On Playland, County Initiates Transition from Standard, Requests Arbitration
(Story updated Friday, 8:45am)
On Thursday, Westchester County said it formally initiated arbitration against Standard Amusements, LLC, following “its wrongful attempted termination of the Playland Management Agreement (PMA)”. Standard notified the County in January it wants out of its 30 year management contract after just three years.
In addition, Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation Commissioner Kathy O’Connor has formally requested that Standard begin the transition process to ensure the County can proceed with its plans to open Playland for the upcoming season. A letter directs Standard Amusements to work with Peter Tartaglia, First Deputy Commissioner of the Westchester County Parks, on the transition. The County has already said it intends to open the park for the season.
The County statement on Thursday said in part “The County has cured the 70% threshold requirement prior to Standard’s attempted termination and that Standard failed to adhere to the proper notice provisions outlined in the PMA. Under the agreement, Standard was required to continue managing Playland until the dispute was resolved. The company’s refusal to operate Playland for the 2025 season constitutes a breach of contract and an Event of Default under Section 23B(ii) of the PMA.”
Standard Amusements fired back with its spokesperson issuing a statement: “We are encouraged that the County is finally beginning to talk about taking the steps necessary to effect an orderly transition of Playland, as we have encouraged them to do since informing them in November of our intention to terminate our agreement. We welcome the arbitration process as the County still seems incapable of living up its agreements without the judicial branch forcing them to do so.”
Read the letter about transitioning Playland to the County for 2025 operations.
Read the County letter regarding arbitration.
