Bay Park-Not an April Fool's Joke

In a typical end run, supporters of the "sale" of Bay Park to Molloy College have engineered an unscheduled Rules Committee meeting on the issue for Monday, April 4th at 1:00 PM. This will take place in the legislative chamber of the Theodore Roosevelt Courthouse, Franklin Avenue, Mineola.

Opponents to this privatization of a county park should make every effort to attend and speak out against it.

Should Bay Park be improved and upgraded? Absolutely! This "stepchild" of the county park system is long overdue for a facelift and infrastructure improvements. This situation is one which should be corrected by the $100 Million Dollar Environmental Bond Fund approved by county residents 2 years ago. Why isn't $6 million of those moneys being allocated to Bay Park, allowing it to be kept available for all county residents?

Instead the Parks Department is willing to give away virtually all athletic field use for up to 30 years to Molloy College for $3 million to be matched by the county's capital project bond for another $3 Million. This way county residents lose twice. Once when they cannot access public fields and second when they have to pay off this new obligation while the county wallows in debt. The winner is Molloy College who will gain new athletics fields to replace those they are building dorms on. While we are sympathetic to the college's need for additional dormitories and new athletic fields, we don't believe they should take away public parkland for that purpose.

This proposal is also an Alienation of Parklands issue. According to the NYS Handbook on Alienation and Conversion of Municipal Park Lands the following have been determined by the courts to be alienations:

- The conveyance, sale or lease of municipal parkland or recreational facilities to another entity...........which results in the facility no longer being used for public park and recreation purposes.
[in this case Bay Park would virtually only be used for private recreational purposes, Molloy College's]

- The lease of municipal park or recreational facilities even though the resource may continue to be used for public park and recreational purposes.

Thus, this cannot be permitted without State Legislative approval!

Most disturbing of all is that this is setting a precedent that puts all county parks at risk. The same convoluted thinking by County Parks Administration could spur similar "land grabs" by other private interests with county residents and taxpayers the ultimate losers.

The time and place to "nip this travesty in the bud" is Monday at the Rules Committee meeting. If you are concerned for county parks, please make every effort to be there and state your concerns