Submitted by Brian Raabe
The Rink
There are three components to analyzing the Dorothy Hamill Rink project:
– Fiscal (what is the cost)
– Developmental (what is the benefit to kids)
– The alternatives
Starting with the alternatives.
A recent letter here suggested we can rehab Dorothy Hamill and put up a temporary rink for $500,000 while that’s going on.
Conceptually attractive.
No basis in fact.
Unsure whether the author has ever skated on a temporary rink, or had their kids play in a league on one.
A temporary rink was put up in South Norwalk a few years ago.
It was more liquid pond than solid ice despite being on the Sound where the wind howled and it was 10 degrees colder than inland.
Along the way, copper for the cooling system was stolen.
Crazy.
https://abc7ny.com/amp/post/thieves-skate-off-with-norwalk-ice-rink-parts/2558749/
It was a bad idea start to finish.
That’s not an opinion. It was up for one year and didn’t return the following.
Separately, the idea we modernize the existing rink, in construction rehab is the black hole of costs.
Dorothy Hamill started as an outdoor facility in 1971, with a roof built in 1973, and walls added in 1979.
What do you think will be discovered in any refitting of that Frankenstein’s Monster?
Bet you a Salchow costs run way over.
(Unrelated, I always thought it was “sowcow” – not sure why I never questioned that…)
Here again, has the author of the recent letter skated at, or had a child in a league at Dorothy Hamill?
You can trigger a seizure with the variation in lighting as you skate from center ice to the corners.
And that’s just the start.
Love the building. The snack stand. The concrete. Peak memories.
No longer fit for purpose.
My eyes will water when the lights dim one last time and the building goes quiet.
There’s a wall of photos inside the entrance.
Save that please.
Taking the developmental assessment next. What’s in it for youth?
There’s a general lamentation that kids today are soft handed, emotionally stunted products of social networking run amuck.
Everyone gets a participation certificate and a puffy lipped, peace sign photo on “The Gram.”
That’s a broad indictment, but most would agree we can do better.
Sports like figure skating and hockey demand organization, dedication, and a tolerance for more than a little discomfort.
They perfect adaptability as a skill.
And adaptability – at its widest aperture – ensures survival of a species.
Maybe that’s too much.
But getting your kid on the ice at 7:00am on a Saturday or even playing adult league at 9:00pm is additive in ways hard to express.
All of it good.
And for that future 5-year-old out with Mom and Dad at open skate – hot chocolate, and maybe a brownie if they would just leave their little brother alone – 50 years from now it may be their most cherished memory of growing up in Greenwich.
It may have even been their first steps as an Olympic Athlete.
From Greenwich, Connecticut.
New England.
The United States of America.
It happens.
Name on the rink says so.
You hope for smarter, tougher, more adaptable kids?
Put them out on the ice.
Which brings us to the budget and the cost.
Referring again to a recent letter here with arm waving over a 4.6% tax increase as if the author were fighting off bees – budget processes focus on real costs – that is to say, after inflation.
The occupant of the White House ran on a platform of reduced inflation and no war.
Instead, we got “hold my beer.”
Inflation is running 3.3%.
A 4.6% tax increase in the current environment, (1.3% real) with all we enjoy from the Town of Greenwich – should be applauded – not disparaged.
The BET – Republicans and Democrats – and the First Selectman have engaged in near budget alchemy.
But $41,000,000 has a lot of zeroes.
It demands, absolutely demands a thorough vetting.
Again, recent letters point out how many times this project has come up and been modified after a failure to move forward.
Also, a good thing.
The rink proposal has been beaten with a club into its current, optimal form.
And is being moved forward to the RTM by unanimous vote.
We could of course decide against.
Maybe stop building swimming pools too.
Do away with libraries and the like.
We could cut taxes to zero rather than competing for the lowest mill rate in the state and – as mentioned in the past, revert to a town of homesteaders where our only collective endeavor is barn raising.
(I admit there is a romantic appeal.)
But like the idea of a $500,000 temporary rink, that thinking is divorced from reality.
So, as the budget moves to the RTM, will it be barn raising or building the rink…
Is it 1926…
or 2026?
For anyone counting – Dorothy Hamill was built closer to 1926 than today.
Time for Greenwich to break new ground.
Share your position with your RTM representatives.
https://www.greenwichct.gov/FormCenter/RTM-ALL-Forms-82/Contact-All-RTM-Members-341
And beware advocating a no vote because “I don’t skate.”
Well…
I don’t golf anymore – love the Griff.
I don’t swim laps but support the pool.
Haven’t been robbed, highly value our professional police.
And what would we be as a town without our libraries.
So, think beyond the self – we are all in this together.
When that first puck drops it will have all our names on it.
When that first Salchow is executed flawlessly, we are all parents.
And when the Zamboni cuts the ice for the first time, we are all at the wheel – driving it like we stole it.
When Mark Messier gave his tearful Hall of Fame induction speech he focused on the one thing he loved about hockey –
“It’s not about becoming a professional athlete. It is about the journey and the people you meet along the way, and the life lessons you get while playing this incredible game.”
That’s life really. That’s all there is.
The people and the journey.
$41 million is a lot of money.
Not to be flip, but there’s no Brink’s truck following the hearse.
Brian Raabe