Rink Changing Hands

There has been a lot of talk about the sale of our rink and its future. The employees have basically said they have no idea what to expect when the new owners take over, which is tomorrow (April 15th). I finally found some info about it in the local tabloid, the Tucson Weekly:


BIG CHILL

Political socialite Rodney Glassman is streamlining his Tucson operations with the sale (by his super-rich Fresno farming family) of the Gateway Ice Center to David Williamson, of the super-rich Alberta oil and land family.
The key question is whether Williamson will replace the huge Glassman portrait that hangs above the rink entrance like some make-believe Commissioner of Hockey.

Williamson is scheduled to take over in mid-April. Glassman used his ice palace to curry favor with pols, dishing out tickets to their favorite groups. Williamson is no stranger to the same pols, having sucked up to each and every one while threatening to blade and grade the Canoa Ranch, south of Green Valley. He intimidated Pima County enough to get Raúl Grijalva, who asserts an ancestral claim to the land because he dad once worked there, to spend $6 million to buy up a big portion of the ranch. Williamson and Fairfield Homes were left with a big chunk to develop. And he and his dad have continued to feed Grijalva's congressional campaign bank.

We have picked on Glassman a few times, and even bestowed a special Get out of Town honor on him late last year. But we must salute the boy. First, we noticed that the Weekly was still available at Gateway Ice Center at a recent visit to the rink. And second, he has remained polite.

Still, few employees or skaters will shed tears when Rodney skates off the ice.

They are right about the picture... I hope that the new owners have some idea how to run a rink and will make more ice time available.