Ed Snider rescues rinks

Flyers Chairman Ed Snider will use his youth-hockey foundation to run three city ice rinks that were targets for closure under Mayor Nutter's budget cuts.

Snider and Nutter announced yesterday that the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation will run programming and operations at Scanlon Ice Rink, in Kensington; the Laura Sims Skatehouse, in Cobbs Creek Park, and the rink at Simons Community Recreation Center/Youth Access and Teen Center, in West Oak Lane.

The foundation will provide free equipment and instruction to kids at the rinks. Nutter spokeswoman Maura Kennedy said that the move will save the city $150,000 annually.

The city Recreation Department will continue to maintain the rinks.

There will be no layoffs due to the management change because most employees were seasonal and had not been hired yet for this year, Kennedy said. *

- Catherine Lucey