Niagara Falls, N.Y. (WBEN) - For a brief time Monday, youth hockey players set to take part in a camp operated by the Power City Bruins were iced out, as the facility was closed. After intervention by other local leaders, the rink later re-opened.
Jackie Mang says her husband was taking their daughter to Hyde Park Ice Pavilion when they learned police and people from the city were changing the locks and shutting down the rink.
"I couldn't believe it. We were just at City Hall Wednesday night, and I just couldn't believe that they would do that to shut all the children out," says Mang.
Niagara Falls City Councilmember Donta Miles says he got word of the closure around 8:30am Monday. "I couldn't believe that that would actually happen. And when I came that's literally what took place. They were blocking the door, not allowing the kids in," says Miles. Miles was told by those locking up the rink it was by orders of Mayor Rob Restaino, which left the councilmember in disbelief.
Myles detects this all stems from last week's City Council meeting. "The mayor actually wants to have an out of state company that pretty much erected a few years back to come, and actually run the rink when we have Mr. Mike Corella, who has been running this rink for the last 14 plus years, and doing very well and building off of the personal relationships that he has built throughout," says Myles. He says the council actually voted to postpone vote because of a lack of resources regarding the actual bid, and lack of information. "And I made it very clear that we should vote this down period, because when you have a local individual that has been doing such a good job and actually building this pavilion up to what it is to pull the carpet off from up under them, is a such a slap in the face to local businesses here in the Niagara Falls area," adds Myles. "I feel like because the mayor and his administration did not get the response, or did not get enough yes votes to pull this out of state organization in, I feel like he that this was his way of retaliation."
State Senator Rob Ortt was informed Monday morning of the matter. "This is sort of a larger political issue or a governmental issue, but to close the arena and deprive people who paid to be there kids for a hockey clinic seemed like an unnecessary step," says Ortt.
Ortt says he reached out to Mayor Rob Restaino. "We had a frank discussion. He was he said he would see what he could do to get the arena back open. And I'm glad to say he got, he opened the arena. There was obviously some discussion, and they got the arena back open, and my understanding is the kids who and the parents were able to go in and at least get some of their ice time that they were scheduled for today," says Ortt.
Myles says the administration came in and said the current crew can stay another month. "Apparently there weren't any real violations that actually, you know, caused them to be barricaded out of the ice rink this morning. So, I can imagine there's going to be another silent way to try to maneuver Mr. Corella and the crew out of this building. Do I know exactly how that's going to be? No, I don't, unfortunately, but we will continue to apply pressure," notes Miles.
Mang says if that happens, her daughter could be shut out of hockey this season. "A lot of teams are full in the area. I don't know if they want new players or if we're going to have to scramble for ice. Let's say maybe like Riverside ice, or the one at Wheatfield, somebody that has ice that we could take up to play games and have practice on," says Mang.
Mayor Restaino joined WBEN Tuesday morning to respond. When asked if youth hockey team should have been put at the center of the dispute, Restaino Councilmember Myles should answer that himself.
"Quite frankly this is more about micromanaging by the council," Restaino said in an interview with Brian and Susan. "We have a new operator, and you can just tell how uninformed the councilmember is when he says they're out of state. They're based in Albany and they run hockey arenas all throughout New York State."
Restaino then responded to Ortt, saying the Senator didn't comment on the "real difficulty here."
"The real difficulty is that we are going to have a new operator. Should the council want to have additional information we're always available," Restaino said.