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.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Bayswater Park saved, Bay Park still in peril

The Bayswater Park, Inwood is safe for the moment. See the article below dated April 20, 2011 from The Patch newspaper from that area. East Rockaway's Bay Park's 30 year "lease"is still on the block and is being fought.

Bruce Piel

County to Leave Inwood Open Lot As Is Property that children play on will not be sold to Inwood Country Club.

By Stephen J. Bronner April 20, 2011

Nassau County has pulled the plug on the potential sale of an open lot in Inwood that local children use as a play area.
At the Planning Commission's Thursday meeting, the county’s real estate office withdrew the case on the lot located at Bayswater Boulevard and Peppe Road and no vote was taken, according to a county spokesperson. The only potential buyer was the Inwood Country Club, which considered using the space for a maintenance facility.

“We are thrilled that the property appears safe for now and we believe [it] will not be sold,” Patty Vacchio, the secretary of the Inwood Civic Association who lives across the street from the lot, told Patch on Monday. “We have no immediate plans for the property, although neighbors have expressed some interest in ensuring that the property remain safe so we don’t have to go through this ‘worry’ again.”

The lot, although never designated as parkland, used to house swings and a seesaw, according to residents of the community. Even though the land was eventually cleared, kids still use the land, flying kites and playing soccer, football and stickball.

The county, in dire fiscal straits, has been looking to sell off properties. One of the pieces under consideration was the Bayswater lot. Nassau is also deciding on the fate of the Inwood property that houses its Public Works garage, which may be closed. Residents have also expressed displeasure with that potential move.

“We’re not asking for more, we’re just saying keep it how it is,” Peter Sobol said last week at a public meeting he helped arrange on the Bayswater property. “Once open space is gone, it’s lost forever. We’re just trying to say: this is our piece, we want to keep it.”

At that hearing, all the residents in the room raised their hands when asked if they agreed. In attendance of the meeting was Kristen Kotak, a member of the Open Space & Parks Advisory Committee, which voted last Wednesday to leave the lot as is.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Parcnassau Update 4/22/11-Bay Park, Bayswater Park, Cow Meadow et al.

Bay Park

The lease between Nassau Park and Molloy College for the Bay Park Athletic Fields is still percolating. We have referred our objections and concerns to NYS Parks on the Alienation of Parklands issue and to NIFA on the Capital Projects Bond for the, virtual, sole benefit of Molloy College. With the county floundering with its financial crises, Bay Park may not seem that important, but the crises will pass with time and we will be still left with a bad contract that adversely affects the county park users for up to 30 years.

In the same vein, Legislator Howard Kopel, 7th District (which includes Bay Park) is holding a Town Meeting on May 3rd between 7-9PM at the Island Park Library, 176 Long Beach Rod, Island Park. He expects County Executive Edward Mangano to attend. This would be a opportune time for opponents to the Bay Park lease to let these gentlemen how you feel.

Bayswater Park

Bayswater Park is small, passive neighbor park in Inwood. It has been in the county park system for years and provided green space where children, from the surrounding area, could safely romp . The county parks department maintains it, which mostly consists of mowing and trimming hedges. Suddenly the county has decided Bayswater is not a park and is proposing to sell the property to the Inwood Country Club nearby. This is obviously another alienation of parkland issue, which the county is trying sneak around. What park is next? Bayswater Park is on Bayswater Avenue, between Peppe Road and Chestnut Road and should be left for the enjoyment of the neighborhood.

Wantagh Park

First the good news. Newton Shows is back this year with their rides and attractions in Wantagh Park. WE have always supported this type of family fun in county parks. Newton Shows will be there from April 29th to May 1st. Hours will be Friday 6PM-10PM, Saturday Noon to 10PM and Sunday Noon to 6pm. Bring the family, have a picnic and enjoy the park and the rides. There is a $10 coupon available. Go to their website www.newtonshows.com for details.

Now for some Not-so-good news. The Parks Department is rapidly completing the additional 40 docks in the Wantagh Marina. Despite the concern of boaters that the additions on "B" dock could interfere with the use of the boat ramp during high use times, the county ignored the request to reduce that addition by 6 slips for safety reasons. As usual with this department, the expected income outweighed boating safety.

Boaters that want to have summer dockage in Wantagh park, should monitor the construction closely. How and when these new slips will be offered has not yet been determined and the water and electricity have not yet been addressed. In any case, be leery about being at the end of B dock.

Cow Meadow Park

Speaking of Marinas, the county has refused to renew the lease on the 30 slip Cow Meadow Marina to Robert Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy wangled this lease during the last county administration. We supported the county's decision in this matter, because we do not support Public-Private partnerships on county parklands. Invariably the private operators make money and the public be damned. The county is still accepting dock fees for these slips. In any case, after Mr. Kennedy learned he was out he went and ripped out the water and electrical service to the slips.

Mr. Kennedy should be held accountable for this vandalism. Once installed those utilities should have become the property of the county. The destruction should be a violation of law. There is no evidence the county is going to follow this up. Meanwhile Mr. Kennedy has wangled the management of the new Freeport Marina at the foot of Woodcleft Avenue from the town.
What's the old saying? No bad deed goes unrewarded? Something like that.

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Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Bay Park, a lesson in bad government

Yesterday, Monday, April 4, 2011 the Rules Committee of the county legislature voted to allow the County Parks Department to finalize an agreement with Molloy College, Rockville Centre for the Occupancy and Use Permit for the Bay Park athletic fields. In effect, this commits COUNTY TAXPAYERS to underwrite Molloy College’s athletic program for $3 million up front and field maintenance costs for up to 30 years. This decision begs the question, why?

· Why was this proposal brought up in the Rules Committee instead of the Parks Committee?

· Why did the Republican majority ignore calls for further data that would insure an informed vote?

· Any logical reading of the agreement shows it to be, in fact, a lease and not a permit. Giving a private entity total use and control of most of a county park for up to 30 years is a lease, nothing less. Calling this a permit is just a way of avoiding scrutiny under the Alienation of Municipal Parklands case law which would require approval of the NYS Legislature. So, why was this done?

The vote was along party lines with the Republican majority outvoting the Democrat minority. (Will we ever see voting in accordance with personal knowledge and belief? Apparently not in Nassau County.) Testimony by PARCnassau and Vincent Esposito, former president of the Bay Park Civic Association against the proposal, stimulated a lively debate among the legislators about public access to the fields. A motion to table the matter until glaring omissions of public rights and access were investigated was totally ignored.

So who is the real loser in all this? The taxpaying Nassau County resident who will now have to finance a $3 million capital project bond to improve the fields for a private college to play on to the exclusion of the general public. The same residents will have to pay tax moneys to maintain those fields for up to 30 years for the private college’s sports and continuing exclusion of the public.

The only remaining hope is that either NIFA will nix this expensive agreement as not in the public interest or that the NYS Department of Parks will bring action to have this agreement brought under jurisdiction of the Alienation of Municipal Parklands case law. Any and all citizens of Nassau could and should petition NIFA and the State to weigh in on this issue.

For too long the very government entities charged with the fiduciary responsibility for our county parks have instead either violated or ignored that responsibility at the expense of the public that voted them into office. Shame on Them!

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Friday, April 01, 2011

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

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