A Crack in the Ice - Aging Moses Facility Meets it's Demise

"After this season their breaking down the rink and building a new one. Their tearing it down" said Matthew Smith, 25 emoting his solemn remorse of the loss of his second home, the Wollman ice skating rink. Situated near the Parkside and Ocean ave. entrance of Prospect park, the rink has been an iconic institution in Brooklyn for decades.

In 1960 Park Commissioner Robert Moses, built the rink on top of a filled in portion of Prospect Park lake. It was a crown achievement in a series of previous controversial construction projects within the park like fenced off baseball fields, a band shell and the Prospect Park Zoo. Some believed that confining people to closed off attractions within the greater park area was the wrong direction to take.

Now on the eve of its 50th anniversary Moses creation will meet its end and in it's place a new Lakeside complex will be erected. The Lakeside is a new recreational plaza set to replace the aging Wollman Skating rink with two brand new rinks, a spacious seating and picnicking area, and better access to Prospect park Lake in the foreground. "One will be outdoors, and the other will be enclosed with a wall on one side but still open to the air. Their will be no net loss in total skating area" Prospect Park press dept. Director Eugene patron assured me. According to him it is meant to be used year round and has been designed to transform into a roller skating rink and a water fountain for children to jump through during the summer months.

The Rink will be closed for good by the end of the week. "The pipes are worn out, if you go out there you can see where the ice has melted down to the cement, where the cones are. The rink at Central Park will be open longer" said Smith. "I first came here 6 years ago. I worked here first and that's what got me into skating". Smith greets many of the current employees of the rink as he passes through. His friends are already waiting on a bench in the locker area. He's part if a ice skating trick and dancing group called the Pboyz and had come to one of the last Sunday skates armed with a camera to film is escapades.


Their has been little mention of the employees that work at the rink annually, serving as guards, cashiers, skate sharpeners and associates that man the rental desk and keep a watchful eye on the ice. "Many of them work at warm weather facilities or are seasonal so theirs really no job loss" Director Patron assured me. The rink however will effect families, programs and organizations that have counted on the rink being there over the years.

"We would like to see it ready by 2012" said Patron but 2012 is a long way away for Violet Eagan who runs Brooklyn Ice, an organization that brings figure skating to children throughout the city free of charge. "We will have to go to the Chamber street skating rink, the parents come here so it should be fine." Said Eagan. Many of the boys and girls the her program serves are from middle to low income families. When asked where they would go if Chamber street doesn't work out Eagan simply said "Anywhere else and it would be to expensive."



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