Bloomberg announces ice-skating rink for Vannie

This time next year, families will ice skate in Van Cortlandt Park, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who announced the plan Wednesday during his State of the City address from the St. George Theatre on Staten Island.

"In the Bronx, we’ll join with the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy to do something that has been talked about for more than a decade: we’ll turn unused tennis courts into an ice-skating rink open all winter long," Mr. Bloomberg said.

The four unused courts near Broadway and West 242nd Street will become a public ice- skating rink during the winter months, according to Tony Cassino, chairman of the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy. Mr. Cassino said the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy has teamed up with the Bryant Park Corporation to help with the project since Bryant park is home of the popular Citi Pond public ice-skating rink.

"Ice skating in general has been exploding recently because its great family entertainment and it's not expensive. There are a not lot of things you can do outside with your family that are reasonably priced," Mr. Cassino said.

In an address that focused on the outer boroughs, Mr. Bloomberg also talked about new rules for livery cab drivers. He said this year the City will allow livery cabs to make on-street pickups outside of Manhattan.

“Why shouldn’t someone in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, or Staten Island be able to hail a legal cab on the street? 97 percent of yellow cab pick-ups happen in Manhattan or at the airports – even though 80 percent of New Yorkers live outside of Manhattan," he said.

Despite Mr. Bloomberg's attempt at extending his hand beyond Manhattan, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said he was disappointed with the address.

“It is unfortunate that Mayor Bloomberg hardly mentioned the Bronx in his speech, and that when he did so failed to mention any of the major projects that our borough needs his support on. Of particular note is the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, perhaps our borough’s largest economic engine, which we are actively trying to keep in our borough in the face of an uncooperative administration," Mr. Diaz said in a press release.

Mr. Diaz also said he was disappointed that the mayor did not speak frankly about the performance of the Department of Education and instead congratulated himself on what the mayor considers 'enormous progress."

Despite his criticisms, Mr. Diaz’s press release praised new rules for livery cab drivers.