News That Rink Will Stay Open Ranks a ‘10’ : Skating: A two-month campaign succeeds in keeping the Pickwick Ice Arena open.

A jubilant crowd of skaters and coaches applauded and cheered Thursday as the operators of Burbank’s landmark Pickwick Ice Arena announced that the nationally recognized training venue for Olympic athletes will remain open.

General Manager Frank Silvio said a well-organized campaign by skating enthusiasts weighed heavily in the decision by rink owners Walter and Edward Stavert not to close the 29-year-old rink as planned Sept. 30.

Nearly 300 letters were sent to the Staverts during the two-month Save the Ice campaign to save the arena, which is one of the few Olympic-sized rinks in Southern California.

The campaign also included two outdoor rallies featuring appearances by Olympic skaters.

Silvio said the Staverts were unaware of just how important the rink is to its 2,000 or so regular patrons when they decided in January to close the arena because of high operating costs.

“We didn’t think of it as an institution,” Silvio said of the rink, home of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club.

The club is one of the most competitive in the nation and has trained such Olympic skating stars as Linda Fratianne, Christopher Bowman and Tiffany Chin.

Chin, who was practicing routines on the ice Thursday, described the rink as a second home. “It would have been a real pity if it had closed,” said Chin, who placed fourth in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

The Staverts announced June 25 that they were closing the arena, which needs between $500,000 and $1 million in repairs, in order to find more profitable uses for the site.

Since then, skating enthusiasts have rallied to save the arena.

Many of those who vowed to fight the closure gathered Thursday to hear the announcement. Silvio’s brief statement was twice interrupted by cheers from about 40 skating enthusiasts.

“This just shows if people band together they can make a difference,” skating instructor Russell Sessions said.

Silvio said Thursday that the rink will be refurbished. Admission prices will increase, but he declined to say by how much.

He said the renovation of the rink will be part of a larger reorganization of the Pickwick Banquet & Entertainment Center, which includes a bowling alley and banquet rooms. Silvio would not discuss details.

Many at the rink said rumors had circulated for the last two weeks that the Staverts would reverse their decision to close the facility.

The Staverts, who have declined comment all along, began reconsidering the closure in July, when they called in a contractor to inspect the building’s leaking roof and entered into talks with Burbank officials about city involvement in keeping the rink open.

On Thursday, Silvio called on the city to encourage use of the rink as part of its recreation programs.

City Manager Robert R. (Bud) Ovrom agreed that the city will help to promote the rink through its regular mailings and video newsletter.

“The city of Burbank has probably taken too much for granted the tremendous family recreational opportunities your facilities provide to our citizens,” Ovrom said in a letter to Edward Stavert.

Several skating instructors also said they will help promote the rink and work to develop new programs.

Instructor Aimee Kravette said the threat of closure served as a rallying point for many of the various groups using the rink. Hockey players, speed skaters and figure skaters all joined in the effort to save the facility.

Several ice rinks in Southern California have closed in recent years.

When asked Thursday how long the rink would remain open, Silvio responded, “As long as we live.”

“May they live a very, very, very long time,” said John Halebian, chairman of the hastily organized Save the Ice Committee.