HISTORY OF BUILDING MT.

VERNON SKATING RINK (1975-78)

by Warren I. Cikins (Mt. Vernon Supervisor
u
Retired)
August 1994
When I was first elected to the Fairfax County Board in a
special election at the end of January 1975, I began to make
plans to implement the agenda on which I had run for office. One
of the areas I was especially concerned about was providing
wholesome recreation for the children of Mt. Vernon, as well as
giving adults a place to obtain similar enjoyment.
My Board predecessor, Herb Harris, had managed to gain voter
approval of a bond referendum for that purpose and the citizens
of Mt. Vernon had in a poll their preference for a
skating rink. I must admit I was rather surprised by that
Choice, but. I was happy to move fortva.cd t.o
choice, especially since I was disturbed by the sight of young
people hanging around convenience stores where"at that time they
could purchase alcoholic beverages at age 18. Living in a
favored community didnWt mean that young people wouldn't qet
bored easily if there were not enough attractive opportunities
for them to get appealing recreation. And not all our youth or
all our citizens for that matter were favored, so economical
athletic facilities were a most desirable objective.
When I consulted with my Park Authority representative.
Glenn Fatzinger, he indicated that there was considerable
opposition to a rink both fram private enterprise (a private rink
operated some distance away) and because the then current high
inflation was putting the cost of the rink out of reach. The
bond referendum was for $2 million and the existing plans for a
rink indicated a rising cost to $4 million. I turned to the Mt.
Vernon citizenry for support and Bruce Bolstad of Mt. Vernon did
a valiant job of organizing an outpouring of dedicated and
enthusiastic champions of the cause. Bruce and too many others
than can be named here rallied to this cause and demonstrated
that Mt. Vernon did indeed strongly want a skating rink.
Bu t .... t..o
give first approval, we were thwarted by the Authority'S
unwillingness to okay a project that might cost twice as much as
was available. My suggestion that we turn to a revenue bond to
provide the additional funds was not accepted, since there was a
fear that the rink would be a money loser, not a moneymaker.
The feasibility studies that had been prepared were shaky about
the economic viability of the undertaking and the County demanded
an at least breakeven projection.
I then turned to the then Chairman of the Park Authority
carl Sell and the Authority Executive Director, Joe Downs, for
help in finding a way to proceed. I will be eternally grateful
for their constructive response. Together we were able to
design a rink that would come within the $2 million limit. I am
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also thankful that Fred Crabtree, a key Member of the Authority
Board, took a positive view, since it would have been
understandable if had offered objections.
Among the concessions we made were the abandonment of the
expensive brick facade (which would have been consistent with the
nearby library), dropping the auxiliary rink which would have
been primarily available to figure skaters, and scrubbing from
the plan a sizeable community room for regular meetings. I
continued to insist that the rink itself measure up to
professional standards, which was an important consideration,
since later enabled the Washington caps, our big league team,
to practice at our rink for many years. And so, on a fourth try,
we were able to get the Park Authority to the proposal.
It was now sent to the
which we all knew would not be easy.
The Board of Supervisors was initially opposed to the rink
on several grounds, primarily because it feared that it would not
be used adequately to pay its way, and secondly because many
supervisors thought such a facility should be built by private
enterprise. I would have been happy have private enterprise
undertake such an effort, but there were no responses to
outreaches. Joe Downs again perfor-med splendidly, since he was
able to put the best foot forward on the value of such a rink,
even though he had some personal qualms about revenue
projections. I was personally deteDmined to have this rink built
to meet out community's vital needs, and Downs responded
beautifully to my commitment.
Despite my best efforts. the Board ected the proposal
three times over a number of months, running through the winter
and spring of 1976. During this time the country was in a period
of what was ca1led "stagflation", with a situation of stagnant
economic development coupled with serious inflation. The first
Board vote was 6-3 against me. and in two more tries I reached a
5-4 opposition situation. Throughout all this time and later in
the construction of the facility, many other troubles arose.
Many people thought the location of the rink was wrong, proposing
it be put deeper in the parkland it occupied, not realizing that
it was located where it was because it was the only place in the
park it could be built, because of marine clay considerations.
Figure skaters objected to a design that showed no windows, since
they said they would feel inhibited under such conditions. We
added windows to the design, even though it meant greater cost,
stressing our economic projections. Many architects thought the
facade should be brown white, since they felt the '
white would be too noticeable. I sent my staffer, Barbara
Rosenfeld, who sided with that view, to see a'building just built
that was in similar terrain with brown facade, and she came back
reluctantly agreeing with me and the rink designers that White
was best. On and on it went, but we managed to deal with every
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challenge.
I finally scheduled a fourth try to gain a majority vote to
be held at the end of July 1976. On the second week in July, my
father died after a long illness and I went to Boston to make
funeral arrangements. Two weeks later, to the dayo my mother
died quite unexpectedly of a strokeo and I once again went to
Boston to arrange a funeral. It meant I would not even be able
to be present for the vote on approving the rink when it came up
for consideration by the Board on the last Monday of July. I
asked my dear-friend and colleagueo Joe Alexander, who supported
building the rink, to make the motion and the argument in my
stead and he graciously agreed. When I called him that evening,
he told me the motion had passed I hade of courseo been
absent. and
constituents who opposed the rink. While the Board certainly did
what it thought was proper for the people of Fairfax County, I
was greatly honored that they had given me this vote of
confidence under these trying circumstances.
I was still not out of the woods, of course, since many
people thought I was building a "white elephant" that nobody
would use. I had dreams of being "ridden out of town on a rail."
Given all the shaky economic studies and projections, I still had
a strong "qut" feeling that the rink would succeed. I sweated
out all the usual problems of construction and the rink was
scheduled to open in Februaryo 1918. When my wife, Sylvia, and
two sons, Dean and Neil, and I went to the rink ribboncutting
ceremonies 0 I was somewhat apprehensive. What a great moment it
was to see hundreds of people who had gathered for the event!
The rink was a success from the start and for many, many years I
have had great pride in driving by the facility every day.
In July 1994
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I have attended several hockey games at the
rink. Early on (1918) Bruce Bolstad organized a Mount Vernon
Hockey Clubu and much to my surprise, my sons who had never
skated before, wanted to join that team. Sylvia and I spent
countless hours at that rink and many others (getting to know
many neighbors and watching our sons play hockey as they grew
from ages 8 or 10 to high school graduation). They and many
hundreds of other young Mt. vernonites have enjoyed the very
wholesome recreation I dreamed about for the County's children.
At the same time many adults have received great pleasure in
community skating. And our figure skaters have made many great
achievements. This Julyu as a young adult (24 years old), my son
Neil is a member of an leaque and, on July 20 he
scored the winning goal for his team! While no one at the rink'
at that time knew that I had any role in its creationu it was
another great moment. And the completion of the sports complex
has fulfilled my dream.