December 29, 2003
The Return Of The Pioneer Courthouse Square Ice Rink
I've recently done a fair amount of looking back at the first year of PORTLAND COMMUNIQUE, and long-time readers know that the proposed seasonal ice rink for Pioneer Courthouse Square was one of the first matters I covered with any regularity or depth.
According to today's Oregonian, the on-again off-again project now appears to be on once more:
A scaled-down version of a proposed wintertime ice rink at Pioneer Courthouse Square, with a shorter season and without the decorative umbrellas that would have kept raindrops from falling on the ice, will emerge for public consideration in the year ahead, one of the main supporters says.
Downtown parking magnate Greg Goodman, head of the Pioneer Courthouse Square board, said he remains confident that the public will warm to the idea of a rink as part of an overall plan to increase activity in the square during the traditionally slower period from Thanksgiving through March.
There do not appear to be any details as to just what might be meant by "scaled down" but there are complaints about businesses already being charged for the rink project:
[Downtown property owner Jay] Woodworth questions the merits of a downtown rink when skating is available just across the river at Lloyd Center, and of an ongoing charge for a project that's yet to see a skater. He said the charge piles onto what he considers an already-burdensome set of fees and taxes shouldered by downtown businesses instead of the city.
Not to mention (although I have) that, despite rink proponents assurances and arguments to the contrary, the Portland area doesn't appear to be able to sustain ice rinks, since one in Clackamas was forced to close earlier this year.
According to the article, Commissioner Jim Francesconi is anxious for a decision to be made one way or the other. It doesn't, however, specify whether the Commissioner himself continues to support the rink proposal, as he did when it first surfaced.
Parenthetically, the rink of course occassionally comes up in meetings of the Pioneer Courthouse Square Board, but I've never been able to actually receive notice of board meetings because they send them out via fax, providing no email option. Obviously, they truly are concerned with public notice, access, and opinion.
Comments (10)
hilsy on 29 Dec 2003
And I thought this had gone away.
I think the owners of the One World Trade Center should undercut this effort by putting a rink in the covered area underneath the glass walkways at 1st and Salmon. It's the perfect size and already covered. Oops. It's not in Pioneer Square.
The One True b!X on 29 Dec 2003
It's never gone away. They want it really badly and refuse to take the repeated and thundering "no" for an answer.
Mikey on 29 Dec 2003
B!x, You should look into J2.com for receiving faxes on your computer. The free service doesn't allow you to pick your area code so you may end up with Idaho or Vermont, but maybe you can receive faxes.
Wes Meltzer on 29 Dec 2003
I remain supportive of the ice rink idea for a very specific reason.
I'll preface that reason by saying I think it's unfair to put the cost on downtown business owners -- why not just charge some kind of nominal fee for it, and if it doesn't work out, can it after a year or so?
The idea sounds really good to me because otherwise who is going to want to hang out in Pioneer Square? It *would*, undoubtedly, provide another way to bring middle-class people to the square to hang out in the months of the year when it's not particularly, well, dry. That's always been a primary goal of city leadership.
As a self-serving side note, it would also be a great place to go for a date. Much better than Clackamas or the Lloyd Center, which lack the cool factor of downtown.
The One True b!X on 29 Dec 2003
Perhaps. But if the new "scaled down" plan suffer the same problems as the full-blown and repeatedly shot down plan -- such as requiring changes to the structure of the Square itself, it should rightfully be dead on arrival.
The One True b!X on 29 Dec 2003
For that matter, one of the previous proposals for doing away with the big "whimsical" umbrellas (which indeed are apparently gone in the new approach) was little more than a white tent-like thing.
Maybe I'm the only one, but the use of white tents on metal poles already makes the Square look amateurish and cruddy as it is.
Wes Meltzer on 29 Dec 2003
That's a pity, that the umbrellas are gone, too -- I thought it was one of the cooler touches that they had come up with, a picturesque nod to reality.
I wonder why exactly it is that they can't be made portable, just like a tent? Too easy to steal, or what?
The One True b!X on 29 Dec 2003
Oddly enough, the umbrellas were not overly offensive to me, although they were rather extraordinarily large, I suppose. And although they would have required some structural bits for anchor support, they still would have been removable -- and yes they certainly looked better than the equivalent of a cruddy white tent.
The big structural changes in the original plan would have required making the gently-sloping floor of the Square perfectly level in order to mount a rink on it. And that would have seriously infringed on the Square.
I don't, and I haven't, been opposed to trying to find Winter-appropriate "programming" to make use of the Square during the "off-season." I just don't think it should be through any permanent and overly-intrusive single structure suck as an ice rink.
Better, perhaps, to spend some cash on removable shelters of a more aesthetic design than white tents, that can be used during any season in order to provide cover fir different sorts of events.
Tiffany Lee Brown on 30 Dec 2003
Who exactly is benefiting from the City continuing to spend money on this effort, do you know?
As for the tents: I think some sort of seasonal-only smaller tents that would make the Square easier to use year-round would be okay, as long as they didn't hover over a doomed and pointless ice rink. It's hard not to see all these ideas as attempts to make sure that "unsavory" characters don't hang out on Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Pro PDX Ice Rink on 30 Dec 2003
I think the idea for a ice rink downtown is absolutely fantastic for 2 reasons:
One, as those who have been to New York City before and have witnessed, it brings community together. People come from far and wide to congregate- exactly what a public space is intended for. By mingling with people from other neighborhoods, other ethnicities, other classes we become aware and empathetic to people other than ourselves. And in doing so, eventually we create a closer, more tight-nit community.
And two, ice skating is actually kinda fun. According to a September 2003 report put out by OHSU, more than 20 percent of Oregonians are obese and 38 percent more are overweight. The ice rink could be considered one more option for an Oregonian to work it.
A trip to Maine just a couple years back showed me just how much a place to skate on ice was essential to a small town- the local bank in the middle of town every year made a large ice pond in their back lot. I met many locals young and old sitting around on benches drinking hot cocoa from their canisters laughing at their neighbor's brother who had just fallen on his bum.
Now, when I say 'ice rink' I do not mean a permanant installation. Pioneer Square as it is, is a vital necessary part of downtown and there is no need to change that. In the fall, spring and summer it has a constent flow of traffic. In the winter, unfortunately, it does not. A temporary place to congregate with an activity that keeps one warm, interested, and occupied might be just the thing.
I mean, if a small bank in Maine can hose down a green space the size of a soccer field one afternoon and overnight create an ice pond, and if the Rose Garden can have an Ice Rink for the Winterhawks one night and can take it out the next night for a Blazers game, then I guess there are some minimalist, temporary possibilities out there in the world.
Now some folks from around here, when thinking of an ice rink, can only picture random trips to the Lloyd Center mall where they capture a quick mind snapshot of three young kids following a lycra-ed instructor around in one corner of the ice and on another, one intent gay man practicing an axle over and over in the echoing filtered light and plastic smell of cinnabuns. A sparse, non-tantalising recollection indeed.
I have been in better. There are winter wonderlands that are outside underneath the gruff grey of midday. The outside smell of fresh air is unmatched when skating. At night, sometimes able to catch a glimpse or two of a star overhead, the lights surrounding shine a warm glow as one circles round and round with a loved one or schoolmate. Then you return your skates, walk across the street for a steaming latte, walk to your car and drive home.
The rink should come under Parks and Recreation's jurisdiction, as that is what it is. We have Dishman Pool in NE, we can also have Pioneer Square Ice Rink. 3 bucks, and you have an afternoon of fun. I feel if we find this idea of an Ice Rink possible and interesting, Portland will also find that it can be a financially feasible endeavor.
In this snowing winter evening, as I hope many of you are snuggled in warmth at home, think about it. And in the morning, if you find yourself walking to a cafe in the snow because you called in sick to work and eventually wanted to traipse around in the snow, and if you find others just like you congregated in the cafe stomping thier boots at the threshold and laughing at the wetness of their hair while waiting for their cuppa joe with you, think about it again as well.