We write as a broad and diverse group of Greenwich residents — including high school and youth hockey coaches, parents, PTA leaders, community advocates, Hamill Rink Task Force members, RTM members and neighbors – united by a shared purpose: ensuring that our town follows through on the long-planned replacement of the Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink and the restoration of Morlot Park.
Today, the RTM will consider a motion to effectively cut funding from $41 million to $2.7 million. That proposal should be rejected.
A recent letter opposing full funding frames this as a reasonable delay. It is not. It is the latest version of the same arguments that have been used for years to stall this project. Many of the signatories of that letter have opposed it at every stage — and several are currently challenging its Municipal Improvement status. That is not a path to building moving forward, it is a path to stopping the project altogether. As much as they may not want to be seen as fighting this project, they cannot claim to support this project while simultaneously trying to stop it.
The Town did exactly what was asked when this project was sent back to the drawing board in 2025. A new Task Force evaluated more than 200 sites and alternatives through a fully public, transparent process. The result was an improved plan, developed with extensive community input, as well as P&Z wanting a complete site design, that has since been approved unanimously at every level — including Planning & Zoning (5–0), the BET (12–0), and the Board of Selectman (3–0).
It is a testament to the hard work put in by so many people that our town has improved its capital planning process and gone through this process for over a year, and now that process must lead to action.
Last year’s elections made clear that our elected representatives and residents want a better capital planning process — one that is thoughtful, long-term, and not subject to endless, piecemeal delays. Cutting construction funding now, or pushing this into another approval cycle, is exactly the approach our leaders and voters rejected. It will delay the project, increase costs, jeopardize donor support, and send this town backward.
Support for this project comes from the families and children who rely on this rink and park every day — including the Hamilton Avenue, New Lebanon, and Western Middle School PTAs, the Byram Archibald Neighborhood Center (BANC) Raiders, Greenwich High School hockey players, and Cardinals Youth Hockey. Support has also come from other community groups – the District 4 RTM meeting last week was flooded with supporters (who then watched the District 4 RTM delegation reject funding cuts in a decisive 10-5 vote), and local baseball and family organizations have also supported the project. These are the programs and organizations that will be affected. As has been noted previously, neither GHS hockey nor Cardinals Youth Hockey will survive without a functioning rink.
Public input has been overwhelming and consistent. Support has far outpaced opposition, which has largely come from the same small, consistent group which is now asking the RTM to cut funding (while simultaneously asking the RTM to remove MI status from the project, again sending it back to the drawing board and probably scuttling it forever).
We respect their right to be heard. But the outcome should reflect the full community — not a determined but isolated few.
The RTM now faces a simple choice: move this project forward, or send it back into years of delay and uncertainty and possibly end it. For the sake of our community — and especially our kids — we urge the RTM to approve the full budget without cuts or conditions and to affirm the Municipal Improvement status already granted.
Signed by:
• Javier Aleman – Hamill Rink Task Force; RTM Energy Management Advisory Committee (EMAC); District 4
• Seth Bacon – RTM; District 4
• Steph Cowie – Secretary, Hamill Rink Task Force; RTM ADA Advisory & Advocacy Committee (AAAC); District 8
• Quentin Ball – Executive Committee, New Lebanon School PTA; Byram Families for Hamill Rink (“BFHR”); District 4
• Alice Gleason – Secretary, New Lebanon School PTA; BFHR; District 4
• Eric LaRosee – Vice Chair, Byram Neighborhood Association; BFHR; District 4
• Johna Kalandranis – former Co-President, New Lebanon School PTA; BFHR; District 4
• Liz Rutledge – President, New Lebanon School PTA; BFHR; District 4
• Jack Duffy – Former GHS Varsity Hockey Coach; District 5
• John Black – Former President of BANC Raiders Football; Current President of the Byram Archibald Neighborhood Center Trust; District 4
• Rick Feinstein – Coach & Board Member, Greenwich Cardinals Youth Hockey (“GCYHA”); District 8
• Florence Nalepka – Board Member, BANC Raiders Football; District 4
• Jeff Natale – President & Coach, Cos Cob Crushers Football; Coach, Greenwich Nationals Baseball; District 8
• Neal Rich – Coach, Program Director and Skill Development Director, GCYHA; District 4
• Joe Rothenberg – Board Member, GCYHA; District 11
• Kenny Turano – Coach, GCYHA; District 8
• Alan Yantorno – Coach, GCYHA; District 11
• Ali Cornelius Yantorno – Board Member, GCYHA; President, Banksville Community House; District 11
• Erin Capozza – BFHR; District 4
• Brett Fagan – BFHR; District 4
• Devon Kelly – District 12
• Clare Kilgallen – District 4
• Kelli & Jack Lannaman – District 5
• Hillary LaRosee – BFHR; District 4
• Ashley Longo – District 4
• Lindsey Corbetta Natale – District 8
• Tina & Dan Romanello – BFHR; District 4
• Peter Simpson – District 5
