RyeCity REVIEW THE
April 15, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number 16 | www.ryecityreview.com
County to cover $32M in new Playland deal By JAMES PERO Staff Writer
PICKET LINE
Approximately 600 Westchester members of the Communications Workers of America employed with Verizon strike on the morning of Wednesday, April 13 in downtown White Plains. For more, see page 10. Photo/Bobby Begun
Emergency boiler project prompts $1.8M bond addition By SARAH VARNEY Education Reporter The 60-year-old furnace that has heated Osborn Elementary School’s 80,000 square feet of space since 1956 will need to be replaced this summer in order for the school to reopen in September. Sam Carder, the district’s director of buildings and grounds, detailed the emergency
situation at the April 12 Rye City School District Board of Education meeting. In order to replace the furnace, the district will float a bond proposal for $1.8 million, which will be voted on by the public. A new burner was installed in the aging furnace in 2006, but that was a temporary measure, Carder said.
“That new burner bought the district another decade, but no more repairs can be made to extend the life of the furnace,” Carder said. “With the repair, the furnace got a new lease on life, but it’s old and it won’t last much longer,” he said. “We need to do it this summer. It’s do or die.” While the timing was unanticipated, the replacement of
the boiler was high up on the district’s list of maintenance priorities, according to Carder. Board of Education Vice President Chris Repetto echoed Carder’s comments on the need of the project. “We’re not playing Whack-A-Mole here,” he said. Gabriella O’Connor, assistant superintendent for business, told BOILER continued on page 11
Despite a $26 million slash to proposed county-funded capital projects, a new revised agreement forking over operations of Rye Playland to the management company Standard Amusements is still warranting concerns. The new agreement, which was announced on Friday, April 8, calls for $32 million in capital renovations to the park; a cost to be footed by the county. This new total marks a significant departure from the previously proposed $58 million total. According to Westchester County Legislator Catherine Parker, a Rye Democrat, the new agreement still puts a huge burden on county taxpayers. “The annual debt service for that $32 million worth of capital will cost the taxpayers $2.6 million annually,” Parker said. “I find that very, very troubling.” With the terms of the new agreement, Parker said that Standard Amusements would also invest $5 million into the park before the start of the 2017 season and an additional $27 million after 50 percent of the county’s capital project money has been expended. Compared to the previous agreement, Standard’s matching $32 million investment would be an increase of $2 million over their previously planned invest-
ment. In February, Standard had already committed to increasing its investment from $25 million to $30 million. This latest agreement also proposes significant cuts to a number of costly projects previously agreed to, including multimillion dollar decreases to renovations for the park’s colonnades and the park’s parking lot. “[The agreement] shows a joint commitment between the county and Standard Amusement to invest in the future of Playland,” said Ned McCormack, spokesman for County Executive Rob Astorino’s administration. “We are in the final stages of approving a contract that will save Playland.” Even so, Parker, whose legislative district covers the countyowned amusement park in Rye, said the agreement is failing to accomplish the objectives that a public-private partnership is meant to accomplish. “We entered into the idea of a public-private partnership to do two things: to reduce the burden on taxpayers [and] to revitalize the park,” she said, adding that the former is far from being accomplished. As evidenced by a recent petition on change.org decrying the efficacy of the recent deal, some residents around the county also share similar sentiments with playland continued on page 10