NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Community members come together
to break ground at Mar Vista Park in Palms for an outdoor roller
hockey rink. The UCLA men’s ice hockey helped secure grants for the
project and is providing coaches and referees for the roller hockey
league.
By Wil Whitehorn
Daily Bruin Reporter
Years of hard work by the UCLA men’s hockey team in
collaboration with local politicians have literally yielded
concrete results.
Representatives of UCLA hockey and the City of Los Angeles were
on hand June 23 at Mar Vista Park to break ground for an outdoor
roller hockey rink, the first of its kind for a Los Angeles city
park.
Construction of the rink was given the go-ahead after funds from
Proposition K, a 1996 initiative that appropriates money to park
development, were allocated last June. The Mar Vista Park Advisory
Board beat out a number of worthwhile bids to procure the $247,000
allotment, and received donations from exterior groups to aid in
the rink’s construction, which will begin in July and take
two months to complete.
“There’s been an existing roller hockey program here
for quite some time,” said Ellen Oppenheim, general manager
of recreation and parks for Los Angeles. “The community has
been advocating the creation of a roller hockey rink, and
we’ve been successful in getting a competitive grant
that’s funding most of this.”
Development will be aided by a $14,000 donation from Archstone
Communities, which was presented on June 23 to the advisory board
by vice president Steve Dominiac. The funds will be used to install
a scoreboard and drinking fountains on the premises.
Donations have also been made by the NHL’s Los Angeles
Kings, who were active in helping the rink-endeavor get off the
ground.
“(We’ve contributed by) donating tickets, donating a
little bit of money, and donating a lot of equipment,” said
Mike Siegel, fan coordinator for the Kings and former captain of
the UCLA hockey team. “We’ve also helped the league get
into contact with different contractors and set up booths at
different festivals and helped teach hockey clinics, things like
that.”
Much credit for the project’s realization was given to Tom
Ponton, who chairs a Mar Vista Advisory Board which has made
remarkable progress in the park’s upkeep in the past two
years.
“Tom did a lot, he should get all the credit,” said
Tommy Kim, assistant coach for the UCLA hockey team. “He
single handedly did everything. He raised hell at those meetings to
get this thing started, and they finally listened.”
As far as community outreach, UCLA has done its fair share in
donating their time to promote the sport, helping to build
community support for the project.
“This first started out as a makeshift league, barely
having enough equipment to start out, and has actually developed
into this rink,” Kim said. “We’ve done everything
from coaching to (refereeing) to running clinics. We actually
started a summer camp last year, and there was a pretty good
turnout.”
City councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who spearheaded the city
effort to procure the Proposition K grant, distributed certificates
of appreciation at Saturday’s ceremony to Kim, Dan Gay, Chris
Coker and Mike Michelena, who represented the UCLA hockey team.
Archstone Communities, the Kings and the Mar Vista Advisory Board
were also commended.
“This is a really great symbol of what a community can
do,” Miskikowski said. “This community came together to
unify the park, and then they said, “˜OK, with this energy and
effort, why don’t we make things not only better, but really
create something that we want for our kids.’ It’s
really great.”
Miskikowski’s optimism was contagious.
“Today we’re breaking ground for the construction of
it,” Oppenheimer said. “And we look forward to coming
back for the ribbon cutting when it’s all done.”