By Nadine Lewis
Below is an excerpt from a letter I sent to the owner of Complete Thermal Services Inc. Their employee inspected the rink (yesterday), and you can see his comments below. As a strange twist, the city has also retained their services to act as a consultant. See my comments below.
Dear Bill~
Thank you for the long conversation you had with me (Tuesday) afternoon. I appreciate the generosity of your time and your candor.
As you know, I had the pleasure of spending a few hours with your employee John Ulfeldt, Service Supervisor, this morning at the Culver Ice Arena.
He let me know that he has serviced and repaired the ice arena since 1990. (Prior to his work with your firm, it is my understanding that he worked without any interruption of service for the previous maintenance/repair company.) He stated that there has never been a repair that (Arena CEO) Mr. (John) Jackson has not fixed after receipt of knowledge that a problem existed.
He further told me that the urban myths created by the PR rep for Planet Granite that all of the equipment is 52 years old is false. He showed me the metal emblems on the equipment which certify the years in which they were installed (1988 for the condenser and 1992 for the chiller). I asked him how long these units last. He said 40 years to forever if nothing goes wrong. The compressors are older. I asked him if they were to fail at midnight when no one was on-site, what would happen. He said the emergency valve would open and release some pressure if the ammonia tanks sensed too much pressure. This would release a small amount of ammonia into the air above the rink that would not be at harmful levels (but it would smell terrible).
We spent a few hours inspecting all of the equipment doing testing for leaks with sulfur sticks. I asked him if the rink was safe.
He said, “Absolutely.” I asked him if he would let his own grandchildren skate at the rink. He said, “absolutely.” He made this most telling comment of all, and this is his verbatim statement:
“The only danger at this rink is people skating, falling and breaking a bone. The only hazard at this rink is when skaters drive to and from the rink.”
Your firm was called to the rink this morning to prepare a report on behalf of John Jackson, whose reputation has been damaged by the fire chief when he publicly stated (Monday) night that an urgency exists to shut down the system and remove the ammonia at the rink to protect the public.
This statement implies that Mr. Jackson has run the rink in a negligent manner. According to your own representative, nothing could be further from the truth. The city’s own fire inspections have never requested any repairs and there has never been one 9-1-1 call made to the ice rink (unlike Toyota Sport Center in El Segundo where 9-1-1 has been called three times in the last year).
An anonymous source at the city stated that I do not care about public safety and I am willing to file a request for an injunction which would jeopardize the health and safety of the public.
This is a preposterous statement. My 16-year-old daughter is a competitive figure skater who trains at Culver, if I thought for one moment it wasn’t safe there, I would not allow her to skate on site. According to your employee, John Ulfeldt, there is no danger.
After speaking with you today, you told me that John estimated that the on-site tank only contains about 100 gallons of ammonia. You further stated that even if there was a catastrophic failure of the system, it would smell terrible and be an annoyance and nuisance to the neighborhood but it is unlikely that it would present a health hazard (unless perhaps some kids were spray painting graffiti on the rink. So taggers beware).
You told me you believe there is NO imminent danger to the public. You told me that you have conveyed this message to the city and the owner of the land. You also stated that in spite of rumors to the contrary, there is no ammonia being pumped under the ice surface, rather calcium chloride which is a compound relatively harmless to plants and soil; and is often used to make pool water hard.
I am delighted to know that you have conveyed this information to the John Nachbar, Chief Executive Officer of Culver City, and Michael Bowden, the Fire Marshal, in a conference call today.
Ms. Lewis may be contacted at Nadine@LewisLawAssociates.com
