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Volume XVIII • Number 50 • December 8 - 14, 2011 •
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New ‘dinky rink’ plan bypasses the public By BRENDAN McHUGH After months of delays and Community Board 8 bending over backwards to accommodate the city, the Department of Parks and Recreation has announced they have scrapped the plan for a full ice-skating rink this year and will attempt to implement a smaller rink that doesn’t require any public input. The new rink, at the same site adjacent to the Van Cortlandt Park Stadium, will be about 45 percent the size of a regulation hockey rink. The rink itself, seating, a “minimal” snack bar, a Zamboni shed and a skate rental area will all fit within the fenced-in defunct tennis courts near Broadway and West 242nd Street in the park. Portable restrooms will be located on the outskirts of the courts. This new plan comes after the parks department has struggled to work with a private company to build a seasonal ice rink for a 15-year period. Parks representative Davita Mabourakh said negotiations were going on “a lot longer than we hoped” with concessionaire Ice Rink Events, so they decided to work with the group on a temporary project just to give the community an idea of what they might look forward to. Ice Rink Events, a Houston, Texas-based company, was the only bidder for the project earlier this year. CB8 board members were irked at the new project though, because it doesn’t call for any sort of com-
munity approval. The parks department can proceed without much community input because the rink would be a one-time-only seasonal permitted project, like a circus or street fair. However, parks committee chairman Bob Bender promised to have a lengthy discussion about this rink at the community board’s general meeting on December13 and to deliver comments to Mabourakh the following day. Bender warned Mabourakh not to make the temporary rink a yearly thing, otherwise “that would clearly constitute an intent to avoid the process.” Mabourakh promised that this permitted rink is a one-time-only event. “Final answer,” she said. The plan for the long-term rink is a 15-year contract that would run every winter and needs approval by the Franchise and Concessions Review Committee, but this plan does not. Even before the temporary rink can be installed, Con Edison needs to upgrade the electrical infrastructure of the area. “The new skating rink will require significant power, more than a park typically does,” Con Edison spokesman Allan Drury said. “There will need to be upgrades to Con Edison’s electrical delivery infrastructure and the infrastructure within the park. We are working with the parks department on their plans for the rink to make sure there is adequate power supply.” He did not give a timeline for the work. Ma-
bourakh said Con Edison has told the parks department that they are behind schedule and that it could take some time to get the work done. She conceded that if Con Edison can’t complete the work in time, even the temporary rink might not happen this year. Con Edison’s work would meet requirements for increased lighting, power to ice chillers and other items required not only for the temporary rink, but the long-term rink as well. Smaller rink or not, some of the same issues still concerned the community members. “It’s no longer a public park,” board member Robert Press said after the meeting. “This is similar to the first presentation by [Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy chairman] Mr. [Anthony Perez] Cassino, where there were no answers. We still don’t have any answers.” Questions such as skate rental costs, operating hours and detailed food options were not available at the meeting. A representative for Ice Rink Events did not return requests for comment. Board member Steven Balicer warned the parks department about the noise from the neighboring elevated train. “The noise from the subway is beyond a healthy range,” he said. The temporary rink will not affect the handball courts. The 15-year rink could take up two of the courts during the winter months.
Pedestrian killed by school bus in early morning accident By BRENDAN McHUGH A pedestrian was struck and dragged by a school bus at the corner of Mosholu Avenue and Broadway Tuesday morning. Milo Montivilla, 57, later died of cardiac arrest. Montivilla was crossing Broadway, with the light, just after 6 a.m. when a Reliant Transportation bus making a right turn from Mosholu Avenue hit him. Witnesses said Montivilla was dragged for several feet and was stuck under the bus for about 10 minutes. He was transported by EMS in traumatic arrest to St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, where he was pronounced dead. The bus driver stayed on the scene to speak with police and was overheard by multiple reporters telling his supervisor over the phone that he did not see Montivilla because it was dark. It was also raining on and off at the time of the accident. Police have yet to file charges,
and it is unclear whether they will. No children were on the bus at the time. A Department of Education representative said the bus was just beginning its route, which delivers children to several local schools. MV Transportation, the parent company for Reliant Transportation, is conducting an internal investigation of the incident and is cooperating fully with the authorities, MV Transportation spokeswoman Christina Russell said. “The operator involved in the accident is an experienced driver and has transported students in New York City for several years,” Russell said in a statement. “The operator has been removed from service—which is standard procedure—pending the results of the investigation. We take the safety of our passengers and communities we serve very seriously and are saddened by this regrettable incident.”
A man was struck and killed by a school bus Tuesday morning. Milo Montivilla, 57, was crossing Broadway at Mosholu Ave. when he was hit and dragged for about 10 feet before the bus driver stopped. No charges have been filed against the driver as of press time.