City Officials to Idiots: Stay Off Frozen Lakes and Ponds
The frozen lakes and ponds around New York City may look tempting for, say, ice dancing and taking a shortcut to work, but city officials are here to remind you that they are not all that stable. In fact, after an incident in which two boys had to be rescued from the Bronx River after venturing out on to the ice, the city parks commissioner would like to strongly remind you that ice is not all that strong. That is because we live in New York City, which, for all our kvetching about the winter, is not the frozen tundra that, say, Chicago is right now.
“You are not only risking your life but the lives of the first responders as well,” Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver said at a briefing. Added Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro: “The ice may look strong, but it will not hold even a small child.”
With the weather scheduled to get very, very cold at the end of the week, and more ice no doubt on the way, that’s worth keeping in mind. That means no pick-up hockey games in the Central Park pond, please and thank you. Might we kindly and empatically suggest trying out one of the city’s ice-skating rinks? They might be a little crowded, but at least your outing won’t end with hypothermia and a fireman dragging you out of a lake.