Skating oval a magnet for Haligonians

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With the hissing stroke of metal on ice, Haligonians have been voting with their feet, turning out by the thousands to enjoy a long-track skating oval set up for the Canada Winter Games next month.

The city threw open the temporary track to public use in recent weeks and has been shocked by its popularity. Evening crowds quickly built to capacity at the open-air track, with people sometimes lined up waiting for someone to leave. Early skating times regularly feature professionally dressed workers doing a few quick turns before heading to the office. One recent morning, a woman with a white cane was doing laps, accompanied by a friend giving traffic directions.

The enthusiasm is a fitting embrace of winter for a country that mythologizes pond-hockey and skating on frozen rivers. And now support is building to make permanent the 400-metre facility on the North Common. Thousands have signed an online petition at http://savetheoval.ca/ and the idea has received support from across the political spectrum.

But concerns are also being raised about the further shrinking of green space on the Common, an urban park dating to 1763. And musings from Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly about covering the estimated $250,000 annual operating cost through business sponsorships have alarmed those worried about the commercialization of public space.

"It's a glorious sweet spot in the city," said Katie Campbell, who is trying to rally support for keeping the oval a temporary structure. "This is all [the Common]we have left and I think it's a shame not to protect it."

The Common, which once stretched across much of downtown Halifax, has been whittled away over the centuries. It now comprises two oddly shaped patches of green space, and critics of the oval estimate that its footprint, along with support equipment and fence, would take about 20 per cent of what is left.

Ms. Campbell's petition at http://tinyurl.com/2apachj has received little publicity and only a handful of signatures. But she wanted to make sure opposing voices are heard and is hoping local politicians will base their decision on more than duelling petitions.

Mr. Kelly said no decision has been made but is enthusiastic about the prospect of a permanent oval.

"When you're in the open air, it does bring that sense of community," he said. "People are connecting with each other. Neighbours are talking to neighbours. It has certainly captured the imagination of the public. It's a venue certainly they are drawn to and want to see maintained."

He said that a concrete ring, replacing the current sand base, could be used in warmer months for in-line skating. The infield could be used for volleyball or as a play area for children.

Mr. Kelly tempers his enthusiasm with acknowledgment that the oval's operating costs would be high. One possibility is to have advertising under the ice and on the fence, he said, a prospect that has alarmed the lobby group Friends of the Halifax Common.

"It's a public space and I don't know the extent to which you sell off your public space," said co-chair Beverly Miller, who is concerned private partners would take an increasingly dominant role.

Ms. Miller said the crowds at the oval may be a result of its novelty and temporary nature. And she's worried that if the numbers drop, the facility might cease to be free. Or that council would approve further commercial activity to raise money.

"Would you put advertising in Point Pleasant Park, in the Public Gardens," she asked. "It's a value question. To what extent do you turn your public facilities over to the private sector?"

The questions have resonance across the country, where a number of cities work to balance priorities for iconic green spaces. Spokespeople for Mount Royal's Les Amis de la Montagne, in Montreal, and Stanley Park in Vancouver said commercial activity is strictly controlled and weighed against the broader philosophical goals of protection. In neither park is advertising allowed, they said.

Jeff White, who runs a Halifax marketing company and helped establish the pro-oval website, acknowledged that people are "inundated" with commercial pitches. But he thinks the opportunity here is too great not to look for creative ways to finance a permanent facility.

"It's the right place and the right time for it," he said. "It seems like a really equalizing thing. You see people from all over the city, and other than a girl I saw falling, it seems to be nothing but smiles."