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Private use of Wantagh Park Questioned
Originally published in the 2004 June 24 edition of The
Wantagh-Seaford Citizen. The tent is up in the center field of Wantagh Park, complete with a floor and its own air-conditioning unit. The tent measures 50 feet wide by 150 feet long and will hold the 200 children that will attend the Woodmont Sports Academy’s Summer Camp program that runs from June 26 through August 27 at Wantagh Park. The program will run Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The tent was erected on Tuesday, June 22nd. The fence was due to arrive sometime on Wednesday afternoon. The fence will be 4 1/2 feet high and will surround the tent, including a 20 by 40 foot area adjacent to the tent. The Citizen was on site Wednesday morning with parks advocate Bruce Piel, who is opposed to the use of public land for private enterprise, “especially when a private concern is given exclusive rights, even if they are paying a fee,” said Mr. Piel. “These public-private partnerships deny the general public the unencumbered access they now have to these facilities.” But Jennifer Goldberg, Vice-President of Woodmont Sports, believes that her camp program is providing a much-needed service for the community as well as providing additional revenue for Nassau County. She believes that the Woodmont Sports Academy can, through a public/private partnership with the County, improve the facilities at Wantagh Park, especially since the County is strapped for cash and the parks are in need of renovation. “Each of the children who are registered in this program are from Nassau County and the majority are from Wantagh and Bellmore,” said Mrs. Goldberg. “This year we are providing limited bus transportation but that is within and for Nassau County children.” Mr. Piel pointed out that although the children may all be from Nassau County, at this point, Woodmont’s permit does not limit them from taking children from Suffolk County, for example. The permit allows 200 children to use one softball field from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday and an additional softball field for half a day, also Monday through Friday. Woodmont is also entitled to use two of the tennis courts. “There are four tennis courts,” said Mr. Piel “but only two are useable.” Woodmont will also use the pool. The 200 campers may not all use the pool at the same time. They will use the pool in four different time slots during the day, with a maximum of 60 campers in the pool at any one time. “Most of those children are young,” said Mr. Piel, “that means they’ll all be gathered in the shallow end of the pool, thus limiting access to the pool for others.” Mrs. Goldberg said that although the lifeguards at the pool are provided by Nassau County, they will have their own “safety instructors on staff. We also have two EMTs [Emergency Medical Technicians] on staff and on premises,” she said. Woodmont Sports Academy must carry $3 million in insurance for the eight week program. They will pay the County $73,125 according to the permits, but Mrs. Goldberg said it was closer to $75,000, which has already been paid to the county. A county spokesperson was unavailable to confirm this information. Mike Klein, from the County Executive’s office, did not return our phone call. “This is a fair price, for everyone,” she added. Oasis of Brooklyn, another camp operator, who has a permit to use Christopher Morley Park and Cantiague Park will pay the county $45,000 per park. Mrs. Goldberg said she was shocked to hear what Oasis was paying. Then she shrugged her shoulders and added, “but we’re in the community and care about the park.” She added that they have run their camp program for the past eight years through World Gym of Wantagh and have a “good reputation. We’ve never had any complaints and I want to keep it that way.” On weekends the fences must come down, according to the permit and Mrs. Goldberg said the young male counselors she had hired would take the fence down on Friday afternoons and put it back up on Monday mornings. In order to keep her tent from being vandalized or used for inappropriate activities while camp is not in session, Woodmont has contracted their own private security to patrol every two hours. “If there is a problem, security will call the police.” Mrs. Goldberg said that it was her persistence and initiative that made this program happen at Wantagh Park. “About a year ago, I went online and saw there were “Expressions of Interest” for programs in the county parks. I set up a meeting and I pursued them. They [the County] wanted to try this as a pilot program. “We’ve been in the community for a long time and our camp usually fills up by word of mouth as well as through Wantagh PAL,” said Mrs. Goldberg. To date, 450 children are enrolled. “But not all at the same time.” She explained that some children are here for a limited number of days, hours and weeks thus making it more affordable for working parents. Mrs. Goldberg confirmed that she has been issued her permit by the Nassau County Department of Health. She added that an operational audit would take place during camp hours. “I did nothing backhanded,” said Mrs. Goldberg. But, “the issue is whether public land can be used for private profit,” said Mr. Piel, “no one is blaming a private enterprise for trying to make a buck. The County must remember that the use of public lands, acquired, developed and maintained with resident tax moneys should never be used by private organizations to generate private profits, even for a fee.” The Nassau County legislative minority, which is Republican, filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court on June 7 in an effort to void the county’s contracts with the private day camp operators. They contend that the County did not conduct the proper procedure for securing competitive bids and no request for proposals were issued to allow all interested vendors to bid on contracts. But the suit does not address the issue of public/private partnerships. That suit is still pending. The camp at Wantagh Park will open on Monday. Mr. Piel has had no response from the Nassau County Legislature to his proposal to create an oversight committee to specifically monitor parks and revenues generated by the parks. At the present time, parks revenue goes into the general fund. Mr. Piel would also like to see the County create park districts run by a board of commissioners who would be elected by the public each November. The commissioners would receive no renumeration and their terms of office would be staggered. The public would also have an opportunity to vote on a parks budget. “Leave it to the public and let them decide what to do with the parks. After all, the parks belong to all of us,” said Mr. Piel. |
