As the clock ticks down, Westchester County legislators and other elected officials continue to draw hard stances against an agreement between the management company Standard Amusements and the county that would cede control of Rye Playland.
On Thursday, April 21, county Legislator Catherine Parker, a Rye Democrat who has been critical of the latest agreement with Standard, revealed that she will be voting against the deal if it remains unchanged by its May 2 deadline.
While her peers have also relayed their skepticism, Parker said that some officials—particularly Republican legislators— have felt pressure from administration officials of Republican County Executive Rob Astorino, who initially announced a deal with Standard in 2015, to vote in favor of the agreement.
“I’m certainly talking to my colleagues to get them to see this for the nonsense that it is,” she said, adding that she was reticent to forecast how the vote may unfold to the Review.
County Democrats have also indicated that, despite the deal’s flaws, an up or down vote is imminent.
“It’s not an ideal agreement, but then again we’re not in an ideal situation,” said county Legislator Mary Jane Shimsky, a Hastings-on-Hudson Democrat. “The park was let go for too long; the buildings are in bad shape; the rides are in bad shape…. If things stand the way they are right now, I will be voting for [Standard].”
Among Parker’s chief concerns with the agreement, however, is a hefty $32 million in county-funded capital projects, which she fears would put a heavy burden on taxpayers, but also what she characterizes as a concerning profit-sharing arrangement.
“When I asked Standard during the [parks] committee meeting what the estimate for their profit would be during those first 10 years [of the agreement], their answer couldn’t have been clearer,” said Parker in a released statement. “They don’t expect to see a profit.”
Astorino’s administration, however, has continued to assert that the deal is a wise one for both taxpayers and the future of Playland.
“The public-private partnership agreement with Standard Amusements will invest into the park about $30 million in private money by Standard Amusements, and is the best opportunity to save Playland,” said Ned McCormack, communications director for the Astorino administration.
Currently, the agreement as it stands would last for 30 years and would initiate profit-sharing, only after Standard recoups its initial $27 million investment.
After that money is recouped, the county’s profit share would rise incrementally from 8 percent to 12 percent over the course of 30 years.
County legislators aren’t the only ones voicing their concern with the agreement, however. Democratic councilman of the town of Mamaroneck, Tom Murphy, has also publically announced his concern for aspects of the deal.
“I’m not opposed to spending money to fix Playland,” he told the Review. “But I don’t believe we should have taxpayers’ money subsidizing a corporation who will reap all the profits.”
At a public hearing put together by Parker regarding the agreement held on Tuesday, April 26 at Rye City Hall, residents were also given the chance to address their sentiments on the agreement. During the hearing, more than two dozen Rye and Westchester County residents shared their concerns with the deal. Also in attendance were county legislators Parker, Shimsky, Ken Jenkins, a Yonkers Democrat, and Lydon Williams, a Mount Vernon Democrat, as well as Rye City councilwomen Julie Killian, a Republican and candidate for state Senate, and Emily Hurd and Danielle Tagger-Epstein, both Democrats.
While most attendees, like Rye resident Dina Goren, decried the agreement’s lack of benefit to the county and taxpayers, others like Rye resident Ken Ball showed support for the deal.
“If we want to keep an amusement park we’ve got to be prepared to pay for it,” Ball said. “And, if so, I believe the Standard arrangement will be a very good arrangement.”
After the repeated postponement of the agreement’s deadline, which was set back twice after different iterations were introduced, Parker said that she expects herself and the rest of her colleagues on the Board of Legislators to take a final vote on the acceptance of the agreement by May 2.
Rye City Mayor Joe Sack and Jenkins could not be reached for comment as of press time.
