Meet the Miracle That Almost Was, and May Yet Be, Except That No One from City Hall to Fresno Has Any Idea This Morning How the Latest Dramatic Twist Will Turn Out.
Mere moments after Culver City Ice Arena landlord Mike Karagozian reached a stunning agreement yesterday afternoon with the Arena’s best-known, most popular longtime employees, the Takahashi family, to reopen the rink, thunder and lightning struck without warning. The dreaded, entirely unanticipated news placed an instant damper on their short-circuited jubilation.
A shocking telephone call from the City of Culver City Fire Marshal Mike Bowden, about 4 o’clock, brought the crackling news that the Fire Dept.’s hired experts had found that the ammonia within the arena presented a public safety hazard that needed to be removed as soon as possible.
The Takahashi family, understandably, their closest friends and supporters, were dazed by the latest fresh wave of bad news.
Not insignificantly, how do any of these developments affect the status of Planet Granite, the Bay Area company that was, and presumably still is, planning, some months from now, to open a rock climbing-yoga-fitness center on the site of the now-it’s-closed, now-maybe-not ice rink? Planet Granite signed a lease on Dec. 23 with Mr. Karagozian. Some have speculated recent legal/hazard developments could chill the prospective tenant’s feet.
Soothing Ruffled Feelings
Late last evening in the lobby of Council Chambers, Mr. Bowden and an apologetic Fire Chief Chris Sellers patiently spoke with angry, confused, curious, skeptical skating families who had overflowed Chambers for the third consecutive meeting to protest closure of the 52-year-old arena.
Earlier, in one of the evening’s memorable moments, Mr. Sellers offered a remarkable apology to the huge, sign-toting, emotional but well-behaved audience. He admitted he knew last week the urgent and convoluted ammonia-is-an-imminent-hazard news that Mr. Bowden just delivered yesterday.
“I apologize if I caused confusion,” Mr. Sellers said to the hushed room.
“A facility closure plan was submitted last week. I did not pass it to anyone. I was remiss in not doing that.”
Amidst radical conspiratorial talk that immediately arose (“the timing looks suspicious”), the obvious followup question was:
Why has this hazard not been previously known, especially since the Ice Arena has sailed through every annual Fire Dept. inspection?
The Fire Dept.’s annual visit is cursory, “not a detailed inspection,” Mr. Sellers said.
“Basically, we want to see that everything is running safely. We don’t have the ability to make (full-blown) mechanical inspections.”
The chief said that when Planet Granite and others expressed safety concerns about the interior of the arena “that raised our concerns,” prompting a much tighter examination of the arena.
Aftershocks Explode
During the two hours that the plight of the newly hamstrung arena was debated by skating families who again lined the walls of Chambers and city staffers, Council members largely were bystanders.
The aftermath of an earthquake repeatedly was re-enacted – aftershocks in the form of unexpected developments continually rolled out.
Both Mr. Sellers and Mr. Bowden, speaking softly, firmly, sought to emphasize to the aroused gathering crowd that they were neutral players in this furious controversy trying to fulfill their sworn duties to protect the general public.
Neither would speculate about costs or the amount of time it would take to cleanse the arena and install a new refrigeration system.
One of the first questions is, who will bear the unknown but lofty expense of tearing out and re-installing a refrigeration system?
No one on the outside or inside attempted to reply. An equally curious further question is, how long would such a turnover take? Weeks? Months?
In conjunction with the possibly simple-sounding eviction of the ammonia, the ice
While this scenario was cast as a soluble problem – estimated to be a 14-hour task, costing between $12,000 and $15,000 – the hope or dream of reopening is far more complicated this morning, possibly even in doubt.
Total Cost Is the X Factor
The wrench in the pipeline is that the hazardous mediation is just the tip of the unknown but doubtlessly expensive accompanying cost factor that involves replacing the refrigeration system.
No one at last night’s City Council meeting was willing to predict, or even wildly speculate about, the projected costs or the time involved.
The Takahashi- Karagozian agreement, in the works since Friday night, called for the rink to be reopened for a six-month run two weeks from Saturday, on March 1.
The minutes-long triumph of Richie, Barbara, Shannon and Sami Takahashi melted so fast that by last evening, when skating families turned out to petition the City Council for aid, the Takahashis’ hearts were brimming with ashes, their reddened eyes battered with tears of chaotic feelings.
