Neighborhoods Brooklynites, You’re Going To Have To Ice-Skate Somewhere Else This Winter
by John Surico
Come winter, New Yorkers love to ice-skate. They also love to hibernate for three months and watch Woody Allen movies (for whatever the reason, his flicks comfortably settle when it’s freezing outside). However, I do not like to ice-skate – I tried my unbalanced luck at the rink in Central Park a few winters back and had bruises on my lower body for weeks after. Also, I am a resident of Kings County so, as it seems, I will not even have the ability to participate in the painful merriment anyway, thanks to yesterday’s news.
The Brooklyn Paper reported that two ice-skating rink projects in the works have been put on hold for the upcoming cold season and nearby residents will have to wait another year to hit the ice. Unless you’re willing to head all the way to Coney Island or Floyd Bennet Field near Sheepshead Bay, of course. And there’s always Central Park for the real holiday go-getters.
The aforementioned projects would have been an renovation of the Prospect Park Wollman rink and the transformation of the McCarren Park Pool into a winter wonderland. Thinking back to what went down (a couple of times) over the summer, is the latter a good idea?
Imagine those brawls… but on ice.
The plans for the McCarren Park Pool, orchestrated by the Open Space Alliance of North Brooklyn, fell through due to a September 15th deadline and a lack of cashflow. By missing the rink ordering deadline, the supplies to make the rink happen would have arrived by December, making the project impossible to build by the end of the ice-skating season. And, in terms of money, the $250,000 price tag was a little too hefty for the community organization to bare with no prospects of success until 2013.
Sorry, Williamsburg and Greenpoint, no cold fun for you.
In the Prospect Park case, the $74 million Lakeside project, which is like a Parks version of the Barclays Center, has rerouted attention away from this winter’s activities. The new rinks, both indoors and outdoors, would’ve been put on hold, leaving Brooklynites to skate in a temporary rink, which would’ve cost a solid upkeep cost of $500,000 (Who knew these types of things were so damn expensive?).
So sorry, surrounding Prospect Park neighborhoods, no cold fun for you either.
As we said before, there’s still always Manhattan, Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay. Or, you can join me in sitting inside for three months, watching Manhattan over and over again.