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More and more people are playing hockey at the College Park rink after midnight and the hockey slapstick noise creates a loud echo effect.

This is causing a disturbance, particularly for those who sleep prior to midnight.

Are there official operating hours?

Who can be called to notify midnight hockey players that there are official operating hours for this rink?

Who would be in charge of taking care of this problem?

I guess somebody needs to put a sign out on the rink, and ask Corporate Security to go out there a few nights and explain the hours to the hockey players?

Thank you so much for looking into this problem for us.

College Park has security patrolling the premises 24 hours, but it appears that the rink is owned by the city so there is not much that they can do from a jurisdiction point of view. However, the College Park security contact # is 416-597-1111 in case arrangements can be made so that they can lend a helping hand whenever hockey players are having a game after midnight. I know that in the summer, when there are people loitering the premises in the outdoor rink area, the security is contacted and they kindly ask these people to leave.

sounds promising, for the City to connect with the College Park Security staff.

The cityrinks.ca website is not a municipal website and so we have no power to fix anything, but we can pass messages along -- it may be that Dave is on holidays, if you don't hear from him today, let me know and we can bump this up.

Dave might be away on holidays as he has not responded yet. Maybe we can try and bump this up?

Its currently past midnight and there's a hockey game going on at the rink. Its just a bit frustrating because I need to get to bed for work but its so loud outside and it is almost an every day thing. It would be so helpful if the College Park security could kindly let the people know that there are public hours.

It seems like either the City's Corporate Security or a call to College Park Security could help out here?

I will pass the info on to the correct staff for action.

Thanks Tino!

If possible, please let me know if there is a number that I can contact in the evening if people are playing hockey after midnight and disturbing the peace.

I have copied our security section supervisor, he should reply with an over night number to call.

Hopefully we'll get a response early next week about the number that the residents of College Park can call. People are playing hockey after midnight every night now.

I also learned today, after speaking with the city worker stationed at the rink, that there is a sign that states that hockey is not permitted at this particular rink. That's useful information to know.

However, he did not have a phone number for me to contact after 10 pm.

Not an impressive performance by Corporate Security. Have you had a chance to follow up with them? Maybe they can do better today?

call 311, and they should be able to contact city hall security for a response.

Your correspondence will be shared with all appropriate staff.

yes they have logged the request. It will improve, [A.C.] feel free to call me at any time my cell number is [number].

P,F&R has informed us that the Barbara Anne Scott - Collage Park Outdoor Ice Rink is actually at 420 Yonge Street. This is the location that is experiencing after-hours issues with hockey players. If you receive a call, please ensure that a Corporate Mobile Patrol Officer is dispatched. I've been informed that there is even signage on site that states that no hockey is allowed.

Corporate Security will respond to either location if contacted. Thank you for your patience as we worked threw this issue. I had to be sure of ownership before committing our limited resources.

I called the # 416-392-1212 at around 10 pm yesterday and I believe security came just before 11 pm as the hockey players left at around this time.

I hope I do not become too much of a nuisance but I will likely call this number whenever I hear people playing hockey after 10 pm as it likely disrupts other College Park residents who need to get to bed.

Yes we did remove hockey players the evening you mention & we continue to remove hockey players. For example, just last night our Corporate Mobile Patrol Officer was doing a pro-active patrol of the Barbara Anne Scott - Collage Park Outdoor Ice Rink just after midnight & he evicted 5 youths found playing hockey.

Thank you for being our eye's & most importantly ear's' @ the Barbara Anne Scott - Collage Park Outdoor Ice Rink, Together we shall make a difference,

It's a good first step, removing midnight hockey players at College Park (and hopefully Ramsden Rink?) to take away obnoxious night-time noise from places where the rinks are close to dwellings. And giving out the security number to people who live nearby is a big help.

The second step is to remember that outdoor activity is good, and that people's working hours (and therefore, their free time) vary greatly. Midnight hockey is not bad in itself, in fact, it's good. So the city needs to advertise rinks where midnight hockey won't disturb others. There are a number of possibilities, the most important one being High Park Rink. I'm meeting with the Parks director on Tuesday. Bruce, are there any regular drive-through visits by your Security staff in High Park at the moment?

Per below. The best way to effectively deal with this issue is to call our security control centre @ 416-392-1212, so that we can attend & continue to document these occurrences. Re the other questions below. I have added notes below.

>>> From user A.C. 2/27/2010 1:17 AM >>>

It appears to be a monumental feat to ensure that people are playing hockey at the Barbara Ann Scott rink, even though there is a sign that explictly states no hockey. Is there any way we can escalate this issue at the city level? Feel free to e-mail P,F&R.

Its 1:15 am right now and I am waiting until the hockey players leave until I go to bed. If I call security now, it will likely be an hour until someone gets to the rink and the hockey players will likely have left by 2:15 am. Depends where in the City our Mobiles are located & what type of call's they have in the Que - IE alarm response, late to close alarm system signal, request for assistance by City staff, etc..

Another suggestion is if the city works with our College Park patrol and allows them to ask hockey players not to play, even if it is not within their jurisdiction. That way, the patrol can come immediately and we do not need to pull staff away from your office. This is not possible, because of liability issues.

Are you guys located outside of the downtown core, is that why it usually takes a while for someone to get to college park. On average, I think it takes at least 45 min to an hour after my phone call. I am located in Scarborough. Out Mobiles are on the road when on duty. Our Mobiles base is confidential & 45 minutes is an expected time frame for a City of this size. If you do not call us, we will only attend on a pro-active patrol.

On my account, this is the 60th email relating to noise complaints at the Barbara Ann Scott rink that began on December 30th when I finally decided to contact city rinks to seek corrective action.

For the last 2 months, I must have called Security Patrol on average 2 times a week because people were playing hockey at an unreasonable hour (after 11 pm). I can't tell you how much sleep I have lost because I am waiting until 1:30 - 2:00 am until the people have stopped playing. The hockey slap shots really create a loud echo effect...I'm not sure why this issue hasn't been escalated already because I'm sure lots of people are disturbed at night.

I really do want to escalate this concern because people should not be playing hockey at the Barbara Ann Scott rink (there is a sign that indicates no hockey) especially not past 11 pm. However, the city spot lights are on at the hockey rink after 10 pm and it makes it very easy for people to come and play at all times.

I realize that this comes at the end of the season, but I think this reactive process will only make our lives difficult (at least mine because I am calling after 11 pm whenever people are playing hockey and waiting until the patrol arrives in order to sleep).

I see three potential solutions that may instill the policy early on in the season (thinking forward into next year):

1) More visible notice/signs that hockey is not permitted at this rink and to provide a number to call if people are playing hockey 2) Turn off the lights that shine on the ice past 10 pm so that people are not encouraged to play late into the night 3) Proactive patrolling at 11:30 pm each night?? (may not have the staff for this)

I have a feeling more people would voice their concerns about this if they knew who to contact!

60 calls for such a straighforward problem and nobody ever thought of turning off the lights! My goodness. Who would have been able to make that decision? I have cc'd the recreation supervisor in charge of College Park rink this past winter, to see if he has the back story.

Re your comment about liability issues preventing a working relationship with the existing College Park Patrol -- could you be more specific?

The lights are a P,F&R issue. Re could I be more specific. They are not City employee's, I have no control over who employees them, nor their training.

This seems to be a textbook case for more communication between city departments, and for commonsense cooperation with non-city security staff. Will you be making some changes in your procedures so that next season the issue is resolved sooner?

I really appreciate your help on this. I also understand where Bruce is coming from and how accomodating everyone has been.

I'm particularly appreciate Jutta because it really sounds like you want to help me with this issue even though you haven't had the real experience that I have been going through the past few months.

I think its a big concern if people at College Park are not able to sleep because they are constantly hearing puck slapshot noises after midnight and this is not a one-off occurence. This is a concern to the point that I will be dreading winter come November because I will not be able to get reasonable sleep!!

It does really seem as though turning off the lights after 10 pm at the Barbara Ann Scott rink would solve the problem. Its something that is simple but we just need to ensure that someone can have a look at this and make it happen.