Keep Rye Playland a Public Park: Petition

A petition to stop Westchester County from agreeing to a contract for a private company to run Rye Playland has been posted on change.org.

Organizers of Friends of Playland said the deal being considered with Standard Amusements is “disastrous” and should not be entered into.

From the Friends of Playland website:

APRIL 8, 2016: CALL TO ACTION! Please read and sign the following petition to keep Playland PUBLICLY operated!

The County Executive is now in YEAR SEVEN of his attempts to privatize management of this beloved public park. The current deal he has worked out with Standard Amusements/United Parks (the fatally flawed 'Sustainable Playland' was finally canned in June 2014) will require Westchester County Taxpayers to put tens of millions of dollars ($30-$60 Million) into the Park for long-deferred and vitally necessary Capital Improvements projects, while handing the park over to a start-up company based in a hedge fund for management.

After Standard Amusements/United Parks recoup their own $30 Million "investment" over 90% of any subsequent profits will go to the PRIVATE OPERATOR - NOT back into County coffers to reimburse the Taxpayers for their far more substantial monetary investment. This is a terribly flawed plan to bring in a private operator that is a start up company and has no experience running Amusement Parks with only two other recently acquired water parks comprising their portfolio.

This deal will not only NOT take the financial responsibility of Playland off County Taxpayers' plates, it's going to literally take County Taxpayers to the cleaners. Standard Amusements/United Parks were supposed to sign the contract on Oct. 31, 2015. At that time they asked for and received an extension until March 31, 2016, because they are not prepared to take over management and have yet to even submit any "plan" to the County as to what changes they expect to make to the Park. In March 2016 they were granted yet another extension until April 29, 2016.

The Contract and the Capital Improvements Projects list are currently under review by the Westchester County Board of Legislators, and need their approval to pass a vote. Drastic changes were made to the contract since the BOL originally approved it on June 15, 2015, not the least of which being that it is now a THIRTY YEAR CONTRACT. Please sign this petition and let County Executive Rob Astorino and all 17 members of the BOL know that you do NOT want them to sign this contract and enter Westchester County into this disastrous deal with Standard Amusements/United Parks.

The petition asks for the county to immediately abandon the current proposal to privatize the management of the public park, citing what it calls a financially lopsided agreement that would allegedly only benefit Standard Amusements.

It also asks the county to come up with a long-term plan for management of the public asset and that the county retain full control and management of the park.

To read the entire petition, go here.

The county had been considering putting $58 million of taxpayer money into 11 construction projects under the Standard Amusements agreement.

Legislators received a revised list Friday, according to lohud.com, that got rid of $9.1 million of decorative work and another $3.9 million of a proposed parking lot project.

All together, lohud.com said the dollar amount of the park fixes have been reduced to $32 million.

For the complete lohud.com article, which includes details on other reductions, go here.