Downtown Chico Ice Rink

     The ice rink has opened for the public in downtown Chico this week. I felt this would be interesting to write about as I had seen some news articles and letters that popped up questioning the decision of opening an ice rink, in a drought stricken state and when our city budget has been a contentious issue over the last few years.

https://chico-ca.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1006&meta_id=78572

    I did some searching on Google and found the link above - A City of Chico Memorandum, in response to some Ice Skating Rink questions that were raised at a City Council meeting on 9/7/21. In it were questions relating to financial impacts, environmental impacts, and a question asking for a more clear breakdown of the revenues and expenditures.

    Much of the information in here isn't too surprising. In the first question about the financial impact, it was more specifically asking if the contact for the rink were cancelled, how much in spending have we already incurred. This is not very important at this point nearing the end of 2022 because we know the ice rink was somewhat of a success based on last years numbers, but I will get into that in a second.

    What is incredible here, is the environmental impact and the seemingly lack of consideration by the City Council for this impact. Question #2 was, "What are the environmental impacts of the temporary Rink?". The answer is, the rink initially used 8,000 gallons of water, and in order to maintain the rink uses 50 to 100 gallons of water per day for the eight-week operational period. The energy consumption is something to consider as well, which is estimated to be 400 KW/day...... A DAY, and "is equivalent to the energy needed for 10 to 15 single family homes."

    Considering last years numbers in the realm of revenue, City Chico Manager Mark Orme stated that the city brought in $347,394.12 from its first operating year. It should be noted, this is $231,294.12 from gross revenues and $116,100 from sponsorships. Overall, the costs associated with the construction of the ice rink each year in theory should decrease, and I'd say we can eventually pay back the $300,000 taken from the cities general fund. It may take a few years, but maybe that's not too bad.

https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/07/chico-ice-rink-brought-in-347-million-city-says/#:~:text=Based%20on%20the%20numbers%20released,revenues%20and%20%24116%2C100%20from%20sponsorships.

    Overall, it seems that the ice rink could be a good thing for the City of Chico. Something to consider is the increase to revenue for local nearby businesses as well. It's probably in our best interest to ignore the environmental impact, and as long as you can do that, I feel the Ice Rink is an overall positive for the city. California's drought really isn't that bad right?