Bowie Ice Arena may be lost; council vote Monday

[Query]

I love the Bowie Ice Arena. (Bowie, MD) It is arguably the best managed of the local ice arenas, in terms of ice surface quality, and available public skating time. It has been able to do so because it is subsidized by the City of Bowie.

It is also very nice because the area has multiple recreational and shopping facilities in the same area. E.g., the Bowie Town Center is a large shopping center - possibly too large to be sustained by local business alone. There is a nearby movie theater. Also there is a park that also hosts numerous concerts and has a pond where people rent boats, and there is a public gymnasium. All of these things exist in other areas near DC and Annapolis - but the proximity of the ice rink drew in a lot of business.

Unfortunately, as a fairly old rink that was repurposed fairly early on from an outdoor seasonal rink to a year-round indoor rink, it has become necessary to replace it.

So, the current rink was scheduled to be replaced by a two-sheet facility in the same geographic vicinity, and quite a lot of money has been spent on building it. Unlike the current facility, the two sheet iceplex is projected to take in more revenue than is required to run it.

However, many local politicians have decided they have other priorities. Not only do they want to stop construction, but they will pay fees because they will be cancelling contracts, and they will probably have to pay back bonds. They will forfeit about 8 million dollars of construction and other costs, not counting construction costs that have not yet been submitted to the city. The politicians are probably counting on the fact that, since the rink has closed since the pandemic, most people who use the facility will not learn of the problem, and will be unable to complain in time to affect the results. They are scheduled to discuss, and possibly vote, on the issue, this Monday.

See:

  https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/ac-cn-budget-ice-rink-0513-20200513-rsv2hritmnhuphsojtzaaes6yu-story.html

and

  https://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland/bowie/ac-cn-budget-ice-rink-0513-20200513-rsv2hritmnhuphsojtzaaes6yu-story.html
 
There is a petition of Bowie Residents to keep the project on track

  https://www.change.org/p/bowie-residents-i-support-the-fiscal-responsibility-in-the-city-of-bowie-d3d3257d-54e7-4076-80b4-e8846f00a492?recruiter=1088414590&recruited_by_id=b3ce2230-93a1-11ea-a596-952c8f10c82b&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard

I have contacted the figure skating director, who is trying to organize interested parties whose email address she knows, and asked her what non-Bowie residents can do to help. I believe there should be a separate petition to be signed by non-residents. In particular, we should point out that when we (or our children) come to skate, we also use those local businesses, such as shopping centers, restaurants, gas stations, and hotels (for the traveling hockey crowd). Most of these businesses are now closed, though the governor has just lifted many of the local restrictions, changing us from a Stay-At-Home state to a Safer-At-Home-State, which may change that status for a few businesses.

It is reasonable to assume that this area, like most of the rest of the country, will suffer a long term economic recession. This will be made worse if one of the biggest draws to the area - the ice rink - is permanently closed. IMO, the rink is one of the most important somewhat unique facility that the area has, and they will suffer a greater downturn due to stopping the project, if the "forces of evil" prevail. Even the other area recreational facilities will see less business by parents and others seeking to be in the area for multiple reasons, including skating.

This comes at a time, due to the pandemic, when many other rinks in the DC metro area are being forced to consider permanent closure. E.g., at least one of the DC area rinks has lost its web page registration. Many rinks have allowed their ice to melt, and will take time to create new ice. The biggest multi-ice-sheet facility in the area, Gardens Ice House, which is privately owned, is considering renting itself out as a refrigerated morgue, which presumably means they will be unable to re-open until the bodies are disposed of, and after the facility has been very thoroughly disinfected. While there is a clear need to store those bodies until the funeral industry can keep up with the deaths, the knowledge that corpses were stored there might also create a major "Yuk" factor for some potential skaters. So, if Bowie manages to keep an operating facility once it becomes possible to open again, it may see more business than before.

Anyway, for local residents, please consider signing the online petition I referenced earlier. If you are not a local resident, and the figure skating director suggests something we can do too to encourage the city to continue to support the current project, I will post that here.

[nicklaszlo]

Please move this post to "Sitting by the board rinkside."  I think I am expected to delete posts that are not reviews from this forum, but I am not able to relocate them.

I hope your rink gets built.  Unfortunately, if the city did not issue all the bonds already, the city may not have the ability to raise the needed funds anymore.

[Bill_S]

That's a shame to hear about Bowie.

Being a failed optimist, I believe that many facilities, whether municipal or commercial, will face dire circumstances in the near future.

[Query]

Please move this post to "Sitting by the board rinkside."

Is there a way I can do that?

It is partly a review, in terms of what I said at the start of the post - though that rink has been reviewed before.

"sitting by the boards rinkside" is supposed to be limited to "Polls, Surveys and Reference Information. Discuss what it's like to be a skater and upcoming events at your rink." There really isn't a discussion forum on the politics of getting rinks built or the politics of keeping them running. Other people have posted about that with other rinks at skatingforums, on a number of different forums. Sometimes they get moved.

Yet, this has been and always will be a significant part of our sport, because ice rinks are expensive to build, run and maintain.

The skating director got back to me and said that "While the Council is far more concerned with citizen comments, anyone is permitted to submit their opinions to the Council."

In the end, the city council does have a right to determine how to spend city money. The decisions don't even need to be especially wise in the long term, and politics is always involved in such decisions. There are always going to be multiple interest groups with different interests on such matter.

I therefore probably should not have said the "forces of evil", even in  quotes. I assumed people would understand I was sort-of joking - they are merely the opposition, not necessarily truly "evil", for deciding that other priorities are more important. And I probably should not have said that being used as a morgue for a while would create a "Yuk" factor for the other mentioned facility - I don't actually know that to be true, but just assumed it.

It is even possible that the planned facility was deliberately a bit upscale, and that it is theoretically possible to build a somewhat cheaper facility that minimally replaces the old rink - though the neighborhood is also becoming upscale, and the people who live there might be less interested in using a "dirt cheap" facility, with the attendant discomfort, smells, lack of adequate changing rooms and perhaps party rooms (both of which contribute a lot to the amount of revenue made by rinks) and redundant systems, etc. In the competition to attract the tournaments and competitions that help make rinks financially viable, a well designed dual-sheet facility with good extra facilities has a huge advantage over a "dirt-cheap" minimalist replacement.

Perhaps if those of us outside who frequent the rink contact the city contact members of the city council - see https://www.cityofbowie.org/Directory.aspx?DID=4 we can mention that we go to Bowie and buy from local businesses BECAUSE there is a well run skating arena in the area, and that the high density of viable businesses in the area is largely possible because there are recreational facilities like the ice rink, it might make a small difference.

Also, as I said before, that actual Bowie residents should sign the online petition, as well.

[Query]

Additional info:

AFAICT, the new facility construction has been halte3d, and the construction contract has been cancelled.

See

http://bowieliving.blogspot.com

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/bowie-halts-construction-on-iceplex-draws-backlash

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/bowie-iceplex-ice-arena-shut-down-city-council-vote/65-0dd10b8b-de7a-48bf-b2bd-1e0868ec40d5

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e59125092fc4d09f2923001/t/5ec489a16809327ebfaacdde/1589938594784/MayorTimothyAdams_IcePlexProjectLetter_Final.pdf

Oddly enough, the June 3 Agenda for the city council included a discussion of this matter.

https://www.cityofbowie.org/DocumentCenter/View/9922/FAC-Agenda-6320