Roller coaster magnate Alberto Zamperla said the company that bears his surname and its subsidiaries have designed rides or managed parks in places like Denmark and even North Korea.
Zamperla SpA has worked to understand the communities and understand community members wherever it has gone, Zamperla told a gathered crowd of residents at the Rye Free Reading Room on Monday.
“I hope we”™ll understand the people of Rye,” he said. The company, headquartered in Italy, and members of its Boonton, N.J.-based subsidiary Central Amusement International LLC were invited to present to the community plans for Rye Playland, the Westchester County-owned amusement park that Central is hoping to manage.
The presentation was organized by County Legislator Catherine Parker, a Rye Democrat, who joked the company should have no problem handling Rye “if you cut your teeth on Kim Jong Il.”
That is not to say winning over residents of the city, which is home to Playland, will be an easy task. Central and another company, Standard Amusements LLC, have re-emerged as frontrunners to manage the park after a nonprofit called Sustainable Playland Inc. was chosen to take over the day-to-day operations and was all but handed the keys before the deal fell apart.
Rye residents were part of the opposition to Sustainable”™s plan, which included construction of an 82,500-square-foot field house neighbors said was out of character with the aesthetics of the neighborhood. The Rye City Council stepped in and said it should have approval of any construction plans at the park despite it being owned by the county (Mayor Joe Sack, a Republican, wrote in the weekly newspaper The Rye Review that the city would continue to assert its authority over any future plan).
If chosen, there are signs that Central may fare better with the community than its potential predecessor. The group is focused on investing in the amusement park rather than shifting the focus of the property to a field house. It also has managed the amusements at Coney Island since 2010, when the park had become a shell of its former self  with aging rides and deteriorating infrastructure. Like Playland, Coney Island was known for historical rides and was a project that was part “refresh,” part restoration.
Coney Island is in the midst of a resurgence and Central said it could do the same for Playland. It plans to invest $25 million in Playland in the first five years of a management deal ”“ at Coney Island it projected investing $23 million but has already spent more than $43 million.
Valerio Ferrari, CEO and president of Central, noted the company had built a new Thunderbolt ride at Coney Island while restoring the historical Cyclone. Playland is a designated historical landmark as are seven of its oldest rides, including the signature Dragon Coaster.
Several changes the company would undertake immediately are to end the practice of closing Mondays and to remove the entrance gates and wristband system. Ferrari said he understood that Playland was smaller and different than Brooklyn”™s Coney Island or the flashy Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, which Zamperla has worked with, but he assured attendees the company understood the intricacies of different communities and their parks.
“We can play any game we are challenged to,” he said. The company is hoping to see attendance at the park grow to 700,000 within five years from numbers estimated at roughly 350,000.
Deirdre Curran, a member of the citizens group Save Rye Playland, asked the company about its plans to keep the existing Playland employees. She said it was essential for continuity and to keep in place those workers experienced with the inner workings of the park and its rides so they could impart their wisdom to younger workers.
“If we lose that or break that chain, we”™ll never be able to recoup it,” she said.
The company said it has no plans at present to get rid of existing employees. It also will keep on CulinArt Inc., which oversees the concessions at Playland. But the company said CulinArt would not be exclusive and other restaurants and companies would be brought in, and that Central itself could manage some of the concessions, according to Ferrari.
Parker said she also will host a meeting Nov. 3 with Standard Amusements, as well as a Nov. 17 meeting to discuss Playland”™s 2013 numbers, which showed a rebound in attendance and revenue without a management company coming in. The latter meeting also will focus on identifying the community”™s values for the park, she said.
Even though the predominantly Democratic county Board of Legislators wants to choose an operator for the park in time for the 2015 season, Republican County Executive Rob Astorino commissioned an economic analysis of the park by consultant Dan Biederman. Astorino has said he is waiting for that analysis, due next month, to determine how to move forward with Playland.
Update: A previous version of this article identified Deirdre Curran as president of Save Playland. The group does not have a president.
Just a disclaimer: I’m not the President of Save Playland. Save Playland doesn’t have any official President or leader. I’m not the President of anything – not even of the dog and two cats living in my home!
Deidre, fair enough. But as a charter member (we all are, right?) I would like to nominate you as spokesperson of citizens group SAVE PLAYLAND, and I hope to get a second, and your acceptance. It is an honor to know you.
Bill Mullen