If this is a new day, there must be a still another dive-bombing development at the Culver City Ice Arena, where drastic drama plays out hourly.
Mere days after one of ownership’s most valued allies testified in writing that the 52-year-old now-closed rink was as safe as a new mama’s bosom, he executed a rhetorical somersault.
In yet another punch-to-the-belly development, a one-page letter sent earlier this afternoon to City Manager John Nachbar, Fire Chief Chris Sellers and Fire Marshal Mike Bowden, refrigeration expert Bill Clements, owner of Complete Thermal Services, Inc., Orange County, in his best Gilda Radner, said the equivalent of “Never Mind.”
After insisting the rink was in dandy condition last week in letters proudly held aloft by Shannon Takahashi, of the family that plans to reopen the rink on Saturday, March 1, and her attorney, skating mom Nadine Lewis, Mr. Clements appeared to flip-flop.
In view of this upending and change of heart, it is no surprise Mr. Clements ran last week when the media came calling.
In serving up his do-over opinion, he judged the arena to be safe for the short-term– say, the six-month lease the Takahashi family is finalizing with landlord Michael Karagozian – but probably not longer.
To say it differently, Mr. Clements sought to deliver a plate of fodder to both warring sides of an emotional dispute.
He walks both sides of the street – having been hired as a consultant by City Hall, which has gone to raw war with the Ice Arena ownership over an alleged public health threat, and previously had been regarded as a dependable ally by Mr. Karagozian and certain arena leaders.
Mr. Clements’s epistle to the city leaders said, in part:
“I am sending this letter to further clarify my findings as to the conditions of the ice arena. As we have previously discussed, the refrigeration system is 50 years old, has reached the end of its useful life, and should be replaced or refurbished if the rink is to be used in a long-term capacity.
“Additionally as I stated in a letter to Mr. (John) Jackson (the immediate past CEO), the rink can be used in its current condition for short-term use, while a long-term solution is decided upon.
“While some have inferred the rink is safe to operate in its current condition for up to 10 years, that is not the case.
“As I have stated, the rink should only be operated in its current condition on a short-term basis, which realistically is no more than six months.
“Any operation beyond that would require significant repairs and upgrades to be made to the refrigeration system.”
