PARCnassau

Park Advocacy & Recreation Council of Nassau. A coalition of 150 park advocacy and/or user groups with a combined membership of over 250,000 county residents.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Wantagh Park Marina under attack, county stumped

Nassau County Turns Boats into Sitting Ducks


It was bound to happen. The county marina in Wantagh Park lost its power three days ago. Park Administration was notified but boat owners, who reside throughout the county, were not. To effect a repair the entire park electrical system was shut down leaving the boats literally in the dark each night.Two Hundred boats valued at well over a million dollars were left unprotected by the Police Department and Department of Public Security, apparently because they weren't notified about the problem by the Parks Department.



On Augsut 27, 2010, under cover of darkness, thieves broke into several boats, stealing TVs, GPS chart plotters, fishing gear, jewelry and anything else they could lay their hands on. Then stole a dinghy to haul the loot away to be off-loaded.



When questioned by a TV reporter the county admitted they do not have round the clock security in the park but refused further comment. Is it unreasonable to expect the Parks Department to request special security coverage in a situation like this? Who dropped the ball and who is being held responsible? The Boaters would like to know.

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Aquatic Center, Marina & Ball fields

Aquatic Center dispossess early swimmners.

The Aquatic Center at Eisenhower Park has closed as per schedule for cleaning from August 17 until September 6th. Members can use the other county pools during that period. There is one problem. Swimmers that use the center from 6:00am to 10:00am each day have nowhere to go during those times. At one time the county would open Cantiague Pool early to accommodate them, but not this year. The reason they state is insufficient life guards. Where are the life guards that are assigned to the Aquatic Center? It would seem that a little planning could have provided one county pool to open early for those who exercise before going to work or other activities.

Wantagh Marina loses its juice. Boaters in the Dark.

Yesterday a boater noticed his shore power was only 60 volts instead of 120. He checked with other boaters in the area and found the problem was everywhere. He notified the park administration an they notified DPW. This problem, we are told, is usually caused by an "open neutral". DPW told the park administration that they would be shutting down all the power today to make a repair

No effort was made to notify all the boaters! The reduced voltage can damage boat electrical systems, cause refrigerators to run inefficiently, etc. Today's shutdown will allow perishables in those refrigerators to spoil and batteries to run down. The electrical shutdown also shuts down the park telephone system so no one can call in to find out the problem. This is the third year in a row with electrical problems in the park.

Since virtually everyone has a cell phone, we had asked the park administration to use them and notify at least the 2 boating organizations in the marina and they would in turn notify their members who could then notify their boat neighbors. This would minimize the damage. Better yet a list of boaters and their contact numbers should be kept in Eisenhower or DPW and when this power outage begins, each boater can be called and be made aware. Not letting people know causes unnecessary financial hardship in these uncertain times and the county fails in its fiduciary responsibility.

Update on the County Ball field issue

We were informed today by the Parks Department that they found a provision in the 2007 agreement between the County and Friends of Nassau Recreation that allows the County Comptroller to audit their books. In any case, effective immediately, ALL revenues collected by parks will henceforth be sent to the County Treasurer and not to the Friends Group.

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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Nassau Parks become the playground bully

On June 21st, PARCnassau sent out an update titled Play Ball 2011 citing our concerns that the Nassau County Department of Park & Recreation was embarking on a "progrom" to drive private ball leagues from county parks. Subsequent events are showing that is exactly what is happening.

First the county refused to allow private leagues to register for ball fields for their fall schedules, snowflake leagues this year and spring and summer leagues in 2011. Without knowing whether or not they have fields prevents the private leagues from registering players, effectively shutting them down. Two excuses were being given. First, that the county didn't know which fields they needed for their own (new) leagues and secondly they were rehabilitating the fields.Both excuses do not hold water. First they should only hold a number of fields that they could reasonable use in this start up program and secondly they are only rehab-ing 3 fields at Eisenhower leaving more than enough fields county wide to accomodate the private leagues.

Further, the Parks department is unilaterally raising the permit fees by 50% to 66% per hour for the private leagues. This is being done without legislative approval as required by law. The "scam" is they are calling the permitting of private leagues part of a "pilot program" and not subject to legislative approval.This is not true and shows a decided lack of respect for our county legislature. Meanwhile the new fees can destroy the private leagues and must be reversed.

Two of the larger private leagues were "lured" into joining the county program by hiring the league presidents as highly paid directors working for Parks. One such individual surrendered his teams that played on county fields but kept those that used Town of Oyster Bay fields. Best of all worlds?

Another wrinkle is any player who signs up for the county run leagues must pay 20% of the sign up fees to the county treasurer and 80% of the fees to Friends of Nassau County Recreation. Sound like a slush fund for Parks? We think so. This Friends group was founded in 1982 by civic minded individuals to raise money through donations from private companies and individuals to fund recreation programs that the county could not afford. It fell into disuse in the '90s and the parks department took it "in house". Monies collected by Friends of Nassau County Recreation are not subject to legislative or other government oversight. This is unacceptable! We believe that all money paid to the county should go to the County Treasurer for full accountability.

Private leagues and their players are livid and justifiably so. They are now speaking out against this unfair and unjustified dispossession from county ball fields.

Stay tuned, more to come.

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