Friends, the Westchester County Board of Legislators will vote at 7pm on Monday May 2, 2016 on whether or not to authorize the contract to hand the management of Playland over to a private hedge fund for profit, after Taxpayers have invested over $30 Million for capital improvements projects. The proposed contract will enter the County into a 30-year agreement with Standard Amusements/United Parks, a start-up entity with only two parks currently in their portfolio: Hydro Adventures in Missouri, bought by them in early 2014, and Daytona Lagoon in Florida, bought by them just this past September, 2015. They have no Amusement Parks at all in their portfolio, and absolutely no experience running any type of public park let alone an historic landmark. Out of the three principles of the company, only one has any amusement park industry experience at all. Taxpayers will invest a massive amount of money, and then watch Standard/United Parks recoup THEIR entire equal investment and proceed to collect over 90% of any profits realized off the restored Park, while taxpayers recoup essentially none of their investment. It’s likely that the public swimming pool will be eliminated and there will no longer be free admission for Westchester County residents to enter the Park - all pricing will increase for all park patrons. Further, in order to make the deal more “palatable” there was a recent adjustment to the original $58 Mil investment towards restoration projects that the County Executive’s office initially identified and that has now been cut in half…which means this deal doesn’t even get PLAYLAND what Playland really needs and long-deferred and badly needed maintenance and originally promised restoration will get kicked down the road even further to a time not yet determined. This is not a good deal for Taxpayers and it’s not a good deal for Playland at this point either. As of now, it looks like the ONLY thing that *may* make any difference and stop the move to enter Westchester County into this disastrous contract to privatize management of Playland is a HUGE public turnout and outcry at the PUBLIC HEARINGS. Please note, this contract moves to privatize MANAGEMENT of the Park, NOT OWNERSHIP – Playland is and will remain a publicly owned Westchester County Park. What it will do is give up County control of this public park. Please try to attend one of these two hearings in person and make a statement for the record. If you cannot attend in person there is info below on how to submit a written statement. There will be TWO Public hearings: When: WEDS. 4/20 at 6:30pm Where: 148 Martine Ave, White Plains, NY 10601 This meeting will be held on the 8th Floor of the Westchester County Office Building in the Legislative chambers. You will need photo ID to get through Security downstairs, and you only get three minutes to speak, so it's suggested you write your thoughts down and read through them a few times to make sure you can make your points clearly in that amount of time. Your statement can be as simple as, “I do not want Westchester County to enter into this agreement with Standard Amusements.” When: Tuesday 4/26/16 at 7:00pm Where: 1051 Boston Post Rd. Rye, NY 10580 (Rye City Hall, 2nd Floor) Same three minutes’ speaking time protocol applies. If you cannot make either of the meetings in person to speak, you can submit a written statement, noting that you wish it to be included in the record of the April 2016 Public Hearings on Playland. A suggestion is to keep it simple, include your name and address and just state something along the lines of: “Although I am unable to attend in person either of the Public Hearings regarding Playland, I wish it to be known that I do not agree with a move by the County to enter into the proposed contract with Standard Amusements/United Parks to privatize management of Playland. I submit this statement to be included in the official record for these Public Hearings.” These written statements should be mailed to the BOL Clerk: Sunday Vanderberg at SundayV@westchesterlegislators.com You can also cc all the Legislators on your written statement by using this email list: cxb9@westchestergov.com bxb3@westchestergov.com gab6@westchestergov.com ftc9@westchestergov.com mac5@westchestergov.com dxg1@westchestergov.com kwj6@westchestergov.com mkk8@westchestergov.com jjm3@westchestergov.com smm6@westchestergov.com cfp7@westchestergov.com vxp1@westchestergov.com mjs2@westchestergov.com bss6@westchestergov.com jxt2@westchestergov.com aaw3@westchestergov.com ldw3@westchestergov.com Thank you for your support of Playland!