By Dan Murphy
Opening Day at Playland earlier this month saw the highest attendance the park has seen on opening day in seven years. The park welcomed 8,228 people on opening day, with attendees enjoying rides, food, musical entertainment and Kiddie Land shows.
“This attendance record shows just how important refreshed marketing, creativity and drive are when promoting an amusement park,” said Westchester County Executive George Latimer. “The workers at Playland did a fantastic job readying the park – it was spotless and colorful and adorned with our new mascot Coaster. I thank them for their tireless work. Hearing the roar of the Dragon Coaster coupled with laughter under the warm sunshine was the perfect Saturday at Playland Park. I am excited to see attendance continue to climb as we roll out more of our promotional events at Playland this season.”
The following day, Mother’s Day, saw rain and lousy weather, which is why many believe the park had record attendance the day before; weeks of rains in Westchester prior to Playland opening had families chomping to get out and have some fun.
But the owners of Playland, the taxpayers of Westchester, will take good news – and good news at the amusement park – however and whenever it comes.
“The 2019 season at Playland is off to a tremendous start – we are proud and excited of all the new programs and events we are running this summer, and the public is, also,” said Playland General Manager Frank Carrieri. “There is an energy and an excitement at this park we haven’t seen in a long time, and I want to thank County Executive Latimer for believing in Playland and fighting to keep this the people’s park.”
Playland has been Westchester County and the New York Metropolitan area’s great family amusement park and entertainment center since 1928. For the 2019 season, the park is welcoming many new events and promotions, including a collaboration with ArtsWestchester and the Westchester Parks Foundation for a public art display, the first new commercial in 10 years, the welcoming of “Town Days” to promote community, and 11 new musical acts.
Focused on building community and celebrating the unique towns, cities and villages of Westchester this summer, the county will be featuring “Town Days” on Tuesdays through Fridays from June 25 to Aug. 31 (except July 4). From A to Z, Playland will celebrate each town, village and city with their own Town Day. With proof of ID, each resident will receive discount coupons when they arrive at the park by going to the Fountain Plaza Administration Building. Municipalities will also have a chance to display booths of information and what makes them unique at the Fountain Plaza on their special day.
Discounts include one free mini-golf entry, two-for-one ride admission, one free beach or pool admission, $1 off of one food value meal, and a $5 discount for parking on a return visit to the park. Visit playlandpark.org to find town, village or city’s day at Playland.
From June 8 to Sept. 2, the new laser show will be displayed every day at 7:45 and 9 p.m. The show is a colorful extravaganza of music and dancing laser lights that come to life every night.
More musical shows and performances will be featured at Playland over the summer. And the new Playland mascot, Coaster, was refreshed this year to appeal to children.
For the first time in 10 years Playland has a new television commercial. Focused on promoting Playland as a full-day destination, the commercial celebrates youth and joy and stars local children.
Latimer has canceled the contract with Standard Amusements, who was awarded a 30-year contract to operate Playland from former County Executive Rob Astorino. Latimer recently defended his decision not to continue with Standard Amusements in a Facebook post, which read, “some deals are not good for the public. That’s the decision we came to in the case of Standard Amusements and Playland.”
The prior Administration, which tried to seal a 40-year deal to hand over the Westchester County Airport to private interests – signed a contract to do the same at Playland for 30 years, according to Latimer. The deal involved Standard Amusements investing $30 million in capital into the park, then running it for 30 years. The county wouldn’t get one dime back until Standard Amusements recouped its $30 million in operating profits. Meanwhile, the county would be on the hook for what would be most all the capital needed to improve the park. The county has already financed $42 million of what’s needed.
“You might think the private entity would be saving you the cost of all future capital. You’d be wrong,” said Latimer. “The company runs the park, prices the services at the park, and the taxpayers pay for most of the capital needs anyway.”
The contract required Standard Amusements to put upfront money – $3 million – to improve the park before it took over. But the company and the prior county executive agreed to delay that payment. And more than once, according to Latimer.
“Two weeks before I took office – six weeks after the voters voted for a new CE – the outgoing CE cut a deal that meant Standard didn’t have to pay a cent, until the county coughed up 50 percent of its obligation,” he said. “Nice deal. For the private company. Our new county administration analyzed the deal and in May 2018 we went public with our assessment that it was a bad deal.”
From the date the deal was struck in 2016 until this very day in 2019, Standard Amusements has yet to put one penny into park improvement, according to Latimer. “They did spend money on travel, meals, law firms and other expenses charged against their manager’s investment,” he said.
“We believed they breached the contract. And so we sent them a termination letter.
“They respond by sending press releases to the NY Post and elsewhere, scaring people about park safety. They state past issues long resolved to make you embrace their prospective management. They deliver a beautiful document without any specifics in costs, financing, pricing or marketing strategies and call it a ‘Master Plan.’
“If you want to save a public park, keep it in public hands. Give our team a chance to save Playland before you give it away for 30 years. If I’m wrong, you can vote me out of office in two-plus years. If they’re wrong, you’ll have 30 years to think about how it all slipped through our hands because we let ideology take the place of intelligent analysis,” said Latimer.
The argument against Standard Amusements has been well publicized and articulated. The argument in favor of keeping the Standard Amusements-Playland public-private agreement has not been well articulated nor publicized.
One reason is that neither Standard Amusement CEO Nick Singer, nor the three republican members of the county board who still support the deal, have come out to rebut Latimer. But that argument focuses on money, capital improvements and property taxes. How much will a continued public ownership and control of Playland cost the Westchester taxpayer?
That question was asked in a Facebook post below Latimer’s comments:
“Dear George, what is your plan? How are you going to raise the money for the needed improvements? Will you raise taxes to finance? Take from other needed infrastructure projects? Is your plan to find another and better public/private partnership with better terms, or is it to have the county continue to run Playland? As I understand it, the park has run at a deficit for years, costing taxpayers money. Also, there are significant investments needed. How do we suddenly have those funds when we never had them before? I’m not criticizing, I’m asking honestly. I voted for you and I like you. I need to understand what your plan is. I haven’t seen it – where can I find it. ‘More of the same’ with small investments to basically clean up some of the decay is really not what I am hoping for, for Playland and our community. I hope you are leaning toward and public/private partnership – or better yet – to negotiate with the one we already have created…”
Some in county government want just that – they want Latimer and his administration to try and work out a compromise with Standard Amusements so that the county, and the Westchester taxpayer, doesn’t have to pay legal fees fighting Standard Amusements in court but more importantly, having to pay the company the several million (up to $7 million) that Singer claims he already spent in preparation costs and design, etc.
Latimer references the fact that Singer and Standard Amusements released their “Master Plan” days after Latimer terminated the agreement. Standard Amusement’s allies claim they waited that long to release their vision of Playland because they were trying to salvage the deal with Latimer and didn’t want to go around him.
Standard Amusements’ Master Plan, which was criticized for a lack of details, includes a plan for a rebuilt Aeroplane coaster, which was the former main attraction before it was removed in the 1990s. The other needed improvement in Standard Amusements’ Master Plan is new and improved dining options at Playland, including year-round dining options, and some retail.
Deidre Curran, Friends of Playland chairwoman, criticized the Master Plan. “As for Standard’s ‘Master Plan,’ have you seen it? It’s a joke,” wrote Curran in an email to Rising newspapers. “I got to look through the whole thing yesterday. It’s a very nicely put together marketing portfolio of pictures. It’s a vision with a lot of artists’ renderings and just as many or more photographs taken from years gone by. There is absolutely nothing of any substance in it regarding any actual plan for how to operate the park, numbers, projections, etc. It’s not any kind of a business plan. It’s a beautiful, visually impressive art portfolio marketing tool. That’s it. It’s also going to cost a whole hell of a lot more than the $50 million they are now claiming they’re willing to pony up. So who’s going to pay for that? (Hint: Us). This is the third portfolio of artists’ renderings they’ve submitted in four years. They are now on their third architect. Still no actual ‘plan’ for how they’re going to operate the park.”
The big, financial factor in the debate over Playland is who will pay for the $100 million or so in capital improvements at the park. The Standard Amusements-Playland deal called for Standard Amusements to pay for $30 million and for Westchester County to pay for the rest. Recently, Singer upped his offer to pay for $50 million in capital improvements.
Curran said: “As far as the cost of the capital improvements, we have to pay those no matter what. Standard is never going to cover the cost of those. So we’re on the hook for them one way or another. I have repeatedly pushed, and will continue to push the county to seek grants, corporate sponsorships and corporate and private philanthropy and fundraising endeavors to help offset the costs to taxpayers. They already secured a grant last year for around $450,000 to help defray the costs of the repairs to the carousel after the fire in July 2017. They could and should be doing a lot more of that kind of stuff. It can be done if there’s a will to do it.”
Singer and Standard Amusements has embarked on what some call a “smear-fear” campaign of alleging safety and health concerns at the park. “We identified issues of public concern, committed more money to resolve them, presented a highly detailed plan of our vision, supplied detailed answers to a never-ending list of insincere concerns – but through it all it has become clear that George Latimer seems personally determined that this will all end in expensive litigation – litigation we continue to hope to avoid,” said Singer.
The NY Post ran a damning story about health and safety violations at Playland, which were recently rebutted by Latimer and county government taking the media on a tour of Playland, with up-to-date permits to operate county-owned rides including the Dragon Coaster, the other iconic ride at the park.
There are mixed reviews from the public on whether Standard Amusements’ accusations are a bargaining tactic or real. Some see it as a scare tactic while others see it as a real concern. But for those who want the two sides to get back together to avoid wasting taxpayer dollars, the accusations back and forth on both sides don’t offer hope for an amicable compromise.
“It seems to me that if they actually did still want to stay in this deal they wouldn’t be doing everything they could to sabotage and undermine the park’s image at this juncture,” said Curran. “Because if they are the ones to take over management next year, they’re the ones who will have to undo all that bad publicity. That’s really shooting yourself in the foot.”
Others still hold out hope. “What will this cost taxpayers in the end? That’s the real question and the real fear that Latimer and Ken Jenkins will have to figure out and present at some point. Will the entrance fee and cost to ride everything go up with Standard? Yes. Will the food get better and cost a bit more? Yes. But do the taxpayers really care about how much it costs to get into Playland and for a bite to eat?”
