The Fort Dupont Ice Arena has been a part of the Southeast DC community since 1976. It helps make hockey accessible for everyone through events like Gonzaga High School’s Purple Puck Tournament every Christmas, and programs like Kids-On-Ice which teaches children how to skate for free.

Funds promised to the rink by DC government for repairs and the addition of a second sheet of ice are now in jeopardy. In January, Mayor Bowser formally requested to shift the funds promised to Fort Dupont to a different use. Caps owner Ted Leonsis voiced his displeasure with the potential reallocation on Twitter, Friday.

Ft. Dupont is a community treasure and a critical facility for young skaters. We hope funding can be restored for this rink that offers free figure skating, hockey and skating lessons and is the only public indoor ice arena in Washington. #FTDUPONT

— Ted Leonsis (@TedLeonsis) February 1, 2019

The Capitals have donated over $200,000 to Fort Dupont and held clinics with their Teammates for Kids foundation.

Leonsis is a long time supporter of Fort Dupont, honoring the Fort Dupont Cannons with a ceremonial puck drop last season, and he and Alex Ovechkin brought the Stanley Cup to the rink over the summer.

Fort Dupont has a $20.4 million plan in place with the Department of General Services to create a two-rink facility since 2014. The facility would be next to the current rink at Ely Place. The Friends of Fort Dupont Ice Arena committed to raising $5 million while the DC government would contribute $15.4 million.

The Friends of FDIA has requested donations for their $5 million from “potential donors including Monumental Sports, the Washington Capitals, UnderArmour, and others,” according to an email sent to donors on January 18.

Since that initial contract, cost estimates skyrocketed to $38 million, including $25 million from the Department of General Services. According to a press release from the Friends of Fort Dupont, this is due to mismanagement from the Department of Parks and Recreation which incorrectly assessed the facility’s needs.

The plan came under fire this week when Mayor Muriel Bowser submitted a $54 million reprogramming request on January 25, which would shunt $21 million from the Fort Dupont renovation to fixing issues in DC Public Schools. “The reprogramming is necessary to fund critical maintenance issues across DCPS and DPR facilities,” the request states. “These facilities, across all eight wards, have urgent maintenance, flooding, heating, and cooling issues that must be addressed with small, focused capital investments.”

The critical point of the reprogramming request states that “no projects will be negatively impacted as a result of reprogramming. All reprogrammed projects are either complete, deprioritized or will be proposed for new funding in the FY 2020-2025 Capital Improvements Plan.”

.@MayorBowser has asked the D.C. Council to allow her to take $54.9 million from a number of projects in the capital budget to do immediate fixes on DPR buildings and a number of schools. Biggest expense is $37 million for HVAC replacements at some schools. But…

— Martin Austermuhle (@maustermuhle) January 31, 2019

Almost half of the $54.9 million she's asking for would come from the budget for significant upgrades to the Fort Dupont Ice Arena ($21 million from that) in Ward 7. That's prompted a campaign to ask her to reconsider: https://t.co/lfm7ZMa3yH

— Martin Austermuhle (@maustermuhle) January 31, 2019

Those investments in DCPS are also needed. With the polar vortex dropping temperatures into the 20s and dumping snow, one classroom in Ward One was as cold as 40 degrees and kids had to be moved to libraries in order to study.

Ward 7 council member Vince Gray has filed a formal disapproval resolution that could be voted on as early as Tuesday to stop the funds from being reprogrammed from Fort Dupont.

Gray's office confirms he introduced the disapproval resolution specifically because Bowser wants to take money from the Fort Dupont Ice Arena. A spokeswoman says he is "vehemently opposed" to Bowser taking $21 million from the arena, which she says has to be expanded.

— Martin Austermuhle (@maustermuhle) January 31, 2019

The Friends of FDIA have set up a website to help users of the rink reach out to representatives in the District, and their change.org petition has over 1300 signatures. On February 2 at 10 am, Fort Dupont will hold media availability during their Kids On Ice program.

Regardless of how it happens, Fort Dupont should be funded.

Growing up, my brother played in the Purple Puck Tournament for Whitman High School. The girls’ teams I played on never played there, but my women’s team plays there when we play the Washington Wolves.

Over Christmas, I covered the Purple Puck tournament for the Washington Post because as a high school sports reporter covering hockey, the tournament is appointment viewing.

During one of the round-robin or semifinal games, a six-year-old boy and his mom came up to the glass to see what was going on. The boy was awestruck by the speed, the hitting, the goals, and the celebrations. He asked me if there were learn to skate programs at the rink.

“Yup!” I answered. “They have a website where you can sign up and learn to skate.” I told his mom about the program and they said they’d look into it. The kid then said he was drawn to this more than football and that he wanted to sign up. He and his mom returned the next day for the championship game, and the boy was glued to the glass. I will never forget how wide his eyes were taking the game in.

I don’t know if that little boy ever did sign up, but the access he had just by seeing ice hockey in his neighborhood opened his mind to the possibility that he could be one of those skaters. It’s why having a local rink was so important to me growing up.

Every kid should have the opportunity to be as excited as that little boy.

Full disclosure: RMNB hosted RMNB Party 7 at Fort Dupont and raised $2,800 for the rink along with then Capitals Troy Brouwer and Connor Carrick.

Headline photo: @Capitals