What happens when you pay thousands of dollars to a vendor for a service they can't deliver. Would you "suck it up" or expect a refund for services or products paid for but not provided?
That the question for thousands of minor hockey families in London, Ont., where 100 cm of snow and a strapped snow removal crew led to the closure of all city-owned and at least one privately owned arenas for two days. Arenas are scheduled to reopen tonight.
Lost have been all practice ice - costing parents about $150 an hour - and in peril are games. There is not enough free ice time available in the city to reschedule practices at any logical hour. Finding appropriate blocks of ice time to accommodate two lost days of games will be a hair-pulling task for minor hockey volunteers and city staff.
London owes its various minor hockey and figure skating clubs a full refund for closed arenas and lost ice. If our newly elected Mayor Joe Fontana is serious about running the city more like a business, he'll make sure this is done.
Minor Hockey Moments
Showing posts with label London snowstorm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London snowstorm. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Weather wimps or safety first?
In 10 years of minor hockey, I don't remember any games or involving games between two in-city teams being cancelled due to winter weather.
We're Canadians, We know how to drive in snow. And we like hockey.
Of course that's not to say there haven't been some dubious nights. I remember one game night crawling along to Oak Ridge arena just across the river and being grateful we were not making the big trek to Argyle in the far end of London.
Things are different this week thanks to a dumping of lake effect snow that's left 100 cm of snow here in two days.
There have not been blinding whiteouts in the city, but the huge snowfall has left my friend Ed and his fellow city snowplow operators unable to cope. They can only work 12 hours a day and have not yet made it around even once to residential streets like our cul-de-sac.
On Monday, our game against North London was cancelled when the city closed its arenas in a move that, to my recollection, was unprecedented. On Tuesday, they closed the arenas again, meaning there's no practice this week. It has already been announced that schools will be closed for the third consecutive day on Wednesday.
One wonders if the reason for closing arenas is the weather or a redeployment of staff to cope with the snow. Or staff not making it into work. Or the fact the city hasn't plowed arena parking lots.
Whatever, it doesn't seem Canadian.
We're Canadians, We know how to drive in snow. And we like hockey.
Of course that's not to say there haven't been some dubious nights. I remember one game night crawling along to Oak Ridge arena just across the river and being grateful we were not making the big trek to Argyle in the far end of London.
Things are different this week thanks to a dumping of lake effect snow that's left 100 cm of snow here in two days.
There have not been blinding whiteouts in the city, but the huge snowfall has left my friend Ed and his fellow city snowplow operators unable to cope. They can only work 12 hours a day and have not yet made it around even once to residential streets like our cul-de-sac.
On Monday, our game against North London was cancelled when the city closed its arenas in a move that, to my recollection, was unprecedented. On Tuesday, they closed the arenas again, meaning there's no practice this week. It has already been announced that schools will be closed for the third consecutive day on Wednesday.
One wonders if the reason for closing arenas is the weather or a redeployment of staff to cope with the snow. Or staff not making it into work. Or the fact the city hasn't plowed arena parking lots.
Whatever, it doesn't seem Canadian.
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