The Labor Parks Planning & Housing Committee (LPPH) of the Westchester County Board of Legislators (BOL) will resume Playland-related Tuesday morning meetings at 9:30 this morning after a hiatus following Rob Astorino's announcement last month that the SPI deal was...well...*sort of* dead (is it really? Has that contract actually been dissolved? NOPE!)
Today's agenda includes discussion about repairing the broken street lights on Playland Parkway (long overdue), upping the marketing budget by $200k (not enough by any stretch of the imagination and really too late at this point in the summer to do any good THIS season, but if an increase of any type stays in place it can only be a move in the right direction - they *should* be asking for a $500k increase minimum, but Playland will take what it can get, I'm sure at this point) annnndddd.....
A discussion of Playland's numbers to date this season.
Below is a link to the Agenda Packet for today's meeting which includes a printout submitted to Committee outlining revenue and attendance numbers at the Park so far this season.
I'm no finance master, I can barely balance my own checkbook, so reading financial print outs of any type is not my forte, but I perused this enough to understand that this year's numbers in both attendance and revenue - while no where near where *I'D* personally like to see them - are indeed SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER than last year.
This does not tell the County Executive's (and SPI's) story of a failing park that nobody goes to anymore. This tells the story of a Park struggling against all odds with essentially no financial support at all from the entity charged with caring for it (Westchester County,) that is so well loved and still such a sought out attraction that it can still pull improved numbers out if it's arse, even when NO IMPROVEMENTS have been made to the Park.
Just imagine how much better those numbers could be if the County would do the right thing and take care of the place.
Here's one of those instances where I'll gladly let Playland speak for itself (scroll to page 9 or 10 of the Agenda Packet):
PLAYLAND'S ATTENDANCE AND REVENUE FOR 2014 SEASON THRU END OF JUNE
If you'd like to watch the meeting live or view the video at a later time, you can click on the link below. As the time draws nearer for the meeting's start (9:30am) a link saying "video" will appear next to "agenda packet" and you can click on that to watch.
Find out what's happening in Ryewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
If you would like to attend in person these meetings are open to the Pubilc but only as an observer. No public comments or questions are allowed for the Committee meetings.
Find out what's happening in Ryewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
They take place on the 8th floor of the County Office Building at 148 Martine Ave. in White Plains (corner of Martine & Court, door is actually on Court St.) Bring photo ID to get through Security in the Lobby.
Oh - and in case you didn't notice, they put the "AMUSEMENT PARK" back on the Playland entrance sign...where it belongs.
