WATCH ABOVE: It started as an innocent find at a park, but now a smooth sheet of ice has led to a small battle with the city for an Edmonton family. Vinesh Pratap explains.
EDMONTON — A McCauley man and his two kids will have to find a new place to skate after their makeshift outdoor rink was covered with sand overnight.
“I feel that it wasn’t fair,” said eight-year-old Iona Aire. “This is literally a puddle in a park and they’re going to wreck our fun?”
Iona’s dad, Dan Aire, has wanted to build a snowbank rink at Giovanni Caboto Park since last winter, but was disappointed when the city declined. Aire was told it wouldn’t be possible due to safety concerns.
But this year, Aire said he and his kids were lucky enough to have the skating surface form naturally.
“We had a big thaw and there was a lot of water in the park and then it froze and it froze into this wonderful, natural snow bank rink,” he explained. “We had nothing to do with it, we just cleared it off.”
“We had a wonderful time,” Iona added of the time she spent skating on the rink. “It was so fun.”
In hopes of showing the city the fun that could be had at the community rink, Aire sent an email to a city staff member with pictures of the kids skating. On Wednesday, Aire received a reply stating “bylaw has deemed it a public safety hazard (and) they were going to come out immediately and dismantle it.”
- Trudeau tight-lipped on potential U.S. TikTok ban as key bill passes
- Canadian man dies during Texas Ironman event. His widow wants answers as to why
- Hundreds mourn 16-year-old Halifax homicide victim: ‘The youth are feeling it’
- On the ‘frontline’: Toronto-area residents hiring security firms to fight auto theft
“And that was the end of it,” said Aire.
The city said it received complaints from area residents about the icy surface and it was covered with sand and gravel to help prevents falls.
“These are the kinds of stories that make a city corporation, city government, look silly and uncaring and bureaucratic. So I get that,” said Ward 6 city councillor Scott McKeen.
McKeen sent an email to city administration asking for more information. But while he wants to be accommodating, McKeen admits he’s worried about potential liability issues.
“If we get sued, that is the taxpayers’ dollar that could go into settling that suit.”
There is an outdoor rink in the McCauley neighbourhood about one kilometre away from the makeshift rink, but the Aires still can’t help but be disappointed.
“It doesn’t seem like rocket science to make a snowbank rink and make it a safe environment,” said Aire.
“Part of me wishes that we hadn’t told the city because then they wouldn’t have taken it down, and then we would have had a skating rink close to our house,” added Iona.
With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News.
Comments