By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Participants of a Harlem figure skating program say they're getting shut out of the ice at Riverbank State Park because league sports and private schools are taking over, prompting a demonstration outside the ice rink Sunday.
Organizers from the nonprofit program Figure Skating in Harlem complain the state park has allotted most of its peak hour ice time to private schools and the co-ed Riverbank Youth Ice Hockey league.
"I've asked for additional ice every year, and every year I've been turned down," said Sharon Cohen, executive director of the program, which serves girls between the ages of six and 18.
The 130 girls from the program have to share four and a half hours of practice time between the hours of 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Cohen said the limited time has forced her to turn away at least 100 girls a year.
But administrators with the park said that they have to distribute time on the ice fairly between community programs like Figure Skating in Harlem, private users, which include Columbia University's Women's Hockey Team, and the public.
"There's one ice rink there, there are only so many hours in the day and there are only so many hours after school" said Dan Keese, a spokesman with New York State Parks.
"It's an extremely limited resource," Keese said, adding that Figure Skating in Harlem gets more ice time than the private schools combined.
Officials defended their treatment of the Harlem program, saying they offered the figure skaters more morning hours but that their proposal was turned down.
Cohen argued that the cost of hiring security guards for the morning skate — at a cost of approximately $400 an hour for the guard alone — would be cost-prohibitive.
"I didn't think it was a genuine offer," she said.
Cohen said the program currently pays $400 for every hour and a half of ice time and that her program serves the children the park was intended for, unlike private leagues that may use the ice.
For their part, state officials maintained that the Harlem program, which also has 13 hours of classroom time per week at the park, access to the Riverbank Hockey League and received more ice hours five years ago, already enjoys many benefits.
"Any fair-minded person would see that we are certainly upholding our mission to serving the community," Keese said.
The ice rink closes in March and won't reopen until next November. There are currently no new plans to revise Figure Skating in Harlem's ice hours, he said.
"The next step is the ice melts," he said.
