Earlier this week, Phil Reisman, Journal News columnist, spilled on Rye Playland. There were a few gems in "Playland figures in Astorino's political future":
"It is emblematic of Playland's financial health that the 19-member citizens committee charged with weighing options to "reinvent" the 83-year-old amusement park included a priest... Some day he may have to give Playland its last rites...
Playland is a historic landmark. But it actually has two parallel histories: as a beloved attraction for wholesome family fun and as an unsolved political conundrum...
Astorino may call Playland a "magical place," as he did last week, but he is also a fiscal ideologue who made it clear he has not ruled out the possibility of shutting down the amusement section of the park next summer to help close a $100 million budget deficit.... Don't be surprised if he does...
The county executive is nevertheless treading carefully on this issue because Playland is a third-rail in Westchester politics. Nostalgia consumes the place. Even residents who haven't ridden the Dragon Coaster since they were children like to think that the park will remain unchanged, whether it operates in the black or not...
Astorino is up for re-election in 2013. That may seem like a long way off, but time has a sneaky way of accelerating in a recession. It'll be here before you know it.
Winning the first time made him a comer in the Republican Party. But winning a second time will make him a star.
How Astorino balances sensitive issues like Playland against a rigid philosophy of reducing the size and cost of county government will go far in determining his political future...
But their [the all-volunteer reinventing Playland committee] report is in danger of ending up in a closet, which was the fate of all the other detailed reports that preceded it."
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