By:Jeff Lipton
Doreen Banks, commissioner of the county-s Department of Parks, Recreation and Museums, attended a special meeting of the North Woodmere Park Foundation on May 6 to update the community on local park issues. One new development at North Woodmere Park involves Oasis Children-s Services LLC of Brooklyn using the park on the weekdays, from June 28 to Aug. 20, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., for a fee.
Some residents were concerned that the park would be overrun with children, making it undesirable for North Woodmere residents to use it.
Banks said if the agreement fails to work, the summer camp will not operate there the following summer.
There-s no legal requirement for them to keep operating, Banks said. The agreement can be canceled by me. We don-t have to renew it.
Just give it a chance, she told North Woodmere residents during the meeting held at the administration building at North Woodmere Park. If it-s a catastropheÉ, that-s why we are here. We have rules.
The commissioner said the arrangement between the county and Oasis was tried as an experiment in Christopher Morley Park in Roslyn last year, and it worked extremely well. This summer, the county issued permits for Oasis to use the facilities at North Woodmere Park, Cantiague Park in Hicksville, as well as Christopher Morley. In return, the county will receive $57,500. In addition, the county has issued a permit to Woodmont Sports Inc. of Wantagh to use Wantagh Park for the summer in exchange for a fee of $73,125.
Oasis came to me and said they-d like to use the parks for the summer, Banks said. They asked if they could expand it to two other camps, North Woodmere and Cantiague, which are very busy parks.
She said offering the permits is not about making a profit for the county. We want to offer Nassau County residents who want a camp, the opportunity to use a camp. We-re not kicking out anyone. It-s not about kicking people out. We-re trying to offer new things to people in Nassau County.
But Republican legislators are not thrilled about summer camps operating in county parks and demanded that County Executive Thomas Suozzi immediately terminate the use and occupancy permits. In a letter to Suozzi, Schmitt said he was appalled the county administration is renting out parks to private corporations without first seeking legislative approval.
The county executive is utilizing the permits as a way of allowing private businesses to operate and make money on county parkland, said Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa), the legislature-s minority leader, during a press conference on Monday, May 3. Once again he has circumvented the Nassau County Legislature process.
Schmitt said the permits are traditionally handed out for such events as family picnics, fire department softball games and company outings, not for eight-week, five-day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. summer camps.
This is a million-dollar scam which must be ended immediately before Nassau County residents are prevented from using their county parks and pools because the facilities would be overcrowded, Schmitt said. The taxpayers will be shortchanged in the end if we allow this to take place.
At the North Woodmere Park Foundation meeting on May 6, Banks said the county would never have considered issuing the permits at the park if the experiment did not work so well at Christopher Morley.
We have done it one year with Oasis and it worked out quite well, Banks said.
She said only Nassau County residents who attend the camp will be allowed to use the park because non-residents have to pay twice as much.
Banks said she believes the agreement is for about 30 children, boys and girls ages five through 13, even though neighborhood leaders said they heard the agreement was for up to 100 children to use the park.
The agreement calls for campers to use the swimming pool, ballfields and golf course, but mostly in off-peak hours when the facilities are not being used by locals. Oasis will not displace anybody, Banks said. They will use the fields when they are not being used.
Gary Carlton, a neighborhood leader, asked Banks if more park personnel will be added during the summer months because of the increase in the use of the park with Oasis. She said no decision has been made whether staff will be increased but added it may not be a bad idea.
Resident Evelyn Ben-Ami said she has seen school buses lined up at the park in the summer and asked how the park will be able to handle children from different groups using the park. How will you keep the children separate in the pool so they will not drown each other in their exuberance? Ben-Ami said. How will Oasis handle it with other camps coming in? I have been here when the place was just flooded with children.
Banks responded, The park manager has to make sure it-s a safe situation for everyone. We can terminate the relationship and there-s nothing much they [Oasis] can do about it. For instance, we can-t have younger kids running around the golf course.
