Rink Diary 2002 - 2003

Oct.27 2002

Letter to the Parks and Recreation director from Jutta:

Nov.11 2002

The director he'd like the rinks to open earlier, but he can’t go against the instructions of City Council.

Nov.22 2002

Tino called to let the staff know that the director changed the plan and the rink is opening on Nov.30, one of only two rinks in the city. That’s good, but of course everything is at sixes and sevens, because no one is ready.

Nov.30 2002

First day of rink season. The ice was still very thin and the hockey side had to be closed after half an hour of play.

Dec.1 2002

The ice was a bit better today, and since there’s no hockey on Sundays, it survived despite being thin. There’s a nice new foreperson named Peter White, who seems like we can talk to him. The rink was packed today and the Councillor topped it off in the evening, with his Santa and his Christmas tree lighting and his slow-moving hot chocolate give-away line.

From the January 2003 Park Newsletter

FUN WITH SNOW SHOVELS: during the two big snowfalls this winter so far (Christmas Day and Jan.3), rink staff got out the old green rink shovels that have been rusting quietly in the rink's storage breezeway. With the help of rink users, the staff were able to clear enough ice to make skating possible and even to let a hockey permit go on. Both times all rinks in the west end - except Dufferin Rink - were closed. Rink shovellers got a great work-out and then they had the pleasure of the rink.

For hockey players, we have the green rink shovels available when there's too much snow to move the puck (e.g. a sudden snow flurry) and no zamboni. The shovels can only be used with staff working alongside and all the snow MUST be shovelled right off the rink, not left in piles that would obstruct the zamboni when it comes later. But using those big shovels is fun when it's done right. And a successful rink clearing yields a food reward: one mini-pizza, one cookie, and one juice box, free for every shoveller – to keep their strength up.

FOOD PUZZLE Park staff and park friends started making cookies at the park back in the winter of 1995 because we wanted to civilize the rink and we thought the pleasant smell of baking in the change area might help. The cookies made such a difference that we realized that part of the reason for the bad behaviour of some youthful shinny hockey players might have been that they had been skating for three hours and they were HUNGRY. So we added apples and then we added mini-pizzas and fruit juice, and when we started baking bread in the outdoor oven we added the 25-cent slices of organic bread and butter. The mood of the youth at the rink improved hugely. At the beginning we didn’t think so much about what rink-house food would mean to families with little kids. But now many people tell us that they can get their reluctant kids out of the house to the rink very happily if they just promise them a mini-pizza. (A humble incentive indeed.) But what’s the good of that if there are frustrating line-ups and when you get to the head of the line, the last mini-pizza has just been sold? The staff practically trip over each other in the minuscule kitchen; sometimes the pace is so intense it’s hard for them to even get out to restock toilet paper or apply a band-aid.

The food at the park is meant to bring people together, not to annoy and frustrate them. We have to change some things to make it flow better. The park staff are meeting as this newsletter is coming out, to try and put their finger on solvable problems. All suggestions on how to structure the kitchen better are welcome. Please, help out here if you have good ideas!

Beyond that, if you, dear reader, live close to another rink and you find that the crowds at Dufferin Rink are getting to you, consider trying to make your own neighbourhood rink work better for you. It’s not rocket science, and if you want to know some simple hints about what worked for us, who the city contacts are, and how to groom your rink staff so they work with you instead of against you, we’re happy to tell.

Jan.16 2003

It’s been seven years since the year Tino hired Intelligarde to come with their dogs and help the staff make the rink rules stick. That winter the staff made 21 calls to that company or to police. Now we’re down to one or two calls to police per season. And some of the young folks who worried us in those early years work at jobs now instead of failing at school. They come to the rink to play hockey, not to make trouble. Many of them seem to have grown into fine young men. Maybe we over-reacted, in the early days. But the days of fights, drug deals, tables and chairs flung upside down inside the change rooms, seem to be largely behind us.

Every once in a while we get a reminder of how it used to be. Today a group of St.Mary’s High School students and their hangers-on came onto the rink and started a fight right out on the ice. They were pushed off the rink and went into the rink house, continuing the fight inside. One had got hold of the metal hoe from the bake oven. Jenny Cook(staff) grabbed it away and the rink staff booted all of the kids outside. Then there was a stand-off, in front of the rink house and across the street. When rink staff called Tony DeSouza, principal of St.Mary’s, he came running with his special camera and all the kids hurried away toward the mall.

Jan.17 2003

Today when school let out, the warring groups tried to pick up where they left off, in front of the rink house this time. An extra staff person, Lea Ambros, was assigned to stand outside and not let those young people come inside: today is market day, and the thought of the broccoli and meat pies flying through the air was pretty distasteful. When the groups refused to leave the park, police were called.

Since no guns or knives were reported, Fourteen Division sent only one small policewoman, who chased them into the mall.

Jan.18 2003

The rink had something new tonight: “Friday Night Supper.” From Jutta: Since park cook Dan DeMatteis is back, I asked him and Lea Ambros a couple of weeks ago if they’d like to try cooking a big meal once a week. The weekends have been so crowded at the rink, but Friday nights are different. The kids who don’t have dates at clubs come to the rink and hang around looking dissatisfied and swearing at each other. We need to get some families in there, to mix it up a bit better. Lots of people with young children are worn out at the end of the work week. I thought they might like to come to the rink and eat supper there and have a skate, get the kids good and tired, and then go home with no dishes to wash. Even for people without kids, a skate around the rink, with a cheap, tasty supper might be a nice way to end the week.

So Dan and Lea worked all day cooking dinner. Their idea was that they would use mostly market food, so I put it into the market newsletter for this week: Seasonal food from the Thursday organic farmers’ market: $5 a plate. Depending on what’s available at the farmers’ market, the cooks may also offer soup, antipasto, and/or dessert, which will be extra.

The temperature dropped to minus 18 celsius in the evening, and we thought nobody would come. But over forty people came, counting the kids, and there was only a little bit of food left at the end. The staff had set up some long tables, with tablecloths. Strangers talked to each other, the windows were all frosted over with the cold, the rink house was full of good food smells, red-faced skaters got to thaw out by the wood stove – beautiful. The Friday night loudmouths were there too. They were puzzled but not hostile.

From the February 2003 Park Newsletter:

NEW HOT LINE FOR CITY RINKS When the weather is snowy or rainy or unseasonably warm, outdoor rinks are sometimes closed for a few hours or days. People who call the city's rink information line (338-RINK) to find out which rinks have re-opened after winter storms or warm spells, are now being directed to call Dufferin Rink (392-0913). The City rink forepersons will keep Dufferin Rink staff informed as each rink re-opens. Our staff will put that information on the rink's voice mail. Tell your friends. It saves people time and trouble if they can call ahead to make sure they're not bundling up the kids and the skates and the hockey sticks only to find out when they get there that the rink hasn't been plowed out yet.

Feb.23 2003

The rink hot line is getting lots of calls. It's fun for the staff because people are both incredulous when they get through to someone (“wow, a real person”) and appreciative. But apparently some of the other rinks don’t like it when we give out their phone number and they get calls from skaters in their neighbourhood. They believe that it’s “not part of their job,” to answer the phone, unless it’s their girlfriend calling. the manager i cahrge of rinks says he’s told them that talking to skaters is definitely part of their job.

Feb.25 2003

Apparently city council is considering next year's budget, and they may vote to shrink the rink season again, to 8 weeks a year. All of the Parks and Recreation staff including the director think that’s just crazy. The ten-week rink season is still on the books, even though we’ve been able to stretch it back to 12 weeks for the second year now. The rink has had so much use this winter, and with Peter White there as the foreman, it works pretty well. But there is a big gulf between what we do and what hatches out at City Hall. The question is, how much bad news can people take?

March 20 2003

I got hold of a copy of a City of Toronto report on outdoor rinks done last year: “Outdoor ice Facilities Harmonization Study January 2002.” The City hired a consulting company called Leisure Plan International to do this report, but it sounds like the consultants had trouble finding the information they needed:

P.75: re ice rink operations: “It should be noted that information was not readily available concerning the municipal operational approach and as a result it was not possible to undertake a more thorough discussion of current municipal operational approaches and practices.”

p.78: “Comprehensive data concerning the operational expenditures and revenues associated with municipal outdoor ice rinks was not available. The cost to provide the current level of municipal outdoor ice rink service could not be identified for either the City as a whole or on a district basis.”

Well, that's the problem, isn't it. As far as the compressor-run outdoor rinks go, the City managers are working blind.

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Content last modified on December 11, 2009, at 07:46 AM EST