WPCNR County Clarion-Ledger. From the Westchester County Board of Legislators (Edited with background by WPCNR's John Bailey) May 19,2011:
A proposed lease agreement for the Westchester Children’s Museum with the County for site control of the 22,000 square-foot Playland bathhouse space, a historic landmark, has moved through the Board’s Committee on Public Works, Parks Labor & Transportation, the Board of Legislators announced Thursday
The historic Bathhouse, located at Playland’s boardwalk, has been currently undergoing repair and renovation to its exterior for three years at a cost originally financed for $8.8 Million in May, 2008.
A vote to set the public hearing on the lease will be on the agenda during the next Board meeting on Monday, May 23rd.
The move to set a date on a hearing on the merits of giving the childrens museum group exclusive control of the interior of the bathouse is interesting. The childrens museum has just one of 11 proposals for a reinvention of Playland being considered by the county and a citizens' group evaluating what should be done to "reinvent" Playland and turn it into a money-making operation. The Bathouse and Boardwalk and Ice Casino are an integral part of the complex.
According the County Board News Release Thursday: "At a time when budget cuts and the erosion of quality after-school youth programs are causing more people to seek out community-based alternative services within Westchester County, the Children's Museum will be a vibrant, interactive cultural institution for children and families and a dynamic resource for schools," said Board Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers).
The news release continued:
“Families throughout the region will find the Children’s Museum a highly worthwhile educational experience,” said Legislator Bill Ryan (D-White Plains), Chairman of the Board’s Committee on Public Works, Parks Labor & Transportation. “This is a very positive step being taken by the Board. The Children’s Museum will be a quality addition to Playland Park.”
The bathhouse was set aside exclusively for the children’s museum, if the museum raises money to rebuild the interior and operate it. So far, the children’s museum’s board has raised $8 million and is working towards raising a total of $14 million. They have already spent $1.5 million on building designs. The Museum has, also, started educational programs with community groups. Chairman Jenkins added that the museum project would be a welcoming environment for special-needs children and a means to build tourism for the county.
"The Children’s Museum represents a community-wide investment in our children without spending any taxpayer’s money,” said Legislator Judith Myers (D-Larchmont). “Over 870,000 children under 11 years of age live within a 15-mile driving radius of our future site at Playland Park in Rye. Yet, Westchester has relatively few cultural resources designed specifically for children. The Children’s Museum on the boardwalk would be a welcomed addition to the outdoor cafes, historic ‘Kiddyland’ for the very young, an Ice Casino for year-round skating, and a music tower for summer concerts.”
Voting for public hearing to lock-in childrens museum?
WPCNR notes apparently to the contrary, that the cost of renovating the exterior of the bathhouse is being paid for by $8.8 Million in county taxpayers' dollars (approved in May 2008), and construction has been moving on at a slow pace for three years. The county appears to be subsidizing this project, while possibly compromising the appeal of the site to serious developers. The childrens museum by Jenkins statement, has not even raised its estimated operating expenses yet in three years.
WPCNR notes that a proposal for a childrens' museum was one of the many private proposals from developers submitted to the county in response to a Request for Proposals in February.
The county's apparent urge to set a public hearing at this time on the childrens' museum concept, and go for a lease agreement would seem to mean that no matter what proposal for the "new Playland" the Astorino administration and a citizens' group reviewing the proposals decides upon -- a developer/operator other than the children's museum, for instance -- that developer will have to incorporate the children's museum into their plan.
Hotels, marinas, and other uses for example would be deprived of prime space on on that boardwalk by the children's museum guaranteed occupancy.
To date, the children's museum group has not to this reporter's knowledge given detailed plans on what would be in the museum, or whether the Playland pool at the Bathhouse would continue to be operated.
