A bad start for 2009

The Nassau County Park Follies continue unabated into 2009.

Tennis Courts
The County Administration is rushing pell mell into privatizing the Tennis Courts in three parks; Eisenhower, Christopher Morley and Cow Meadow. The upside is they are mandating the licensees upgrade the courts and provide "Bubbles" to cover the courts in inclement weather and off season; even requiring a "clubhouse" to be built in Eisenhower. The downside is that to recoup that investment, the licensees must charge a substantial premium to tennis players. Thus, park facilities that should be economically accessible to all Nassau residents will probably not be. Secondly, instead of the county improving the courts, collecting the revenues and supervising the operation, they are turning over the courts to private interests who will ultimately reap the financial benefit.

This may be in violation of the County Charter which mandates the Parks Department operate and supervise all recreational activities in the park System. Note that this will not deter the administration. As we previously noted, they are already in violation of the charter by eliminating the Park Department's maintenance capability and for putting private day camps in public parks.

Of note: The proposed licensees of the tennis courts. For Cow Meadow, it is Daniel Burgess of Freeport Indoor Tennis which already has a large all weather facility on Mill Road in Freeport. It will be interesting to determine their motivation. As to Eisenhower and Christopher Morley the apparent front man is one Nick Brebenal, a Romanian tennis coach and tennis pro at the Roslyn Country Club. He must be paid very well to make a Million plus dollar investment in these two parks.

It would be in the best interest of the parks and the public for the county legislature to thoroughly investigate these deals before they are set in stone.

4 Day Work Week

The county is also offering county union employees a voluntary 4 day work week! With approval, they can take of one day off ,unpaid, every week, Monday thru Friday. There is no loss of health benefits but does affect salary, vacation time, personal leave days and perhaps holidays and most important, retirement eligibility. What does this mean for parks (and other county services)?

The employees most likely to take advantage of this "reduce the budget" program are senior employees who have already accrued all necessary retirement credits and are looking to "wind down" their county employment. This could be to devote more time to moonlighting jobs, family considerations, etc. Great for the employees, God Bless them!

For the public, not so good! When senior employees with all the experience and institutional knowledge are not present, public service tends to be adversely affected. We've all had situations where junior and inexperienced employees have stood there totally confused and ineffective when presented with a pressing problem. So get ready, folks!