A proposed theme park would occupy 26 acres of Randall’s Island.

Here's an investigative article I wrote for the recent issue of the
Indypendent, available at fine bookstores like Bluestockings or we will have
a stack in our space... Also on-line at:

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/65954.html

Visit that website and post some comments!


Then cut and paste the addresses and message and email the Comptroller
Thompson and Council Member Viverito this message below...

viverito@council.nyc.ny.us, abridge@comptroller.nyc.gov

Dear Elected Officials,

I am aware of the proposal to privatize 26 acres of Randall's Island to a
commercial enterprise with a horrendous track record and connections to the
former Mayor. Please stop the Randall's Island Theme Park. Instead, the
government could build the bridge from South Bronx and open the bridge to
East Harlem. The park is wrong place for this kind of non park use. I look
forward to your response."


Randall’s Island Rip-Off (The Indypendent)

A proposed theme park would occupy 26 acres of Randall’s Island.

By HARRY J. BUBBINS

Originally proposed in 1999 as a 12-acre initiative at less than one third
the current projected cost, this theme park project has metastasized into a
$168 million, 26-acre enterprise with a 35-year lease, requiring ten of the
island’s already overcrowded baseball and soccer fields to be bulldozed.

Keywords: Government, Nature, Analysis, Local, Space,

For New Yorkers who have come to enjoy their open, green spaces, public
fields and gardens, the meaning of the word “park” has come under increasing
challenge. From the proposed new Yankee Stadium to the water filtration
plant in Van Cortlandt Park, officials are targeting parks for corporate
projects and infrastructure needs. On March 7, a public hearing could
determine the fate of a proposed theme park that would occupy 26 acres of
Randall’s Island.

Originally proposed in 1999 as a 12-acre initiative at less than one third
the current projected cost, this theme park project has metastasized into a
$168 million, 26-acre enterprise with a 35-year lease, requiring ten of the
island’s already overcrowded baseball and soccer fields to be bulldozed. A
review of the Draft Agreement between the developer, Aquatic Development
Group, and the NYC Parks Department is troubling: The most important pages –
those outlining the size, scope, site and details of the proposed
multi-story structures, totaling more than 133,000 square feet – are blank.
What the agreement does indicate is that the price of admission to this
private enterprise will be more than $60.

The courts have repeatedly ruled that if land has been dedicated as a park
it cannot be “alienated,” or taken for a non-park use, without legislation
from the NYC City Council and then authorization from the state legislature.
This scheme to alienate public park land without due process has been
criticized and is being contested by local and citwide advocates like New
Yorkers for Parks and Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, as well as elected
officials like Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito.

Nevertheless, the city is pressing on with its hasty schedule. “Ideally,
we’d like a groundbreaking before the summer of 2006,” said Parks
Department’s spokeswoman Dana Rubenstein. But closer scrutiny might scuttle
the deal altogether.

Surprisingly, there has never been a Request for Proposals or a clear and
transparent solicitation process for this Giuilani-era pitch. Comptroller
William Thompson’s office stated that the city’s process is “flawed and
inconsistent with well-established principles of public bidding” and asked
how the project was allowed to swell from a 12-acre, $45 million water park
in 1999 to a 26-acre, $168 million venture today without being put up for
rebidding.

It may be that the financial ups and downs, previous bankruptcy, conflicts
of interest and other issues will throw up insurmountable road blocks. The
financial backer who has bailed out the main players at Aquatic Development
Group (ADG) in the past is Jared Abbruzzese. Since 2000, Abbruzzese and
numerous family members and ADG President Herb Ellis have contributed more
than $100,000 to various Republican committees, in addition to entities
controlled by former Mayor Giuliani, including Friends of Giuliani and
Solutions America. As part of the review Process now under way, “If the
Comptroller raises certain objections such as irregularities within the
agreement or concerns of corruption, the implementation deadline is void.”

For now, the March 7 hearing is still set, and the project must win five
votes from the city’s Franchise and Concessions Review Committee (FCRC),
which consists of mayoral appointees, the Comptroller’s office and the
affected borough president, in this case Manhattan’s Scott Stringer, whose
opposition to the plan is on record.

The project would be inaccessible to residents of nearby neighborhoods that
are underserved by city parks, such as East Harlem and the South Bronx,
which has no official waterfront or shore access. Most absurd is the
proposal for an indoor “river,” on a site adjacent to a real river.

Indicative of the politics attached to this project, in 2001 then-Parks
Commissioner Henry Stern was compelled to say that “the great recreational
potential of Randall’s and Ward’s Island Park will now be fulfilled with the
amphitheater, track and field center, and water park. We are pleased to see
these projects
get under way.”

Today, free of such constraints, he offers this noncommital yet distinctly
different position: “I think it would be no problem if it was left alone,”
he said. “It doesn’t have to be a happening. It’s an open space, an island
in the heart of the city.”