Dear Editor,

Recently I wrote a letter to express my concerns about Mayor Don Murphy’s plan to close the main arena at the Pelham Civic Complex in order to convert it into railroad museum.

April 4 at the Pelham City Council meeting, the motion to move forward with that plan was withdrawn.

I would like to thank the city council for this action, as it certainly made young athletes in the area feel at ease about their skating future. It also showed a welcome spirit of cooperation that hopefully will develop between the skating community and the city, something that has been lacking for quite some time.

From the presentation that was made, it seems that ice skating (figure skating, hockey and free skate sessions) is the biggest source of income for the Civic Complex, so the move to close one of the rinks was perplexing.

Now that that move has been stopped it is time to look for other ways to offset the losses that the Civic Complex suffers. I think when steps are taken to correct the inadequacies of the complex, the losses will not be as great, and the city can have a complex that everyone can be proud of.

Steve Bottchen

Pelham