Westchester County hopes to have rides at the Playland Amusement Park up and running for at least part of the coming summer season following Standard Amusements’ termination of its contract as manager. The county has said that the beach and boardwalk definitely would be open, and now it has issued an emergency order to help expedite necessary work on various rides so that there will be activity within the amusement park itself.
The emergency order allowed the county to select without competitive bidding the amusement ride company Zamperla, Inc., to inspect, repair, replace and maintain rides and procure necessary supplies and parts.
Zamperla, headquartered in Italy, has worked on theme parks by such major operators as Disney, Universal Studios, Six Flags, Warner Bros. and Merlin Entertainment. It played an important role in the 2010 revival of Luna Park in Coney Island. Zamperla is a major manufacturer of amusement rides, ranging from roller coasters to kiddie rides.
The county owns 11 rides that were manufactured by Zamperla and a number of other rides manufactured by a company that is no longer in business.
County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Commissioner Kathy O’Connor issued the emergency order.
The Parks Department determined that the situation was urgent in nature and competitive bidding could not be pursued.
“Standard’s abrupt departure leaves the county with little time to properly carry out all of this work. Standard left little or no spare parts in inventory, in some cases did not properly winterize rides and a number of rides were left disassembled,” O’Connor said in a memo to the Board of Legislators. “In order to protect county property and personnel and facilitate the return to operation of the Playland Amusement Park as quickly as possible, the county is declaring an emergency situation. As an emergency, this situation could not await competitive bidding.”
O’Connor described the no-bid arrangement hiring Zamperla as being “the most timely and fiscally efficient solution and will safeguard the county’s property and secure the public safety of park attendees and staff.”
An arbitration hearing on the dispute between the county and Standard Amusements is scheduled to begin on August 12.
