplace such as is in Bryant Park in Manhattan.

This Sunday is the North Riverdale Block Festival sponsored by the North Riverdale Merchants Association and KRVC. Riverdale Avenue between West 258^th and West 259^th Street will be closed to traffic with the exception of a lane for emergency vehicles and regularly scheduled buses that will be running on a Sunday schedule. The event will run from 12 – 4 PM -, and will feature live music all day, clowns, face painting, many more children s activities, and also pony rides.

If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.