PLAYLAND'S PUBLIC SWIMMING POOL: BUH-BYE!

Well, as I’ve predicted for some time now, the death knell for the Public swimming Pool at Playland is upon us. Like, it starts ringing at 10am this morning and the funeral march begins…via the BOL Committee meeting to review a Bond Act Request for the Pool from Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino.

The County Executive is requesting $2.7+ Mil for the Playland Pool. That sounds great until you understand that this is not nearly enough money to RESTORE the Pool and the pool area, but rather the amount that will be needed to fill it in and eliminate it from existence. Be very very clear…this is NOT going to HELP the Pool, this is going to KILL THE POOL. And it’s paving the way for something I’m quite sure Rye doesn’t want there. (Get your lawn signs ready...)

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Meeting jointly with the Committees on Infrastructure and Budget and Appropriations

1. (ID # 9422) Act – CBA-RP052-Playland Pool Site Work:

An ACT amending the 2016 County Capital Budget Appropriations for Capital Project RP052-

Playland Pool Site Work.

2. (ID # 9423) Act – BOND ACT-RP052-Playland Pool Site Work:

A BOND ACT authorizing the issuance of TWO MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED SIXTY THOUSAND

($2,760,000) DOLLARS in bonds of the County to finance Capital Project RP052-Playland

Pool Site Work.

Prior to voting back on May 2nd, 2016 to pass the contract/deal with Standard Amusements to run Playland, the Westchester County BOL (Board of Legislators) managed to put the discussion about what to do with the Pool off so that they could vote “Yes” on the contract without having to factor our public Pool into the picture. At a meeting with Standard a few weeks prior, Standard clearly stipulated to the BOL Committee members reviewing the deal that they had changed wording of the contract to require the County to notify them no later than July 31, 2016 whether the Pool was to stay or to go.

“Whether the Pool was to stay or to go?” you ask…YES. Standard Amusements has no interest in running a public amenity like a swimming pool. They never did. Public pools do not turn a profit, so Standard cannot make any money off of it. And remember, they are (supposedly) backed by a bunch of hedge fund investors (that’s getting shadier by the day) who want to MAKE MONEY and LOTS OF IT. For at least the last year it’s been known that Standard would prefer to eliminate the Pool and pave that whole thing over for some sort of dining facility – most likely a year round, private use/private profit catering hall. Yup…there ya’ go Rye neighbors. AGAIN you weren’t paying attention and this is going to be your newest version of a 95,000 sq. foot sports facility just yards from your homes. You were so worried about the new sign out front you missed what’s been going down for the past year. You thought the Tiki Bar noise in the SUMMER was bad…just wait ‘til you see what Standard Amusements/United Parks has in store for you!

So, of course, as always with Rob Astorino, Kevin Plunkett and their crew, timing is everything. This was calculatedly presented to the BOL on June 20th for a reason: No one will be paying attention. It’s very simple. They are trying to put on a squeeze job and push this travesty through under the radar without anyone noticing.

They SHOULD have presented this money request back in May at the same time they asked for all the other monies for improvements at Playland. But they delayed it on purpose. Why?

1) There isn’t really enough time for a careful review of the request between now and July 31st and they know it. The BOL members are all starting their summer vacations, just like everyone else. Throw in the July 4th holiday weekend this week – people already made plans long ago not to be around. It will be hard for Committees to meet with enough members attending to have a quorum to vote on anything, and there’s only one more BOL meeting scheduled between now and July 31st (that is on docket for July 18th). BOL Chairman Mike Kaplowitz (D) is solidly in Astorino’s pocket and can (and no doubt will) essentially push this through the BOL, as he has so shamelessly done in the past with everything else regarding this horrible Playland contract.

2) There isn’t enough time FOR THE PUBLIC to be made aware and have a backlash reaction. Because, like BOL members, everyone’s kids just got out of school last week, July 4th is this weekend and everyone’s heading out of town. NO ONE IS PAYING ATTENTION. They aren’t going to have any public hearings on this or give the Public time to weigh in and voice any opposition to this move and make no mistake about it…THAT IS INTENTIONAL. I have learned over and over and over..THAT’S HOW ROB ASTORINO WORKS.

“NOW WHAT” you ask…

On Monday June 20th, 2016 County Executive Astorino sent the Bond Act Request to the Board of Legislators. The next step was for them to decide how to handle the request. They apparently voted to move it into Committee (the other choices I believe are essentially to ignore it and do nothing or “over” it and hold off on doing anything until the next meeting). So…it was “moved to Committee” for review. It then has to be discussed, and then the Committees have to vote it OUT of Committee and back to the floor for a full vote by all 17 BOL members at a general bi-weekly Monday night BOL meeting. The next full BOL mtg is July 18th. According to Legislator Jim Maisano it needs 12 votes to pass.

There are three committees that have to review and pass it to floor:

· Budget & Appropriations chaired by Sheila Marcotte (R)

· Infrastructure chaired by MaryJane Shimsky (D)

· LPPH (Labor, Parks, Planning & Housing) chaired by David Gelfarb (R)

Those three Committees are meeting jointly at 10am this morning, Monday June 27, 2016. Budget & Infrastructure have other items on their agendas, LPPH does not. It’s hard to know at what point after 10am the Playland Pool discussion will come up.

These committee meetings are open to Public attendance, although you are not allowed to comment or ask questions, you are only allowed to observe. They take place on the 8th floor of the Westchester County Michaelian Office Building at 148 Martine Ave. (corner of Court St. & Martine, right across from Macy’s/Galleria corner). The building entrance is actually located on Court Street. You must go through a security check in the lobby before proceeding to 8th floor, so bring photo ID.

If you cannot attend in person, you can either watch it in real-time live stream video feed over the internet, or view it later at your convenience online. The link to the meeting videos is below. Because it is a joint meeting between three different committees we never know until it starts under which committee the video link will be placed (it won’t be under all three). So, if you don’t see it under “LPPH”, it should either be under Budget or Infrastructure. There is a pull-down menu at the top left of the page with the list of different committees. Click on the committee you want, click on the meeting date that comes up in the menu for June 27 2016, and next to “agenda” and “agenda packet” when it’s time for the meeting there will be a “video” button that will pop up. You can click on that to view the meeting.

http://westchestercountyny.iqm2.com/Citizens/default.aspx

What can you do? You can contact your Westchester County Legislators and County Executive's office, and you can SIGN THE PETITION to stop this privatization insanity

Petition:

https://www.change.org/p/westchester-county-executive-robert-p-astorino-keep-rye-playland-public

To contact your own Westchester County Legislator click this link:

http://www.westchesterlegislators.com/

To contact Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and Deputy County Executive Kevin Plunkett, click this link:

http://www3.westchestergov.com/contact-us

For timely updates on this on-going issue, like and follow the Friends Of Playland page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfPlayland/