skatingforums
On the Ice => Sitting on the Boards Rink Side => Topic started by: FigureSpins on October 04, 2010, 10:48:43 PM
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In the northeast part of the US, rinks are often owned by a municipality. They're usually subsidized by the parks & recreation department, which means the taxpayers.
I've worked and skated at many such rinks. More and more often, they're turned into concessions or leased to a third party because of the staffing and management issues. It's become too costly for a city or county to have a facility and staff on their books as an expense when the roads need paving.
During a rink meeting, someone mentioned that they couldn't understand why the town didn't have a skating representative on the parks commission advisory council. The commission was making decisions fairly blindly, not understanding why public sessions can handle 50 people whereas a freestyle has to be capped at 25.
I wonder if skaters/parents even think to seek that role, but doesn't it make sense? Wouldn't it give us more say and influence in the community?
Of course, with private rinks, it's a whole different ball of wax...
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At the rink I skated at growing up, it worked the opposite way - a representative from the recreation department sat on the board of every group that used the rink (and presumably other municipal buildings). They would represent the city's interests at our meetings and offer advice/support as needed (our rep had been on our board a lot longer than anyone else...), and could relay any concerns or questions we had to the appropriate people at the city level. Worked very well for us.
Our city also had an association for all the sports groups, and we sent a representative to those meetings. This way we could ensure our events didn't conflict with other groups' events and so on, share recruiting ideas & best practices, etc.