South Tahoe ice rink losing money, lacks marketing plan
Publisher’s note: This is the second of a two-part series about the South Lake Tahoe Ice Arena.
By Kathryn Reed
In the 2010-11 South Lake Tahoe budget the “Recreation Summary” calls for projected revenues to be $996,200, expenditures $2,073,558. This equals a deficit of $1,077,358. The majority of expenses are for personnel services — $1,472,855.
Specific ice arena figures can be found in Working Papers B that were supplied to Lake Tahoe News. The revenue estimate is $618,000 from skating fees, class fees, renting equipment, rent of the ice, and sales of product. Expenditures for the rink include: personnel services, $430,662; other expenses at $134,669 which include laundry, communications, printing and binding, merchandise for resale, general supplies, program supplies, clothing-uniform, medical supplies, gas, electricity, fuel.
Skating is part of the Lake Tahoe Unified fourth-grade curriculum. Photos/Kathryn Reed
In 2009-10 the top three revenue generators were: public skate 26 percent of the budget, facility-ice rentals 25 percent, and skating programs 11 percent.
Rob Swain, supervisor of the South Lake Tahoe Ice Arena, said the projected deficit for this fiscal year is about $35,000 for the ice rink. The deficit for 2009-10 came in at $78,000.
“I’m not proud of it. It’s horrible in my opinion,” Swain of last year’s numbers.
He could not answer the questions: Why was the deficit so large last fiscal year? And why do you anticipate it being less than half of that this fiscal year?
One budget item that will be cut this year is utilities, which came to more than $60,000 last fiscal year. This is because of the cogeneration plant being installed.
Another expense that has been cut is staff. Swain said 1.7 full-time employees operate the arena. A slew of part time people are part of the staff, as well. Swain remarked that with the furlough days he and others are mandated to take – an average of three a month – he doesn’t consider himself a full-time employee.
The café is seldom open. Swain said there is not the volume of customers to do so. He also does not want to change the policy that allows outside food and drink. He said at one time he shopped at Costco to stock the cafe, but then ex-City Manager Dave Jinkens said no more shopping off the hill. He has met with local grocery stores to get a deal on food items he would resell, but said the stores were not open to that idea.
At one point the café was losing $900 a month, Swain said.
However, Nancy Kerry envisions a restaurant where people could watch the skaters. She was asked by City Manager Tony O’Rourke to do an assessment on the rink after parks and rec staff said they were too busy to do it themselves.
The cafe at the South Tahoe rink is seldom open.
The retail store once had an outside operator, but no longer. Rink staff run it. It’s full of items for hockey players and figure skaters, as well as T-shirts and fleece vests the general public would wear.
A positive at the rink is the number of skate school participants has been on the upswing the past few years.
The peak was 684 in 2002 – the year the rink opened. And it opened in May. For the next five years participation numbers for skate school decreased; the low point of 150 was in 2007. Swain attributes the drop to when to two elementary schools in Lake Tahoe Unified School District closed and the economic downturn.
Since then the numbers have been increasing, with 349 participants this year as of the end of November.
Money v. customers
Swain sounds like a man more worried about the bottom line more than the quality of service customers are getting.
“If I can rent the facility, it is easy money,” he said. “It brings people to the community, where everyone benefits.” He means heads in beds, meals served, gas in tanks and other residual expenditures involved with people in town for hockey tournaments and camps. (Swain is a hockey player.)
He has rented the rink for winter clothing catalog shoots as well as to the government to test tires.
Swain said the two words that will put the ice rink on solid ground are cooperation and compromise.
But it’s customer service the city manager wants him to focus on.
“We are in the service business,” O’Rourke said. “We are here for our customers, not ourselves. We have to meet their expectations and their needs.”
Swain said after last week’s focus group meeting he immediately implemented three changes people wanted – all in the name of customer service. One was to post the calendar at the facility in a manner people preferred, another was to offer coffee. He couldn’t remember the third.
When it comes to the public using the rink, school schedules are a contributing factor – so are windy days on the slopes.
“We are very weather driven,” Swain said. A public session on a rainy day can bring in five times the amount of money the figure skaters generate, he said.
With the rink being built with Measure S bond money – a measure residents still see on property tax bills – Swain said the philosophy is to provide as much ice time to the public as possible.
Rink is secret to many
One problem with getting the public to use the rink is there is no marketing budget. Interim parks Director Chris Hawken said money for such endeavors is taken from other parts of the budget instead of being a separate line item.
Part of the recent discussions involve getting the word out to the public about the various skating programs – including curling, birthday parties, youth and adult hockey leagues, skills and drills, broomball, and figure skating.
Until meeting with Lake Tahoe News, no one in the media had been told about the free Dec. 18 holiday event that starts at 5:30pm.
Most of the information being distributed about rink activities is directed to current users.
When the weather is nasty, Swain said hotels in the area are sent faxes telling them to suggest to their guests to come to the ice rink.
But Kerry wants a more proactive approach to getting tourists to know about the rink.
Hawken said new this year is having a coupon inserted in card key holders for hotel guests to use.
Going after hockey tournaments and camps are other ways to get people to know about the rink.
The flip side is letting locals know so they could attend the various events on this NHL size sheet of ice.
But the rink is not all that inviting. It’s drab. The holiday tunes on the sound system are not peppy. The 300-seat stands are cold. Heaters above them have to be pointed out they even exist. It is incredibly cold – colder than other rinks. The party room is tucked into a corner in what looks like an after thought. There is no view of the ice from there.
Swain volunteers he likes the outdoor rink at Heavenly Village with its decorative snowflakes and the vibe it puts off. He thinks doing more things like that would be good for the indoor rink. But he quickly points out the continued reduction in staff has him and others wearing many hats which is stretching them thin and causing some things to fall by the wayside and never get done.
One thing that might free up time for Swain and Hawken is the city attorney will be handling the bulk of contracts. This is to ensure consistency and eliminate the multiple contracts for various user groups. It is also designed to create a more even playing field and bring oversight and accountability to what is being offered people.
When Stan Sherer comes on board in January as Parks and Rec director the ice rink will be at the top of his list in terms of making sure it is run correctly and customer satisfaction is in check. Some cities lease their rink to an outside vendor instead of having staff run it. This could be an option in South Lake Tahoe.
As far as getting the word out…
The Parks and Rec. Department does have its own web site, seperate from the city’s. It also has a Facebook page, but oddly enough there is no mention of the ice rink there.
The Ice Rink appears to have the same problem with food service that LTCC has, not enough volume to make a profit. The college closed the student cafeteria last year and a few vendors have tried to make a go of it since then. I don’t know if it was worth anyone’s trouble.
From the perspective this article is written it sounds like Rob Swain should be operating something else besides the city’s ice rink. Regardless, I don’t like his answers and hope Sherer has more of a business head on his shoulders. More promotion via road signs off HWY 50 and literature in hotel rooms and local TV would help. And if the music stinks then change it. It seems some of the people in charge are out of tune with more than just the music around here.
This is South Lake Tahoe. What did you expect? The business plan was a joke as it was based on the Roseville arena which draws from a million plus people.
I believe the structure is truly magnificent but that doesn’t pay the bills. Why not use the bicycle trail maintenance money to subsidize this frozen wasteland.
The annual performance of the ice rink illustrates why government should not be allowed to run a private enterprise. Without a public subsidy, it would go bankrupt. Similar to the city parking garage.
As someone whose family uses the rink often I have to take exception with several things in the article. Yes the seats are cold… they are cold at ALL rinks everywhere, but there is great viewing from the cafeteria area. Not even mentioned was the first annual Skate at the Lake held last June, which brought in a few hundred figure skaters (including several snychro skating teams) and their families, from all of Northern California. Many families stayed for few days of recreation after the competition as well. In 10 years of going to competitions, this was one of the friendliest and best run events I have seen. We can’t wait for next year’s event. I hope Swain sees this rink for all skaters hockey, figure, curling…), not just hockey. While the atmosphere can be improved, it is a beautiful rink with a great view of the trees, not something most rinks have. Can things be improved of course, especially publicity. But please remember to take the strengths it has and make it better.
Wow – I guess I missed a whole lot about reporting in my journalism classes. For all of your criticism of Taylor and his hit jobs, this is as bad, biased, and unevenhanded as anything that he ever wrote. Why not change the name of your site to http://www.laketahoehatchetjob.com?
First – where on earth did you develop the premise that a public facility like the ice rink is supposed to be a money making business? Can you tell us what city departments and facilities are moneymakers? None! There aren’t any.
Did you speak with numerous other indoor facilities to see which of them was making money hand over fist? Did you ask them if they managed to run their facilities with 1.7 people? Every municipal ice rink I’ve ever seen looses money. I grew up in a town of over 100,000 people and our indoor rink always lost money – it lost so much it fell into disrepair and eventually had to be closed. Our facility, on the other hand, appears to be magnificently maintained – and by only 1.7 people.
The projected recreation deficit is $1,077,358 and the ice rink only is going to make up $35,000 of this? My goodness – we should all be hugging Mr. Swain and thanking him for his magnificent work in running the ice rink, not cutting him to shreds. For a facility like the ice rink in a town the size of South Lake Tahoe to be running at almost break even is nothing short of miraculous. Mr. Swain’s title should be Ice Rink Manager and Miracle Worker.
You don’t like the seats because they are cold? I don’t think Mr. Swain designed either the seating or the meeting room. Maybe, just maybe, the seats are cold because they are next to the ice. Have you ever been to an ice rink before? You complain about the rink losing money, but then seem to suggest that more money should be spent to heat the seats, which would then require even more money to be spent to balance that by cooling the ice even more so it doesn’t get soft. Kind of a mixed message there, don’t you think? No, no, your just trying to find anything and everything you can to ***** about. What on earth did Mr. Swain ever do to you? Maybe he should have bought more advertise on your quickly turning pathetic website.
You want to cafe open? It clearly can’t make any money – that’s why Mr. Swain closed it. He’s not the one that decided to build the rink with the cafe in the first place, but he seems to have enough courage to shutdown what isn’t working. Maybe, like heating the seats, he should open the cafe so that the rink can loose tens of thousands more?
“Swain sounds like a man more worried about the bottom line more than the quality of service customers are getting.” All you do is complain about the revenue that isn’t coming into the rink. Why should the city spend countless hours marketing the ice rink to our tourists – the community paid for the place and the community likes to use the place. Why should I have to pay Measure S money every year to fund a facility which you sound like you want to be primarily targeted to our out of town guests? The only service complaints I’ve ever heard are the hockey players want more ice time – for no more money, and the figure skaters want more ice time – for no more money, and the curlers want more ice time – for no more money, and the public skaters want more ice time. That sounds to me like Mr. Swain is doing a tremendous job generating interest in the rink.
Where in the budget does it show how much TOT and sales tax is being generated by the people that Mr. Swain attracts to the rink for special events? It sounds to me like he is doing a great job helping the city get some extra revenue in these very difficult times. How is this a bad thing? It sounds like the ice rink is doing a great job trying to find a balance between local leagues, public skating, special events, and out of town guests. If only the rest of the city were run this well.
Dear Southie,
First, the ice rink was sold to the electorate as self-supporting except for the cost of construction of the facilities, which the bonds paid for. Its ongoing, day to day operations were to be paid for by the users, not the taxpayers. Every property owner in the district pays 18 small ones a year or more to pay off the bonds, whether they use the rink or not. I still believe it is a beautiful edifice and worth my 18 tax dollars, but no more.
Why not deed the rink to a LOCAL small business. We’d save over $1M in taxpayer money and the small business could run the rink to make money. If it can’t make money, then is is worth taxing those who don’t use it or benefit from it?
Southie nailed this article 100%. Well said!!!! I live in town and use the rink 4-5 times a year. It is beautiful and everytime I was there it was well run and the cafe was always open. Please try and balance the reporting – not everything in town is terrible. Thanks
I’ve been in this rink. It is colder than other rinks. The question not answered in the story is why is it like this. But as a consumer, it is colder than others. And never has the cafe been open when I’ve been there. Centurion — go more than 4-5 times a year. Without knowing when it will be open, we bring our food. Doubleback is correct in saying the rink was supposed to be self-supporting. And reporting like this is good, not bad. It should be encouraged, not discouraged. Some of you sound like complacent, whiney city employees unable to put your name to your complaint. These are taxpayer dollars. We should all want to know how they are spent.
Another deal gone scour because it wasn’t needed but built.
Thank you to Nancy for using her great skills to try and get all parties to the table and evaluate. A good part of any marketing plan is to continually reevaluate and be creative…so lets do it!
Lease out the cafe space to someone, then they cover the expenses, can put in advertising (and maybe even a 5 minute parking spot to encourage use by customers other than skaters) and make it profitable. They could run birthday parties and make it profitable.
Advertise whats going on so that the chosen few who participate in ice hockey and skating lessons can understand the quality of the product.
Its doable, and I see it working with evaluation and creativity!
By the way, I’m looking for a job, want to hire me? :)
Put in a HOOTER’S ON ICE WITH A BAR,STEAKS…….. ‘You’ll see Great ,improvement and Business ‘
Best place to skate for free is at Angora lakes.
Been that way ,ever since water freezes every winter, predawn Homo-Sapiens learned to walk up-right.
In the early spring ,you’ll see some fine youthful fawns skating in their beautiful natural fur taking in some Sunshine. ….BREATHTAKING.
Common sense tells you if you’re in business and it doesn’t make money “Close the doors save us the debt problem”.
CHRISTPHOR LAKE USE TO WORK JUST FINE,YOU COULD EVEN HAVE A CAMP FIRE,NOBODY CARED AS LONG THERE WAS NO TROUBLE OR TRASH.
I would imagine since the trpa took over everyone’s life your lucky to even touch the water anymore.
They call this Progress.
Complaining that an ice rink is cold is like complaining a swimming pool is wet.
I agree with Southie: Mr Swain is doing a fine job of providing cost effective recreation for locals and visitors, and with a staff of 1.7 people.
Kathryn Reed and I met for four hours this past Tuesday. She has accurately reported on some of this marathon conversation; however has mixed up her facts on quite a few of the issues. Due to severe staff budget cuts there are facets of the operation that can be improved. I can assure you that we are doing the best we can during these lean times.
Although I am not the general manager of the facility I strive to supervise programs as efficiently as possible for the long-term sustainability of all the diverse user groups. I do not play favorites with programming. I brought the inaugural Skate at the Lake figure competition to the arena and created our growing curling program. We welcome all of you to stop by and witness the great progress of both of our growing figure and hockey skate schools. Better yet, please attend our free admission Holiday On Ice skate show Saturday the 18th 5:30pm.
I have invested thirty years of recreation employment and volunteerism in this community and constantly work to improve the quality of life here. But don’t listen to me. Step away from the blogs for a few minutes and visit the arena. Posted just inside the front doors of the arena are calendars, budget, and attendance figures that will facilitate you making up your own mind. Observe and ask questions. We welcome everyone here, and are responsive to feedback.
Your a good man Rob Swain.
Mr. Swain, here is quote from Epictetus that you should take to heart, “Reckon the days in which you have not been angry. I used to be angry every day; now every other day; then every third and fourth day; and if you miss it so long as thirty days, offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.”
Mr. Swain, I don’t know if you are a good man or not. Another thing I don’t know is how you can find the time to meet with any report for 4 hours and then complain you don’t have time to do your job. Besides the 1.7 fulltimers you have, tell us how many hours of part work is used at your rink. And isn’t it true you were denied the title of general manager by higher ups? Do you want to tell the community more about that? And you say the story is wrong, but give no examples how it is wrong. A blanket statement like that makes you look pretty defensive. It’s as bad as telling us you’ve done three things to improve the rink but can only remember two of them.
Maybe lease the snack place out. I went there for adult hockey games, at various times, and the snack place was never open.
It does feel colder than other rinks to me.
It is a beautiful, quality rink, and it would be nice if we used it more. Maybe a disco ball, and some great music, turn the lights down and we’d have ourselves a ice skate dance :)
Holiday on Ice is on the calendar.
My family has used the ice rink since it opened in 2002/03. You could say we are frequent users of the facility. In all the years going there we have never had a bad experience. Service always seemed to be good. Yes, there are times the Cafe is not open, but whenever our kids wanted a hot chocolate or a drink, we simply asked and the staff opened it up and served us without a hassle.
Can the rink be managed better? More efficiently? I think the real question we should ask is can the rink be used better? Marketing of the facility will surely help. From simple outreach to summer and winter tourists to more complex marketing for tournaments, competitions, meets, etc. The local youth hockey league has a tournament in January that is now in its fifth year. The tournament brings nearly 200 families into town for three to four days. In addition, NHL alumni and current NHL coaches hold youth skills camps in the summer. Again, thirty to forty families in town for five days for no other reason than our arena and the program. Why would they come here versus Logitech in San Jose or other ice arenas in California? I think we all know the answer…..it is Lake Tahoe.
When we evaluate the sustainability of a public asset like the arena, we must also factor in the economic benefit the facility brings to the town besides simple fees. Food, lodging, gas, and other revenue to business and community is directly related to the rink’s use and type of use. Perhaps Lakeland Village or the Inn By The Lake can weigh in on the revenue generated by hockey, figure skating, or other arena events.
According to the numbers posted in the article, the rink is operating at a $35K deficit or about 4.5% of total allocated budget including payroll. Without the numbers provided relating to expenditures by the typical family while staying in town for a hockey tournament, camp, or figure skating competition it is hard to quantify the benefit/deficit. Let’s assume though, a typical family spends $120 per night for lodging, $100 per day for food/drink, and another $50 for misc things. $280 per day per family. We could assume that the 200 families the youth tournament brings in for the three days in January would spend about $840 each or a total of about $168,000 +- in revenue for the community for the equivelent of about 45 hours of ice time. Not bad at all. Our rink is the only facility (other than Squaw Valley High Camp) within about 150 miles. We have what has been called the best ice in Northern California. People will certainly come here to compete or train.
The $35K deficit is being touted as an indication of ineffective management. We should consider though that the rink is operating at bare minimum, and a 4.5% operating deficit in these economic times is not really indicitive of ineffective management. In fact, it is not bad at all considering approximately 95% of the operational budget is covered from just local use. Perhaps a simple evaluation of what can be done to increase use can lead to better revenue strategies and generation. After all, aren’t all user groups “the public”.
Market this beautiful rink. Bring in camps, tournaments, meets, competitions, community events, fundraisers,
etc. If done correctly, we should see the deficit diminish very quickly. As Mr. Swain stated, come by the rink and see for your self.
Frog, Things always look good on Paper, how come they don’t work out that way in dollars, cents?
Assuming a BIG WORD here in town with all the other Assuming projects, THAT have never PRUDUCED FRUIT to any ASSUMING positive $$$$$$$ numbers.
WE DON’T LIVE IN A MAKE BELIEVE, That Anything You Can Imagine REALITY, ASSUMING, FINANCE SYSTEM.YOU EITHER GOT THE CREDIT OR CASH TO PAY THE MAN WHO DOES OR HOCK SOMETHING OF VALUE THAT PAYS THE BILLS.IT’S A COLD WORLD FACT OUT THERE.
IF I REMENBER THAT COUNCIL MEETING YEARS AGO CORRECTLY, WASN’T THIS ALREADY SUPPOSE TO HAVE HAPPENED?
“Lane” REMARKED THAT WE COULD GET Hamilton AND ICE SHOWS ,(ATTENDING PEOPLE LOOKED AT EACH OTHER THOUGHT WTF),PEOPLE WERE SUPPOSE TO FLOCK HERE IN THE DAYS OF PLENTY.(WE WILL BE READY FOR THE GAMES) YEA, RIGHT! THE GAMES WENT ELSE WHERE AND THE CASTLES MADE SAND, SLOWLY WASHED BACK INTO THE LAKE.
NOW IN THE DAYS OF SPARSE ACTIVITY, LACK OF TOURIST, WE SEE THE SAME OLD PIPE DREAMS APPEARING AGAIN.
BUT THE BILLS FOR KEEPING THE PLACE OPEN AREN’T ASSUMING ANY OTHER ANSWERS TO A PINK ELEPHANT SUCKING UTLITIES AT POWER COMPANIES METERS,THEY ARE STILL GOING ROUND,ROUND, THEY AREN’T HANDING OVER ANY CHARITY FOR THE USE OR CRYING US A RIVER THEORY EITHER.
WHEN IS THE PITFUL TOWN OF IDEAS EVER GOING TO PAY FOR its SELF ACCLAIMED GET RICH FAME?
TAXPAYERS HAVE HAD IT WITH SUPPORTING THE UNPROVEN CONSULANTS ASSUMING BS.
AND NOW THE ART TOWN GOING TO USE WATER COLORS TO MAKE IT BETTER, PAINT THE TOWN INTO Leonardo da Vinci BIG BUCKS STORY.
SUPPLY, DEMAND, MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND, AND WE HAVE NEITHER.
If they took away the holidays, we go broke.
SKATEBOARD HAVE MORE POPULARITY WITH YOUTHS THAN ICE SKATES,TAKE A LOOK AROUND.
INDIAN CASINOS HAVE MORE POPULARITY THAN TAHOES.
BIG BOX STORES HAVE MORE POPULARITY THAN HIGH COST TAHOE STORES.
RENOS PARKING GARAGE HAS MORE POPULARITY THAN HEAVENLY VILLAGE TOURIST TRAP.
RENO AIRPORT HAS MORE POPULARITY THAN CITY HALLS PLANELESS SINK HOLE.
CAN YOU SEE THE PATTERN?
“YOU HAVE TO BE Competitive TO MAKE MONEY.”
Has anybody bother’d to read the printed weekend addition of the Tribune? On the front page is an article profiling profit and loss statements for Squaw and Heavenly. Those a real numbers,from the private sector. The numbers being used for the Ice Rink article,are numbers provided by GOVERNMENT employees.The private sector would hold you accountable for saying 1.7 employees are operating that rink Mr. Swain. That number is totally misconstrued and you know it.
Are you trying to say that based on your operating costs and budget,you have no choice, but to focus on the little bit of business going into the rink,and South Lake Tahoe should be thankful for what business is being generated? Is that your point? You have personally exhausted all resources to generate a profit margin, with all 30years of your experiance in the Public Sector? Maybe you should take an example from the PRIVATE sector. I urge you to read the front page. Those are REAL numbers from a business.
If the Powers That Be, here in South Lake,tell us commoners,that the Rink is going to run in the Red..That’s fine.
We get it. Great Rink,Great social envirorment for kids and family’s. Thats part of a COMMUNITY.Swimming,Skating,Skiing,Hiking,Boating is part of the Pride we share in Tahoe as a COMMUNITY..We Tahoe people are pretty damn proud of our ability to live here. It’s who we are.
I never see buses of Reno School kids coming up here to Skate. Why? Why not?
Too much trouble?
EVERYONE I’ve talked to that comes up here from out of town, to participate in special events at the Rink, loves the trip up.
If this was operated by the private sector? You would have special events EVERY weekend going on with that Rink.
With only an operating budget of 1.7 people,I see your frustration. Sounds weak from the Private Sector.
You can’t pay someone commission to bring heads in there? Too creative?
Ask the Marketing Departments of Sierra or Heavenly if they get paid any INCENTIVES to do a good job…Hmmmm PERFORMANCE based.. What a concept. What a great idea.
I can assure you,I would be able to tell you how may people I need to get in that Rink on a weekly basis,in order to break even and to make a profit. I’m surprised that the City Hall folk don’t already have that number.
As I said,it’s ok to be in the red..as long as our elected officials agree to it. That’s why we elected them.
In my humble opinion,the article on the rink was pointless,selfserving,and didn’t address any real issues on how to promote Skating School,Locals,or Out of Town awareness. Just… It’s what it IS..and everything has already been consider’d. Weak.
HTMALINT,
I see where your point is. The fact is though, we know ice sports bring revenue with these events. No doubt about it. Just thinking that a little more outreach would possibly pay the bills.
I just returned from taking my daughter to a show rehearsal at the ice rink.We have participated in the last 2 xmas shows . Last year, the figure skating club was hosting this event and i must say things were alot more organized when they were running it!!!! Leigh the skate school director was not very helpful when it came to my questions about things to her and she kept refering to a handout regarding costume issues.There was also a lot of confusion regarding a schedule change for practice times for the advanced skaters … Cheryl the office manager seemed to be taking the brunt of the flak for what apperently was again a management oversite in passing on information to her. Swain an Leigh “forgot to mention” the schedule change to her! what the HELL is the problem with these people that they cant seem to organize a simple schedule. When the club ran this event , the other moms and 2 staff coaches organized everything! The children had a great time and things just seemed to run smoothly. It is my understanding the coaches were not paid by the club or the ice rink for any of their time. How is it that our PAID city workers cannot manage to accomplish the same.This time last year my daughter had been sent home from school with flyers about the ice showin her backpack there was also a flyers about skate school included. All over town I saw posters even at the hotels where my parents stayed, the concierges had flyers!All these promotional things happened with just the efforts of the skating club and its volunteers!My child had a great time and I never felt the sense of dissary that we felt so far this year!I hope the city of South Lake Tahoe realizes before its too late that changes should be made in the running of this facility. My child will not be participating in skate school after this show is over, until they do!
Why would anyone read those articles in the tribune when they were both on LTN four days ago. Welcome to the conversation Gary. Why doesn’t the club run the event any more?
Gary? I thought I was talking about the CONTENT of the article. Not the date it was published.
Why don’t they do more Events at the rink? Why bother? Just more work for the 1.7 employees,correct?
The club was told by Swain that the rink wanted to take over the xmas show. The club was disapointed, that was their main fundraiser. I just heard about this this weekend.Seems kind of a shame though!
I will speak for the great number of hockey players and parents (customers)who have moved on to interests that don’t involve the SLT Ice Arena. The SLT had a great opportunity to make the rink a community center like they do in small towns across the US and Canada. The failure has been the result of poor leadership. The the past and current leadership has missed the concept that it is a community center, not a business and not a government installation. They have hired people who were indifferent to the needs of the customers, indifferent to the volunteers who wanted to give their time and expertise to run the programs and bring innovative solutions. Instead they hired and retained people who were criminals,petty individuals who live scared to keep their gov’t jobs, complainers and people behind the desk who weren’t always glad to see you, the paying customer. The hockey community in Tahoe has raised these issues for 7 or 8 years to all levels of Parks and Rec. with no change or action and sadly we have now just moved on. It is not worth the heartache for the kids mostly. If you look at the number of hockey programs you will see over 60% decline in adult participation and 80% decline in youth hockey! There are too many other community recreation activities in this area to act like you are the only game in town. The SLT Ice Arena and Parks & Rec’s leadership’s “take it or leave it” approach has worked. We have left, last one out please turn out the lights.
To Southie,
For a journalism student you need to return to basic english class and learn to formulate a sentance. Or should I say formuluate? Is that easier to read? What is the real deal here is that the ice rink should be run like an ice rink and not a bar and we could have a world class figure skating training facility here simply given the size of the rink. The size of the town doesn’t dictate the amount of useage. When I was skating I traveled hundreds of miles to train. Look at any training facility that produces world class Olympic skaters. They don’t require even the slightest population base. Get real. And to the last poster, I totally agree with your position. How about hiring, for instance, skate guards that actually know how to skate rather than spend city funds “hanging” with friends on the ice. Stories would curl your toes. Happy Holiday’s
The lack of “thinking outside the box” in regards to this rink is alarming. You have a couple of full time employees who are operating the rink at “status quo.” In this business one can NEVER rest on ones laurels. You have to continually address creative programming on all levels – from public sessions to class lessons, etc. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand how to capitalize on the strengths (and weaknesses) that SLT offers. Either insist that current management get their act together and investigate new and better ways to increase revenue or replace them with those that will.
GMR
Subsidies. The ice rink gets small subsidies, and many locals use it from time to time. I do. The airport gets large subsidies. Do you use the airport?
Let’s prioritize as we cut city subsidies, by ranking city services according to the benefits they provide to city taxpayers. My guess is that the airport comes in last.
As an annual visitor from Southern California I am shocked by some of these comments. First, you have a wonderful Ice RInk! Your facility is head and shoulders above most in the State. My suggestion is Marketing. We have been visiting SLT annually for over 10 years only we only learned of this wonderful facility only a few years ago. We have a son who plays travel hockey (SCAHA) and a daughter who figure skates. I found this article as we were looking for open skate hours of operation. Market the rink to local visitors and market the rink to CAHA and certified coaches. Why don’t we hear about hockey camps in SLT in So Cal? We would attend!
I have tried for the past few years to get lessons for our kids while we are here and the rink doesn’t have lists of qualified coaches available. Market the rink, organize the coaches who are available and post the rink on the SLT website! If my family wants to skate here, I’m sure other do as wel!
Good luck and best wishes to whoever runs the rink! It is a terrific facility!
For what it’s worth I make 1 or 2 trips a year to SLT and skating at the rink is always a highlight. I doubt I’d visit that frequently if it wasn’t for the rink.
The facility itself is fabulous, at least compared to other rinks. It’s something to be proud of. I’d skate there every week if I lived in the area.