A temporary, new ice rink named “San Mateo on Ice” will be open in Central Park from Nov. 14, 2015 through Jan. 10, 2016. This 9,000 square feet ice rink is outdoors on the park’s baseball field and offers skate rentals and lessons, recreational skating, parties, and private time for skating. Sheila Canzian, Director of Parks and Recreation for San Mateo, explains the benefits of an ice rink for the city. She says, “We believe that this is another recreational amenity that residents can take advantage of over the holiday period. It will not generate any revenue directly for the city, but it is likely that people who go to the ice rink may go to downtown San Mateo for activities that may generate revenue for the city along the way.” Canzian elaborates on the ice rink’s popularity and skater demographics. She says, “It is hard to tell how popular the ice rink is expected to be because the ice rink has only been open for a little while … but there seems to be a mix of young kids, families, and wolder teenagers.” Some believe that the opening of this new ice rink was motivated because of the closure of Bridgepointe’s Ice Chalet in mid-2013 with the intention of creating additional space for establishing more retail stores. Junior Lynn Jiao says, “I thought it was really fun, but it was really crowded because [I went] the first couple of days that it opened … the ice quality was really bad. But I just really liked how it was outdoors and how you could see the street.” However, Canzian says that San Mateo on Ice is not intended to replace the ice rink at Bridgepointe. She says, “This ice rink is only a holiday ice rink … [and] the operator of this ice rink is completely independent of that of Bridgepointe.” With regard to San Mateo on Ice, junior Ryan Bahmanyar says, “The ice rink is a waste of time and money because we are in a drought.” However, junior Jad Ghaddar says, “I’m really happy that they brought it for the winter season … It’s basically like bringing downtown San Francisco to downtown San Mateo because there is an outdoor rink in the Macy’s building in San Francisco.”
