If you haven’t been following what our Westchester Super Majority has been up to, let me give you a quick glance: They have removed the entrance fee (which they had previously supported). THIS move alone has put us further into debt. Currently we run Playland at a deficit of somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-5 MILLION.
So, realizing now they need to recoup this money from somewhere - where do you think they propose to make up that money?
They now are talking about doing away with the FIREWORKS SHOW. You can’t make this stuff up if you tried. If anything, the fireworks show is a big draw. Common Sense is lost here. As evidence I’ll quote BOL Chairman Ken Jenkins “Instead of trying to undermine Playland and price out working families from summer fun here in their backyard, we would hope the County Executive and Republican legislators would work with us to ensure the success of this important County asset.”
Did you catch the important word? ‘SUCCESS’. According to Legislator Testa, the evening with fireworks boasts a 15 percent INCREASE for visitors. I’d call that a Success!
Legislator Harckham too chimed in with “If the County Executive faces the facts and looks at the right numbers, he’ll agree. I just wish he’d do the right thing for the people of Westchester in this regard”.
In my book Success = 15 % increase = doing the right thing for the people of Westchester. Not in Jenkins and Harckham’s book however – they want to take the ‘successful nights’ away. Talk about speaking out of both sides of one’s mouth! Read it for yourself here:
But it gets worse.
To add insult to injury, they want to vote Monday evening to give the ‘prime real estate’ of the Playland, the bath houses, to the Westchester Children’s Museum for $1 for a 10 year period. On Thursday I wrote all about this one however, if you missed it here you go:
This Monday, June 20th our Westchester County Board of Legislators is planning on voting/approving a plan to allow the Westchester Children’s Museum to take over a prime piece of real estate at Playland – the Bath Houses. (Just so you know - you paid to have them redone to the tune of some $7-$9 million dollars and it turns out they're still not done and the contractor didn't live up to his expectations but I digress). This stems from a verbal deal made with the museum under Mr. Spano, which will allow the museum to pay rent of $1 for the piece of property for 10 years.
The issue is not the museum, how could anyone say no to a children's museum. The issue is that Mr. Astorino has a group, as I write; reviewing the winning 12 RFP’s for Playland. They have a target date of the first week of July to report back to Astorino on what the group deems the best fit for the Park and We, the taxpayers.
What is the rush? Why can’t the Super Majority wait to see what the focus group comes up with? Perhaps the winning RFP will not even include the Bath Houses. Perhaps there’s a better location for the museum.
PLEASE email your legislators right now http://westchesterlegislators.com/legislators.html and tell them to table the vote before it’s too late. (To date the museum has been sending their own letters flooding the legislators with a 'vote yes) Not one 'vote no' has been received.
The last thing Westchester County needs is another hastily made decision. Let’s wait to get some Factual information into our hands that will lead us to make an informed decision on the best use of this county property.
It is with great hope that you have either called or emailed your Legislator with regard to their Playland/Children’s Museum vote on Monday. If you haven’t there’s still time. Let them know that you are expecting them to vote NO or to at least table the vote until after County Executive Astorino’s Playland Task Force finishes up the first week of July.
Now, I need one more thing. I need YOU to attend the BOL Public Hearing with me on Monday evening at 7:30pm. This Super Majority needs to know their recklessness is over. We’re watching and we do not like what we are seeing. It’s up to you for as they say – government goes to those that show up.
Some may say, what’s the point or does this really even matter? Let me answer that quickly. EVERYTHING MATTERS when we’re speaking about taxes and how OUR money is spent. EVERYTHING matters when we’re speaking about a runaway government not acting within OUR best interests.
It’s very easy to sit in front of a computer and forward emails – it’s much harder to take the issues to those that make the decisions – I know. However, we need to get very serious, very quickly, if we want to be able to continue living (affording) here in Westchester - the County that WE love.
I implore you to clear you schedule for Monday evening – we must get this tabled until July.
The Westchester County Board of Legislators website has this short phrase “Voice of the People of Westchester County for Over 300 Years”. Time to make sure YOUR voice is being represented with the call for RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT.
The meeting begins at 7:30. You have to clear security and sign up to speak (if you choose to) so get there earlier. 800 Michaelian Office Building 148 Martine Avenue, 8th Floor White Plains, New York 10601 Main Tel: (914)995-2800
Thanking you in advance, looking forward to your involvement, and I’ll see YOU Monday night.
Lisa Douglas
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