Open letter to the Greenwich RTM, submitted by Joe Rothenberg
Members of the RTM,
I am writing in response to the recent email submitted to the RTM alleging that Greenwich does not need to replace Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink. While public input is always welcome, it is important to distinguish between arguments grounded in fact and proposals that simply are not tethered to reality.
The Hamill Rink replacement project has been studied exhaustively for years. Multiple committees, including the most recent Hamill Rink Task Force, conducted a transparent, public process involving the RTM, various town departments and elected officials, Byram representation, user groups, and extensive public hearings and comments. That process culminated in decisive votes to eliminate all options other than some form of “the flip”, including two votes to eliminate 100 Arch Street and, ultimately, unanimous votes to eliminate the downtown parking lots and the “build-in-place” option from consideration.
Those votes were not rushed. They were the result of months of analysis, years of accumulated experience, and a clear-eyed assessment of cost, feasibility, disruption, and community impact.
Against that backdrop, the suggestion that Greenwich can simply pause, rebuild in place, or rely on a temporary rink — often imagined on the GHS football field (notwithstanding the fact that football season runs through November and Spring sports start in March, among other issues) — is not a serious proposal. It has been examined and rejected repeatedly, for good reason. The Task Force’s deliberations explicitly accounted for, among other things, the added cost and logistical burden of erecting, operating and removing a temporary rink each year during construction, further underscoring why “build-in-place” was unanimously removed from consideration.
Equally detached from reality is the assertion in that email that Wings Arena has somehow solved the town’s skating needs or eliminated urgency around replacing Hamill Rink because “GHS hockey and the skating programs now have a functional home at… Wings Arena…”.
This is 100% untrue, it’s not based in reality. Wings Arena is a privately owned facility that has not absorbed, and does not have the capacity to absorb, the programs that depend on Hamill Rink. Not only are GHS hockey and other programs still at Hamill Rink, but they’re taking hundreds of hours of ice time there:
- Pubic Skating Sessions: 360+ HOURS
- GHS Boys and Girls Hockey: 200+ HOURS
- Cardinals Youth Hockey Association: 370+ HOURS
- Greenwich Skating Club (& Stateline): 270+ HOURS
- Town of Greenwich Hockey School: 105+ HOURS
- Town of Greenwich Skating School: 70 HOURS
- Other Miscellaneous Programs: 270+ HOURS
TOTAL: 1,645+ HOURS
(The data above covers the 2025-2026 season. Numbers were rounded-down to remove partial hours and show round-numbers.)
The notion that Wings Arena has replaced Hamill Rink ignores these basic facts — including the reality that, as shown above, even Wings Arena’s anchor tenants seek additional ice time at Hamill Rink.
I also want to specifically respond to the assertion, in the recent email you received, that “coaches, players, and skating families” didn’t come out to support the project at Task Force hearings (allegedly, according to that email, because Wings Arena has become home to GHS and other programs – which, of course, is 100% false). That statement is completely divorced from reality, I don’t know how else to say it.
The community came out in force and was extremely vocal and involved in the Task Force process whenever possible – people supporting the project spoke at public hearings and sent in hundreds of comments to the Task Force. The number of comments sent to the Task Force in support of the project outnumbered the number of comments opposing the project by several orders of magnitude, it wasn’t remotely close. Statements in support of the project were also sent to the Task Force by: (1) leadership of the Hamilton Avenue School PTA, the New Lebanon School PTA and the Byram Archibald Neighborhood Center (BANC); (2) the board of the Greenwich Cardinals Youth Hockey Association; and (3) representatives of the local hockey community (including the current head coaches of GHS’s boys’ and girls’ varsity hockey teams, the former head coaches of GHS’s boys’ and girls’ hockey team and the Manager of Hamill Rink, among others). Youth hockey players – 9 and 10 year old kids! – came to public hearings and spoke publicly. These are objective, inarguable facts – don’t take my word for it, you can ask the Task Force or take a look at the publicly-available minutes and recordings, and the contemporaneous accounts published in the local newspapers. Support for this project is widespread, broad and strong. The assertions otherwise, in the email you received, were untrue, and I don’t know how anyone following this process could make those assertions in good faith.
I do think it’s useful that the recent email makes one thing clear: some opponents of the Hamill Rink replacement project simply do not want the town to replace Hamill Rink at all. That position is their right, but it should be stated honestly. Recycling ideas that have already been studied and rejected — and presenting them as newly discovered solutions — does not advance good-faith policymaking.
The Task Force process worked exactly as it was intended to work. Constituent groups were heard – including opponents of the project. Alternatives were explored. Assumptions were tested. Difficult tradeoffs were evaluated in public view.
The RTM should take confidence in the thoroughness of the Task Force’s work and resist efforts to substitute speculation and wishful thinking for years of careful analysis. Greenwich’s skating families, student-athletes, and youth programs deserve a modern, safe, code-compliant rink — and a decision-making process rooted in reality. The Task Force will soon make its recommendations and release its report on all the sites – let’s respect that process and the work that’s been done.
Respectfully submitted,
Joe Rothenberg