(LoHud has some thoughts from the former Chairman and current Member of The Westchester Board of Legislators. Mr. Jenkins represents District 16.)
"It has been nearly four years since Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino announced a Request for Proposals regarding the revitalization of Playland, Westchester's 280-acre recreation and amusement park. At the time, the Westchester County Board of Legislators pointed out, under the County Charter, the county executive's choice would be a recommendation to the legislative board, not a formal selection.
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However, the Astorino administration kept the process out of the public eye, and more importantly, away from the elected Legislature, after collecting 12 proposals. This is where the present mess with the County Executive's Playland revitalization plans all started.
The Astorino administration evaluated the RFPs behind closed doors, and instead of attempting to work with the Board of Legislators and sharing his vision with the public, Astorino acted unilaterally by "selecting" a group, Sustainable Playland, Inc., to "reinvent" the park.
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Another year passed while the two parties refined the agreement that would be signed before publicly presenting it to the Board of Legislators. (Gone was the $4 million that SPI would give to the county upon signing the agreement.)
Meanwhile, no improvements were made to the park, the marketing plan was kept stagnant, plans for a Children's Museum at Playland (underway for a decade) were thwarted, and repairs to the Ice Casino (now closed for almost three years) and the Boardwalk proceeded at a snail's pace.
Plan faces problems
In trying to defend their recent decision to suspend participation in the Board of Legislators' review process of their Playland Improvement Plan, executives from SPI claimed to have spent $600,000 so far in their revitalization efforts.
But why would SPI spend any money on since the agreement was in question from the date of announcement?
In this "management" agreement, which I have challenged in court, SPI basically takes over the role of the former Playland Commission. That plan faces problems:
• The Playland Commission was authorized by the New York State Legislature, but the Board of Legislators (in Republican control at the time) allowed this authorization to expire back in the 1990s. Now, SPI cannot become a "new" Playland Commission without state legislative approval after a home rule request by the Board of Legislators.
• Constructing the 82,000-square-foot Field House that SPI envisions for Playland requires another state-controlled process to alienate the parkland. It doesn't matter if the present space is a parking lot, or if the size of the Field House has been reduced because of public outcry.
County in the parks business
Can County Executive Astorino still save face and salvage some semblance of having been behind Playland's revitalization? Certainly.
First, Westchester County should directly contract with the amusement operator proposed by the Astorino administration last summer. Central Amusements International, one of the four original RFP finalists chosen by County Executive Astorino and brought into help SPI, runs Luna Park at Coney Island, and they are ready to invest over $25 million in Playland.
Moreover, the Westchester County Parks Department knows how to execute contracts — see its willingness to partner with the New York Knicks and MSG for D-League basketball at the County Center and all the existing contracts at Playland. The county is not getting out of the parks business (running six golf courses and numerous pools) so there's no need for a middleman.
What about SPI? Those well-intentioned volunteers can continue to work with the existing Friends of the Park group and help raise money and awareness for all the county parks, proving their interest in helping parks in Westchester, not just the one that happens to be in their back yard.
Instead of conducting more of the people's business behind closed doors, County Executive Astorino should propose entering into a contract with CAI to manage Playland for a 10-year period using the RFP as a template. This could have been done last year, and a lot of unnecessary conflict surrounding Playland's revitalization could have been avoided.
Handing Playland over to SPI was a bad decision from the start. It's time to clean the slate and start anew with planning for Playland's future."
The writer is former chairman and current member of the Westchester Board of Legislators. The Yonkers Democrat represents District 16.
