posted Feburary 11, 2006

Report of Community Meeting about Rink Management Board Proposal

February 7, 2006, Dufferin Park Rinkhouse

February 7 2006 rink meeting report.

Present:

• a roomful of rink users
• some Dufferin Rink staff, plus
• City Councillor Adam Giambrone;
• Parks, Forestry and Recreation director Don Boyle
• 4-5 representatives of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 416.
  
  

Read More >>

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posted January 31, 2006

Outdoor Rink Reports, 2005 - 2006

Here's a look at the running of some of Toronto's outdoor rinks during the rink season of 2005/2006. Toronto has 47 neighborhood compressor-powered outdoor rinks (that's not counting the big outdoor rinks in central squares). The rinks range from lively meeting places for their neighborhoods to squalid hangouts for very troubled people. The rinks are also demonstration sites of the joys and troubles that beset city staff. Jutta Mason visited some rinks every day, some just occasionally.Read More >>

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New Wallace Emerson Website

posted January 31, 2006

We've opened a subsite for the Wallace Emerson Centre, mostly its rink. Type "WallaceEmerson.ca" into your browser.

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Public Meeting Sunday February 5 at Wallace Emerson Centre

LATEST MEETING WITH COUNCILLOR ADAM GIAMBRONE

Meeting with Councillor Adam Giambroni the first week of January 2006

• Week of Jan.16: Adam attends a late-afternoon meeting at Wallace with rink staff and any rink users who can make it. (Open meeting). Presence of Brian Green, Tino DeCastro, Dave Dermott essential.Walkabout with all details looked into (garage, compressor room location, gas supply, rink change area sight lines, danger spots, access stairways, etc.) Follow-up with all suggestions, sketches posted afterwards.
• Week of Jan.23: Mike Johnston gives written evaluations of suggestions (interim). Bulletin board at rink posted with this information. Larger weekend public meeting with Adam Giambrone and Michael Johnston, about rink proposals, at Wallace. (Sunday afternoon?) Barrel fire with marshmallows and hot chocolate. Meeting would be advertised through a neighbourhood mail drop as well as being posted at the rink.Read More >>

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posted November 21, 2005

Harborfront Rink Opening Before City Rinks

Harbourfront Rink opened November 19, 2005 -- the third week of November, which is when city compressor-run outdoor rinks used to open.Read More >>

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posted October 14, 2005

Bad news: rinks open late again

Almost every year since amalgamation (1998), rink users have had to stop the City from delaying the rink opening. Last year was an exception, but this year it’s starting again.Read More >>

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posted October 15, 2005

Community Dialog about Rink Openings, and Wallace Rink Issues

October 10, 2005, group letter from Jutta Mason to the "friends of the rink list": Read More >>

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posted October 14, 2005

Good news: Rink users and rink staff collaborate to make some good changes at Dufferin, Wallace, Campbell rinks:

Read More >>

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posted February 1, 2006

City Rinks Management Board Proposal

All friends of City of Toronto outdoor rinks:
Public meeting Tuesday Feb.7
Dufferin Rink, 7.p.m.

The City's management of outdoor compressor-run ice rinks isn’t working.

For quite a few years now, friends of Dufferin Rink and other outdoor rinks have advocated for improvements in outdoor rink operations throughout the city. Sometimes it seemed like we were getting somewhere, but lots of times the problems returned.

Now we seem to have hit a wall. Outdoor rinks are still often poorly maintained. At Dufferin Rink, the zamboni drivers say they can’t stand working at any rink run like this one. The city's management, distracted by a problematic departmental reorganization, has let this situation develop with little interference. Read more >>

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posted January 24, 2006

The Upside-Down World of City Rinks

Editorial

For some years now, most of the City’s staff zamboni operators have been reluctant to work at Dufferin Rink. Some have not been shy to say so. They say there’s too much interference with their regular way of running rinks. The zamboni drivers seem particularly unhappy about the idea that they should match their ice maintenance visits to the rink program schedule. One particular zamboni operator recently insisted on clearing the ice before a hockey permit was finished, because, he said, that was his prerogative if he felt like it. When a rink friend argued with him, the zamboni driver and his partner left the rink without grooming the ice at all, and went home early. A few days later some of the City zamboni drivers summoned their supervisor to a health and safety meeting.

Read More >>

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posted February 20, 2006

Does Anyone Have a Broom?

Editorial

The City of Toronto has 49 outdoor ice rinks that are cooled by compressors. Many northern cities have one or two such rinks, usually in central plazas or major parks. We have them in neighbourhoods as well, the only city in the world to build such a large number. They're worth more than $60 million. They're supposed to be looked after by Toronto's Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division, but the system for maintaining most of those rinks is a shambles.

Read More >>

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