2006 - 2007

March 4 2007

This was supposed to be the last day of the rink, but since the big snowstorm on March 1, this one was never re-opened. The plow came on Friday night, but there's no evidence of a zamboni. Somebody said a tree branch fell on the rink -- that must have happened later, but today there was no tree branch. Just the sound of the compressor plant running, freezing the ice, but no maintenance to make it skateable. Sad.

Feb.25 2007, from Campbell Youth Tourney lead recreation staff Dan Watson:

Feb.22

heavy snow this morning, wet. Plowed at 5 pm., zamboni didn't get there until 8 pm.

Feb.21 2007

Bright sun and high of 4 celsius. Closed at 4 pm because of gouges in ice.

Feb.20 2007

Three guys playing hockey, and a lot of permit skaters just leaving. The ice is excellent, no gouges, corners are good.

Feb.10 2007, 9.10 pm

Good ice, nobody there.

February 6th

9:30pm Lively scene at Campbell. Many players playing shinny

Low -15C, 7:30pm Rink guard and BA (building attendant) indoors. Not too many people on the ice (maybe 5 playing shinny). Rink shoveling guide,Community run Rink Information Hotline document and Union 79 contact info. posted inside the rink change room. We noticed that the BA has expanded the small menu offered at Campbell (water and pop for $1 each in previous years) to include Gatorade, Apple juice, Black tape and pucks. This is still an experiment and run only by the one BA. Since he does not work every night, this is not always available. The BA has requested a microwave and a cork board to be put up in the rink house. Using the metal green shovels on snow days is still a sore point at this rink. The general feeling is that it is a Local 416 job and should BAs and Rink Guards do it - it will further promote the culture of Zamboni drivers not clearing the rink manually when the trucks, etc... are not available. Again the same protest that Rink Guards and BAs just don't earn enough to maintain the ice - it's not in their job description.

Jan.26 2007

There was about three centimeters of snow and no zamboni nor ice maintenance workers, so the recreation staff shoveled off the rink so it would be available for the youth permit. No cooking fire to roast hot dogs, however -- the park supervisor has stopped these campfires, even though they're in a barrel.

Jan.21 2007

Troubles that need fixing:

1. no evidence at 2.15 that either of the two staff had any interest in supporting pleasure-skating at Campbell Rink (it's only 2 hours, from 2 pm to 4 pm).

2. After a minimum effort to set up half the rink for pleasure skaters, the rink guard said there was no way he'd stay on the rink for five extra minutes and help a little girl learn how to stop: "It's not my job and I don't get paid enough"

Proposals: 1. If this rink guard feels that he must stick to the exact job description, get him put on their skates and helmets and stay out on the ice for his whole shift

2. To make this stick, put some ambitious supervision in place.

3. OR -- even better -- run Campbell the same number of hours on the weekend as JJP. That's three-and-a-half hours on Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday. Only don't lock the actual rink the rest of the time (as they do at JJP). Then put up a big sign in the window: for supervised pleasure skating, go to Wallace Rink. (With a map -- nobody there seems to know where Wallace Rink is).

Jan.19 2007: the party

The Campbell Rink party had a lot of people. There was a DJ, two cooking fires, skater rentals, games, and a Campbell Web site set up. Councillor Adam Giambrone came too. Some photos:

From Dufferin Rink staff Mayssan Shuja, to city rinks supervisor Brian Green, Jan.18 2007

Jan.17 8.20 pm

Lots of shinny players, fast game going on.

Jan.13 1 pm

2 shinny players. Good ice. Staff at the rink said that Saturdays are often slow, in fact, there are seldom many skaters until the evening.

Jan.12 3.45 pm

3 shinny players. Just beginning to rain. Rink staff Dan Watson came to set up for Friday night campfire but found that the wood he had stored from last Friday had disappeared from the compressor room. Health and safety? The game tables stored in there had been moved into the main room, just stacked in a corner.

The compressor room is much larger than what's needed for the machinery, and half of it is elevated -- very separate from the rest. But someone decided to take the tables out of there. Why were they in there originally? Who decided to move them out? No one knows.

The rink house looks like an orphan, clean, unadorned in any way, with ugly furniture and piles of junky stuff in the office. The office was built without a doorway into the changeroom.

Jan.10 2007 9.20 pm

15 shinny hockey players, fast game, zero helmets. The ice could have used some snow removal but still pretty good.

Jan.8 2007 4.35 pm

Ice bad, very rough, looks as though maybe it didn't get done today. 2 skaters, plus one sitting in box.

Jan.6 2007 4.40 pm

Still some water on the rink but starting to freeze up. 4 hockey players. Rink guard said that the ice was resurfaced at 6 a.m. and 11 a.m.

9 pm 13 shinny players, ice good.

Jan.5 2007, 2.50 pm

The rink was very wet. Two players. The zamboni truck was standing outside Campbell, idling, but without any zamboni on it. The building attendant said he had no idea why it was there, and then it was suddenly gone. No evidence that the ice had been resurfaced.

3 p.m. Showers. Rink staff Dan Watson made a barrel fire, with hot dogs and marshmallows. Good attendance for hockey and lots of youth had a (free) hot dog. At about 7.30 it started to rain more heavily and the rink got very wet and people left. Letter from Dan:

Jan.4 2007, 11.15.

Fourteen shinny players on ice. Nets sinking in again, but not much. City staff there to replace a smashed glass pane on the door. Building attendant says the rink has often been busy this week.

Jan.2 2007, noon.

Seven shinny players. Ice was good although nets were sinking in a bit because of sunshine.

Dec.28 2006, 2 pm

The ice was resurfaced at about 9 a.m., due again in the afternoon. Looks good. 16 people playing shinny hockey.

Dec.24, 2006, 1.30 am.

About a dozen guys standing around beside the rink smoking weed. When asked why they weren't playing hockey (the rink was unlocked), they said "the ice is crap." The ice had so much snow on it, that it looked like maybe it had been missed by the flying squad that whole day...?

Dec.15 2006

Ice in good condition, a few damp spots but hard, pretty smooth -- two inches thick. Staffed by Dufferin rink staff from 3pm to 11 pm. One of the skaters there was found to be wearing Dufferin Rink loaned skates that had been missing for two weeks, plus he had a stick and gloves. These were reclaimed, but no police report of theft was made.

Rink staff made a list of missing cleaning materials and plans for making Friday evenings special at Campbell. To be followed up.

report from skaters who said they were at Campbell, Dec.14 2006

They said the ice was very rough.

Dec.13 2006

High 9 celsius, low 2, mostly cloudy. At 2 p.m., rink was empty, rink change house was locked, no sign. Ice was watery and rough-looking, one net on the ice -- slowly sinking into ice.

Dec.12 2006

High 9 celsius, low 3. Mostly cloudy. 4 hockey players at 7 p.m. Nets off to the side. Ice bumpy with gouges. No maintenance all day because zamboni trailer still broken.

Dec.10 2006

High 7 celsius, sunny. Low 1. At 12.30 there were 14 people playing hockey. The ice was solid except on the sunny side against the board -- some surface melting, and lots of dirt and leaves embedded just under the surface, also deep down. The front door doesn't work (is permanently locked) and there were no schedules.

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