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My name is Wayne Godin; some twenty years ago I formed the Kanata Oldtimers Hockey League (KOHA). I am writing to express my displeasure with a number of items that are being contemplated in the upcoming Ice Allocation Policy Review. I believe there are many flaws in the proposal.
Over the last 30 years, I have been involved in both minor and adult hockey. In minor hockey I was an assistant coach, an executive member of the Kanata Girl’s Hockey Association, and a referee for many years in the Ottawa District Minor Hockey Association, the Kanata Minor Hockey Association and the Kanata Girls Minor Hockey Association. Prior to creating the KOHA, I was an executive member of the Glen Cairn Men’s Hockey League, which has been around for over 30 years. I have also refereed in three different men’s hockey leagues. I tell you this because it has meant that I have spent a lot of time in our hockey arenas and that I have been on both sides of the fence in terms of minor and adult hockey.
How we ended up with Sunday Morning
When I started the KOHA, and was looking to secure ice time, the only time that was offered to me was Sunday mornings. At that time I was told Sunday mornings was the only time available because it was a time that minor hockey did not want. You have to remember that things were different twenty years ago, twenty years ago stores were not opened, Sundays was considered a family day, it was a day of worship.
Who are we?
Our league is made up of all kinds of people from all walks of life, some are doctors, dentist, mechanics, construction workers, business owners, retirees, etc we are all tax payers. Not only are we paying our fair share of property and business taxes, but as an adult ice user we are also paying a premium price on the use of our ice, and we should have certain rights and not be shut out from the use of our ice as the City is proposing. The average age of our players is 52 years old, over 68 % of our league is made up of players over 50 years of age, 21%over 55 and over 7 % of our league is players over the age of 60. The oldest player in our league is 64 years old. Basically we are young senior citizens. Many of our players have or continue to be involved in both boys and girl’s minor hockey as coaches, trainers, referees ECT. Over the years I have often heard players complaining that their child is on the ice 4 to 5 hours a week, while all he gets is one hour.
Déjà Vu
About ten years ago, there was a movement by the local minor hockey association to have the City Of Kanata make the Kanata Recreation Complex, 100% available for minor hockey use. At that time I presented a letter to the city council, and I documented how only 5% of prime time hours was made available to adult hockey. I remember at one of the meetings held at the Kanata Recreation Complex, with the ice users and the City of Kanata, and there was a discussion about the need for additional ice hours for minor hockey. At this meeting there was a representative from the ODMHA, and he happened to look out though window that led to the ice, and there was a minor hockey practice going on, and there were no more than 6 players on the ice. And this not unusual, I mentioned earlier that I have spent many of hours in the arenas and I have seen many prime time hours that remained idle, I have seen many situations where there was maybe 5-10 players on the ice holding a practice. What a waste of an hour of ice. I always remember the ODMHA representative saying, “You know the answer for increasing enrolment is not always more ice. That’s too costly. Their needs to be better management of ice time “.
Good Community Citizens
Over the years the KOHA has dome much good within the community, we have donated over $1,500. to Rogers House, one year we enlisted 100% of our league members into the Kanata Sports Club which turned out to be a contribution of $3,500, that the Kanata Sports Club was able to use to help amateur sports, we have set up an education fund for the small children of one of our members who had a sudden death, we have made a donation to the Kanata Minor Hockey Association so that an underprivileged child who might not otherwise be able to play could, we have made a substantial donation to a fund that was set up to help a former player in our league who because of a hockey injury became a paraplegic, we have made donations to the Cancer Society, to Heart & Stroke, CHEO, etc on behalf of players in our league who have lost loved ones. A couple of years ago we cancelled our annual tournament so that the City of Ottawa could host a Stanley Cup homecoming at the Jack Charon Arena. Over the years we have given up our allotted ice time so that the Kanata Minor Hockey or the Kanata Girl’s Minor Hockey could organize a hockey tournament. I am sure there are many other incidents over the last 20 years where we provide assistance to the needy within our community.
The Problem
It is pretty clear that the problem the City has is that it does not have enough ice time to satisfy the growing request for ice. But should adult hockey be blamed for that. I agree that minor hockey should receive the majority of prime time ice as it is important for our kids to play hockey, but the City needs to understand that it is also important that adults continue to be active and providing suitable hours for adult hockey accomplishes that goal. Let’s face it minor hockey is a feeder system for adult hockey; very few of the children playing minor hockey will make it to juniors or the NHL. The City needs to have a vibrant and well organised adult hockey leagues for theses children to play in as they get older. And you can’t expect a bunch of 55/60 year old men/women play at midnight or at 1:00 in the morning.
The City’s Proposal
The two major issues I have a problem with from the proposal that came out of the Sept. 2008 report are:
1. That “previous use� not be key factor for the allocation priority determination.
2. Redistribution of Adult prime time hours to Minor Sports Association.
After amalgamation, the City of Ottawa hired the firm of Anne Robinson and Associates to complete a Facility Allocation Report and one of the findings that came out of this report was
“Understand the historic community-specified allocation traditions -the newly amalgamated municipality must understand and acknowledge the importance of “historic� patterns and the contributions of traditional ice users, many of whom fell that they have given significantly to their communities� It is quite evident that under this new proposal the City is not paying any attention to the report that was completed on their behalf.
In the Sept. 2008 report it indicates “Previous Use� has continued with an inequitable allocation of adult prime time hours� My question is what is considered “inequitable�? Is 5% of Prime time hours considered inequitable? It would seem the City wants to suggest that anything over 0% would be considered “inequitable�. The report also goes on to say that currently 149 hours a week of adult hockey is allocated prior to 9:00 pm, if one adds up all the Prime time hours at all the arenas in the City then I would suggest to you this is a nominal number. Also the report goes on to say that 382 hours of prime time hours were paid for and remained empty during the 2008/08 season. Our league uses approx. 130 hours a year, isn’t the City focusing their attention in the wrong area, instead of trying to take away the 130 hours of a 20 year old organization they should be going back to the various groups of the 382 unused hours and seeing why they are asking for more ice when they pay and don’t use their existing allocation.
In one area of the report indicates that “Presently stakeholders benefit from the degree of stability..because “previous use� is the main factor..From an administrative perspective it is proposed that the “previous use� could be removed from the policy so staff can move toward a more equitable based allocation of time�. Then it goes on to say that “After the rebalancing/correction, “previous use� could then be used for allocations for the next four years in order to provide a degree stability for groups organizing programs� Basically what the report is saying is previous use and stability is important but only after we get rid of adult hockey out of the equation.
The report also goes on to say ‘There are no financial implications associated with the Information Report�, but there is very serious financial implications to the City. Right now adult hockey pays a $100. premium over minor hockey ice. For our league alone that works out to $13,000. in extra revenue for the City over the year. Or if we use the report’s number of 149 hours of prime time before 9:00 pm and assume a season of 30 weeks, and if that 149 hours is taken away from adult hockey then we are looking at a loss of revenue to the city in the amount of $447,000. So as tax payer, you are asking us to pay our city taxes, which covers things like the arenas, your want to take away our hours of ice for which we pay a premium cost, and then you want us to pay more taxes to cover the additional losses the city will now have because of the city now providing additional subsidized ice to minor hockey. Does this make sense?
Optimum Use Of Ice
There are many documented proof of minor prime time ice going unused or teams having a practice with 6-10 players on the ice. There are minor hockey players who are on the ice 2-4 hours a week. For the average adult hockey player, he gets one hour of ice per week, but for that one hour the City is getting optimum use of the hour, as you have two teams, each with a roster of 14 players, meaning you have up to 28 bodies making use of that 1 hour. I think this is an important fact that the City should be looking at .As I mentioned earlier many people involved with minor hockey feel their kids are on the ice way too much, and creating more minor ice is not the best way to handle increased needs. When I played minor hockey, we often had games and practices schedule at outdoor rinks, and I once read that in Europe, all minor ice practices are not held on the ice, teams would often use school parking lots to hold practices and drills, or a maybe have off ice sessions where instructional teaching could be done via video presentations, etc. With the ever increases in ice costs associations need to think outside the box.
What is Adult Prime Hours?
Well according to the City’s Park and Recreation own policies, an “Adult� is defined as anyone over the age of 19. So anyone renting ice time that has individuals involved over the age of 19 would be affected if their hours were during Prime Time. Therefore under Recommendation #2 in the Sept 2008 report, “Redistribution of Adult Prime hours to Minor sports Association�, any groups that whose members were over 19 years old would be at risk of losing their Prime Time ice, that would include adult figure skaters, synchronized skating teams, women’s hockey, junior hockey leagues, teams like the Ottawa 67s, the Nepean Raiders, the Ottawa West Golden Knights, etc. If the City says no , no, these guys aren’t affected it’s only the old men playing hockey that we are after, then I would suggest to you that your proposed policy is blatant form of discrimination.
Other Flaws with the Proposed Policy.
The policy does not take into the account the growing demographics, where more and more adults/seniors are staying more active than our parents and grandparents ever did. The City should embrace this, not try to put policies and obstacles in place to diminish this growing trend. The City Of Edmonton in a March 2008 report, said “An Arena should deliver benefits that enhance the quality of life for all age groups. An ice allocation policy should provide fair and equitable access to all ice users. People stay more active longer.� The proposed City of Ottawa policy appears to have a very narrow focus thinking that if we take away the entire Adult prime time hours, this will solve all the ice allocation problems.
What is the solution?
Certainly destroying a league that has been around for over 20 years, with one stroke of the pen is not the solution. The problem is the City needs more ice, maybe it can look at the existing arrangements under the 3P program and increase the number of hours it currently rents from these facilities. I think the City Of Oshawa had the right approach as detailed in their July 18, 2005 report. It stated “The City’s goal is to promote and encourage participation in ice sports to the overall benefit of the community. This Ice Allocation Policy has been developed to address changing demographics, market supply of indoor ice, the distribution of ice in a fair and equitable manner....The City of Oshawa wishes to recognize long term adult clients. Grandfather status will provide existing Adult leagues clients priority status...It also provides access to historical ice to all adult shinny and league users. The City reserves the right to change the ice allocated to grandfathers clients only when facility closures or restrictions must be applied ...in these circumstances every attempt will be made to find an equitable time replacement. If a designated “grandfathers� permit holder disbands or fails to apply in consecutive ice season, they will lose their “grandfathered� status. If they reapply in a subsequent ice season, they will be treated as a new client.� To me this makes sense, it properly deals with the issues in the Anne Robinson & Associates Report to the City of Ottawa in 2001, which talks about the importance of the City to acknowledge the importance of historic patterns and the past contributions of traditional ice users.
I recommend the City adheres to the following�
1. In respect of the 20 years association that the KOHA has had with the City of Kanata and the City of Ottawa that it be designated “Grandfathered Status�.
2. That the City respects the “Previous Use� allocation policy for leagues that are granted Grandfathered Status.
3. That those leagues designated Grandfathered Status not be allowed to expand their current ice time. Any new additional ice either from new ice arenas, increased ice times from the 3P partnership, will firstly be allocated to minor hockey associations.
4. Should a league reduce its current ice allocation, the league will lose its grandfathered status over those hours it has returned to the City.
Thank you for your time and I trusting the above will receive your serious consideration and that the proposed policy be defeated.
Wayne Godin
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