Too bad the man who took over and completed the Central Park skating rink renovation is otherwise occupied

Rye Playland was showing its age in the early 60s, when my family visited regularly, and it was positively decrepit by the mid-90s. In, the owner of the land, Westchester County, began what County Commissions described as a $30 million renovation of the park – nine years and $150 million later, the renovations remain unfinished, and now it appears that the project is delayed once agin.

Legal Saga over Playland Amusement Park Drags on: 2025 Season is in Limbo

Playland’s future is in question as Westchester County officials continue to feud with operators, Standard Amusements, who announced plans to terminate their contract to run the beloved Art Deco amusement park.

The park’s 280-acres of land is owned by Westchester County.

In 2022 then Westchester County Executive George Latimer, turned over management of Playland to Standard Amusements, a private firm.

Just three years into their 30 year agreement with Westchester County, Standard Amusements announced they were calling it quits, saying the County failed to meet construction obligations and missed contractual deadlines.

The Playland website has instructions for people seeking refunds for group visits or season passes purchased through Standard Amusements.

In a release at the end of January, Standard Amusements said, in part, “…fully realizing our vision required the County to meet the construction obligations necessary to complete improvements to the park. Despite spending over $150 million of taxpayer money— already surpassing their $125 million budget intended to cover completion of the entire project—the County has proven incapable and is nowhere near done.”

The county denied these claims and alleged that Standard Amusements mismanaged the park.

It’s possible, I suppose, that the County government is right, and for the first time in history a public project planned and overseen by incompetent government officials spending public money has the better side of an argument over who’s to blame for the project’s failure, but Westchester County has an unblemished history of both incompetence and corruption, so my bet’s on Standard Amusement being the aggrieved party here.

Here’s the history of the Donald’s role in rebuilding the Wollman Rink in Central Park, accomplishing in 3 1/2 months what the City couldn’t do in 6 years.

The Central Park Renovation: 1980–1986

In 1974, the New York City Parks and Recreation Department started planning a renovation of the rink, including switching the refrigeration system from brine to liquid Freon to lower the operation costs at a time of rising fuel costs. In January 1975, a $4 million plan to renovate Wollman Rink at the park's southeastern corner was announced. By late 1975, the Central Park Task Force, an agency of NYC Parks, released a revised plan to dredge the Pond and redesign the landscaping in the park's southeastern corner for $2.5 million. All plans were deferred due to the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis.

The rink had to be closed in the winter of 1980 when its concrete floor buckled; at that time, the renovation was estimated to cost up to $4.9 million and take two years. Due to the necessity of soliciting bids for three separate contracts and a series of planning errors, construction mishaps, and flooding caused by heavy rains, the renovations had not been completed by May 1986 when the city reversed the decision to use Freon and decided on staying with brine in plastic pipes. By that time, $12.9 million had been spent, with an additional $2 to $3 million estimated to complete the work by the winter of 1987.

Donald Trump then publicly offered to complete the renovations at his expense within six months, in return for leases to operate the rink and an adjacent restaurant in order to recoup his costs. Instead, Mayor Ed Koch agreed to reimburse Trump for any costs up to an agreed limit, and Trump agreed to donate the profits of rink and restaurant to charity and public works.

Adrian Benepe, then the Parks Department's spokesperson and later its commissioner, stated the project was largely complete by the time Trump entered the picture, though this was untrue, the rink was largely in a complete state of disrepair when Trump took over. …. The work was completed two months ahead of schedule and $750,000 under the estimated costs.

Back before the media decided he was “literally Hitler”, it acknowledged Trump’s achievement: