MyRye.com is entering the podcasting business with a new weekly podcast hosted by former Rye Mayor Doug French. Available on all major podcasting platforms, MyRye.com Conversations with Doug French will tackle the larger and sometimes intractable issues impacting the City of Rye through interviews with local, county and state officials and business leaders.
In Episode 19 of Season 1, French speaks to Rick McCabe, chairman of the Rye Recreation Commission, to talk through how Rye is adapting its parks, fields, and programs to meet rising demand. The conversation focuses on major recreation trends, how the city is stretching finite space, and what priorities matter most as Rye looks ahead.
The conversation covers pickleball growth, senior programming, youth sports pressure, public-private partnerships, and the capital projects shaping the future of recreation in town.
This episode of MyRye.com Conversations with Doug French was produced by MyRye.com. Feedback and story ideas are welcome.
Main Topics Covered:
- McCabe explains how the Recreation Commission thinks about public recreation as a citywide quality-of-life issue, not just a set of programs.
- The episode opens with a nod to the show Parks and Recreation and the real-world mix of chaos, creativity, and heart that comes with running municipal rec.
- Pickleball is booming, and Rye is responding with a major rehabilitation of six courts at Rec Park and the Damiano Center.
- McCabe emphasizes the commission’s approach to smart spending: choose improvements that last longer and create more access, not just quick fixes.
- The idea of recreation as a “third space” comes up repeatedly, with parks and programs serving as places for connection outside home and work.
- Rye’s senior program continues to grow, now with more than 400 members, and offers exercise, trips, social activities, and summer access to the Rye Golf Club pool.
- Youth sports remain a major pressure point, with growing participation in soccer, baseball, rugby, softball, basketball, and other programs.
- The public-private model at Nursery Field is presented as a standout success, with zero field-condition cancellations during the first full spring of use.
- Rye is also looking at better connectivity between parks, schools, downtown, and other public spaces to support walking, biking, and active transportation.
- Technology is improving user experience through easier scheduling, registration, and facility management for both residents and rec staff.
- Capital priorities include Gagliardo, Disbrow tennis courts, Rec Park playgrounds, and updates to the main rec building and bathrooms.
- McCabe stresses that Rye’s recreation future depends on flexibility, cooperation, and willingness to use a range of partnerships and funding models.
- The episode closes with a lightning round covering favorite events, coffee, and McCabe’s wish for a more flexible, responsive rec system.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Why recreation is central to Rye’s quality of life
01:08 – Parks and Rec, big hearts, and the reality of municipal rec work
03:12 – Pickleball demand and the six-court rehabilitation at Rec Park
05:20 – Recreation as Rye’s essential third space
07:07 – How city staff maximize rare funding opportunities
09:06 – Senior programming growth and wellness benefits
10:50 – Youth sports, specialization, and rising participation
13:13 – Rye Youth Basketball and the demand for inclusive leagues
14:55 – Building walking and biking connections across Rye
17:24 – How technology improves registration and scheduling
18:23 – Why the Nursery Field partnership worked so well
20:50 – The case for permanent friends groups and broader partnerships
22:49 – Coordination with the schools, the Y, and other providers
24:44 – Field flexibility, surface choices, and community input
26:02 – Maximizing capacity through smart partnerships and shared use
27:57 – Gagliardo’s place at the top of the capital priority list
30:31 – Why the Disbro tennis courts need replacement
31:00 – Rec Park playgrounds and main building upgrades
33:05 – Technology’s role in easing the user experience
34:34 – Exploring more facility-sharing with the Y, clubs, and churches
36:26 – Cost recovery, user fees, and keeping programs affordable
38:56 – Why recreation belongs in the comprehensive plan
40:16 – Lightning round: joy, Turkey Trot, Gagliardo, and flexibility
42:43 – How residents can get involved in recreation planning
43:00 – Final thoughts on the importance of rec in Rye
Watch:
Full Transcript [edited for clarity]:
Speakers
- MyRye.com (Doug French)
- Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
00:12 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Welcome to the MyRye.com podcast, Conversations with Doug French. I’m your host Doug French, former mayor of the City of Rye, and this podcast is about the issues and the people that impact Rye and our surrounding region. Our aim is to inform you so you can engage on the local issues that matter most to you. Today in conversation is municipal recreation. Are we keeping pace with the growing trends? How do we get more out of finite space? And what does the future of recreation actually look like and can we get there? Joining me is Rick McCabe, chairman of the Rye Recreation Commission. Rick, welcome to MyRye.com
00:46 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Doug, thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
00:48 — MyRye.com, Doug French
So I guess people when they think about public recreation, the first thing that comes to mind is the TV show Parks and Rec. And they do a great job showing the window into recreation where they focus on the chaos and the bureaucracy and the big hearts of the people in recreation. So Rick, how does that feel? Does that sound like it’s true?
01:09 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
It sounds really spot on to me. I would want the professional staff that works at the rec from Erin on down to answer that as well. But it certainly appears the same thing to me. I think starting with the big hearts of the people that are there and the people that are involved day to day, whether that’s long-term planning, it’s the day-to-day execution, it’s really putting the heart of the city into every program that they come up with. I absolutely love parks and recreation. It’s one of my favorite shows. Absolutely brilliant. I heard it once said by the creator. He was a huge fan of the West Wing, which is also one of my favorite all-time shows.
01:39 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah.
01:40 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
He said if the West Wing was about high stakes meaning facing off against Russia and China, parks and recreation was meant to mean high stakes meaning who’s gonna get the field, girls softball or men’s softball, right? That kind of thing. And
01:51 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Exactly.
01:52 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
And I think that’s exactly right. And think, you know, you mentioned the chaos. I think it’s chaos all for a good reason. And it’s certainly managed perfectly by the rec staff. We’re always looking for, you know, new ways to bring new services to the city. When you look at the breadth of who that group serves, with a you know, a small but mighty team serving just about every age group in the city, they do an incredible job. So I think they’re the best of the best for sure.
02:16 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah, and by way of full disclosure, I am the former chairman of the Recreation Commission. It was a great
02:20 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Absolutely.
02:21 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Way to learn about government and the people, and I could not say more about the staff and the program as well. And we’re and Parks and Recreation has a great tongue-in-cheek look at recreation for sure. So speaking of that, you mentioned that recreation touches everybody. It is true, it touches nearly every demographic, if not every demographic in town. And it clearly adds to the quality of life here in Rye. There is a renewed desire to be more active and connected, especially coming out of COVID. So let’s hit on some of the biggest trends that are affecting recreation. The first is pickleball. It is the great equalizer, doesn’t matter. Age, everybody’s equal on the court. So what’s the current state of pickleball here in Rye?
02:59 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Well, I think as we’ve seen across the country, it’s grown by leaps and bounds the last couple of years. Incredibly popular, as you said, with lots of different groups. Rec staff has tried to accommodate all of that growing audience and desire for court time and things like that. As we’re talking right now, there’s a rehabilitation project underway at rec park at the Damiano Center to rebuild and rehabilitate six of the courts. So there’ll be six new courts. Probably by the time that the podcast airs, there’ll be new courts ready to go, which is a huge accomplishment. There was a point back in the spring when there was a conversation at our rec commission, and the commission, all the members of the commission are as you can imagine, folks that are just so passionate about the mission of the rec and the quality of life in the city, as you said. And there was a conversation about the courts obviously needing some work. And there was one option that was kind of like we can just sort of do this kind of very minor repair. It’s probably gonna last a year or two and it’s gonna cost a decent amount of money. And then there was a conversation that we had at the commission with Erin Mantz and then with Brian Shea. There was a second option to try and push it a little bit and do a much more robust rehabilitation that was gonna last in the neighborhood of five to seven years and really give us a much more a much more useful surface, a much more durable surface to accommodate this, you know, the growing popularity of the sport. So at the commission, that’s one of the things that we try to do is if we can add any guidance in terms of let’s make smart decisions, right? We’re always going to have finite resources, finite space. Let’s make some smart decisions. If it happens again, money’s always going to be a factor in how we can fund those things, but if that option is there, let’s think about how we want to do these things to create more opportunity, more availability and more access.
04:35 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah, no, it sounds spot on. There all is also this trend about recreation being a third space where there’s you know, to combat isolation and build really community connection. Can you speak about some of the improvements you’re doing in that area?
04:47 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Yeah, and I think it’s I think it’s a key point. It’s a heady concept, you know, third space meaning home first, work second, and this kind of third space and where is it for you? And I think it’s the entire you know ethos behind public recreation and our parks, right? That is what we all want but also need a place to have a break from the day-to-day, from finding new things to try, new clubs, new activities, whether that’s for a toddler or for our unbelievably robust senior program. And finding those opportunities, not just the places, which is an important part of this conversation, but also the new opportunities and the new ideas that the rec staff seems to bring every year with new new activities for kids, teens, seniors, different different activities at the different parks. But that has to be top of mind. You know, this is a public trust in a lot of ways, like many of our many activities of our local government. And it’s frankly, what really makes Rye Rye in so many ways is that this has always been historically it’s always been a really important part of living in town. We’re incredibly fortunate to be in a town that has some of the most beautiful private clubs in the world. And that’s an incredible opportunity for many, many folks that live in town. This is a second, maybe these are the different kinds of third places, right? But I think the city parks and recreation access and availability remains a really important part of that conversation.
06:04 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah, no, I and it seems like it’s intentional. And you did great work on the amphitheater at Rec Park. I know the skate park now has a renewed interest. The restrooms alone at Rec Park, it just keeps people there, right? And the pavilions just look spectacular.
06:18 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Yeah, it’s a good point. And I think, all the credit goes to the city staff for knowing what to do when the opportunity is there, right? I would say that no one’s just kind of waiting for things to happen. I would say from Brian to Ryan Coyne to Erin Mantz there’s a springloaded list of things that can get done when the opportunity is there. And I think if you look at Main Rec Park, and there was a chance a few years probably back five years ago now. Where some funding became available. And they immediately were able to say, okay, here’s what we can do for that finite amount of money. Two brand new shelters, which are just spectacular. The amphitheater, which we’ve never had in town before in any kind of in any kind of real sense, the bathrooms, all those things that would say in a lot of ways feel like they should be table stakes in a park like that, right? They should be sort of how it’s supposed to look in a place like Rye. They didn’t. And to have that opportunity to do that. So that’s you, the city staff. Not only the creativity, the execution, when you see what, you know, Ryan’s team in terms of the execution of these things, of putting together those shelters or those things, you know, certainly there’s gonna always gonna be times when there need to be outside contractors and experts that are gonna help us do things like that. But the DPW staff
07:23 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Okay.
07:24 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
And the rec maintenance staff have done a spectacular job at all of our parks in maximizing the opportunities when they come. So even Nursery Field is a good opportunity, putting the athletic field aside, which is spectacular and has accomplished, I think, all the goals that everybody hoped for. The surrounding areas around that facility now, between picnic tables and plantings and, native species planting and things like that, they’ve just done an incredible job of sort of finding what those kinds of finishing touches and rounding out pieces of it really should look like.
07:50 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah, well said. And we’re gonna get back to the Nursery Field in a second. But the other trend is aging in place. So the populations are staying, you know, home longer. How’s the senior program going? What trends are you seeing in that area?
08:02 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
The senior program is amazing, you know, year after year. I think there’s more than four hundred members of the senior program, registered members of the senior program now. I think it’s four hundred and almost four hundred and twenty. And that really ranges. There are are folks in the program that take take advantage of every program throughout the course of a week, whether whether it’s an exercise class or a game activity or a trip someplace, or in the summer, the partnership between Rye Golf Club and Rye Rec, giving the seniors the opportunity to be at The Rye Golf Club pool in the mornings. All of these things are just absolutely incredible. And I think you’re seeing a level of activity, a level of physical wellness, mental wellness that comes along with those opportunities. And I think the senior program is one place where it just can, like I said, continue to grow. And there’s, you know, it’s always incredible to see the pockets of different things. There’s the men’s, there’s the men’s club breakfasts and things like that, where you know, it’s not just one. Broad stroke that takes care of everybody. I think that the rec staff and the senior coordinators always make an effort to find something for everybody, you know, in that activity. But that’s one great example of when the opportunity is there, we know that citizens from around Rye absolutely want to take advantage of it and they and they will come out and they will do it.
09:13 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Absolutely and the other is a rising trend, youth sports. So I had the honor of attending the high school sports awards this year. And the common theme was wow, Rye has a tremendous set of athletes across a number of sports that play multiple sports. And it really starts with youth sports and the leagues that we have, the specialization. And that’s a big pressure point for recreation, is balancing all of that. Can you speak to the growing trend of youth sports?
09:36 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Sure. I think you’re, I think you’re absolutely right. I think if if nothing else, we’re seeing all the effort that goes into all of our youth sports organizations, from our volunteer coaches to the boards of each of those organizations, to the level of the growing level of expertise is probably a different word since it’s a lot of moms and dads and folks that are out there sort of doing the coaching, but it’s taken seriously. And we know that there’s a certain level of specialization that goes on in sports for certain youth athletes, but for the general population of kids growing up in Rye. They’re playing in Rye Youth Soccer, Rye Little League, Rye Rugby, Rye Youth Rugby, girls’ softball, obviously, the registration just continues to grow and grow. And you’re seeing that come to fruition now with five state championships, if not more, just in one, in one senior class, from you know, from football to hockey to field hockey to just and you know absolutely incredible achievements by our young athletes. There’s no question about the physical benefits for kids. There’s very little question about. Mental health benefits for kids and in an age where from the classroom to home to them being socially always connected, it is really an incredible break for them to be able to sort of to be sort of outside of that digital world that’s endemic for all of us now. But I think registration for each of those groups continues to grow, which is fantastic. Full stop. It creates a little bit more pressure as time goes on in terms of how many fields do you need, how often are they available? How often can you play? You know, those kinds of things. And that’s a good problem to have, right? If you have growing youth sports participation, it’s great for the kids. It’s incredibly I think it’s I think it’s helpful for for the community overall to walk through Disbrow during a night when there’s a Rye Girls Softball game and a little league game going on at the same time and the high school team’s playing in the back, or if you walk by the high school, there’s always some kind of a game going on. I think that’s an important part of our community. It always has been. And I think it contributes to the fact that I’ve read once in a book about something called local patriotism, right? It’s part of that kind of idea that this is who we are as a town and as a city.
11:29 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Right.
11:29 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Many other parts of that definition of who we are as a city. But I think, you know, that participation, the level of volunteerism that goes into all those sports. You couldn’t calculate the number of hours that goes into running those sports, as you know from when you were doing it. I think it’s you know, the participation just continues to grow and grow. And not just in the sort of traditional sports that we’ve seen, new groups come to us sometimes and say to the commission and say, We’d like to start, let’s use raw youth basketball. A couple of years ago, a couple of parents came in and said, There are some programs around, we’d like there to be, but so much of basketball in particular becomes specialized really quickly. And either you’re good enough or you’re not good enough to play at an elite level, to travel, things like that. These parents got together and said, This is a sport we know our kids love. There may not be as many opportunities to have a just Youth Participation League, full stop, right? Everybody gets to play, everybody gets on a team, everybody gets playing time. Right youth basketball has become one of the newer, faster growing user groups. They bring kids in, you know, in growing numbers every time. I just went in speaking with Erin Mantz recently, expanding the five, sixth, and seventh grade programs so that there’s even opportunities for those kids in those grades. So it’s for looking for those opportunities. Again, puts a little pressure on our facilities and our time and our staff, but I think it’s a I think it’s a good problem to have.
12:42 — MyRye.com, Doug French
I remember how Sally Roble, when I was chair, spoke so fondly of the youth basketball program, and it’s great to see. And just to your other point, the larger point is all the coaches at the award center spoke about the community, how supportive the parents and the community and the schools are to support the athletes. And it does generate community pride. So well said on that. This is probably a whole of government approach, but people are walking, running, biking around town a lot more. I think the roads have greatly improved, though, so thank you to the council and the mayor for that and the staff. But do you have a whole government approach? I just had Brian Dempsey on from the Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Commission. I mean, are you looking to incorporate some more accessibility for those types of activities?
13:21 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
I think the city staff’s done a great job with that. I think especially let’s just take the parks on their own, within each park. I think Erin and Ryan have done an incredible job finding those opportunities. So Rec Park in particular, now there’s sort of a continuous path around the whole park where you could use that as your walking trail. I think if you look at Gagliardo, some element of that hopefully gets incorporated into that park as it gets renovated. The connections between the parks and not just the parks, it’s how do you connect all of those spaces to our schools? You know, to the library, to town. I think, you know, Ryan’s done a great job, you know, the professional staff on its own. And I think, you know, Brian and the and the and the traffic commission have done an incredible job around town looking for those opportunities. That should include active recreation elements where it can safely, right? When you look at a bike lane on Forest Avenue, we all know the sidewalk issues and things like that are gonna get taken care of over a long period of time. But those those biking greenways and things like
14:13 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Mm-hmm.
14:13 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
That, designating them in a way it’s safe. For the participant, it’s not totally obtrusive for what we know is a lot of traffic around town. But any time that you can find a safe and productive way to incorporate those into a park or just on our streets, how do you connect them? Right. There’s that, there’s that I know that’s always something that they’re looking at to say if a young person needs to go from Osborn to the wreck after school, or if they need to go from the middle school to Milton for a practice, or you see every afternoon, you see a parade of Middle schoolers and high schoolers getting from the high school down to Disbrow. That’s that’s that’s more just that’s their transportation more than it is their exercise. But I think being able to connect the thread between all those facilities and parks is also an important part of that conversation.
14:56 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah, ex exactly. The secret sauce is really you can go from the schools to rec to the art center to the nature center to downtown.
15:03 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Correct.
15:04 — MyRye.com, Doug French
The connectivity is great. It’s awesome, quite frankly.
15:08 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
It’s important, it’s important.
15:09 — MyRye.com, Doug French
It’s important. Any other trends that we may have missed that you’re seeing?
15:12 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
I think that if you look at the, you know, even just as we’re talking today, the fall brochure from the rec came out last night or this morning. And if you just look at the breadth of opportunities that the staff is providing, I think that’s that’s it’s the trend being people have an interest in doing a real variety of things. And I think, you know, Erin and the team have taken a wide swath of what you would maybe consider parks and rec programs or not. But I think they’re looking at it as we have the facilities, we have the programming expertise, we have the scheduling capabilities. Why can’t these things just be sports activities, right? These can be gaming activities.
15:42 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yes.
15:43 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
These can be, you know, the they do an incredible job with the school holiday camps and things like that, obviously. But I would say that what they’ve been able to do in terms of expanding the offering, and you and I talked about this briefly, technology plays an important role in that, right? We sort of think about parks and rec activities and it provides us sort of a relief from the technology that’s so endemic in our lives. I think the technology’s played an important role in helping the rec staff and the participants schedule with ease, register with ease, all these things which are pretty somewhat simple and sort of expected at this point. But I think it’s a. I think it’s an important part of what they’ve been able to do as well.
16:19 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah, it does really enhance the user experience. So let’s move to a different block here. Let’s talk about facilities and finite space, field space and facilities. The public private model seems to have worked pretty well in the nursery field. Can you give us an update on that?
16:33 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Yeah, I think there’s no question that it worked. It worked incredibly well. I was lucky to join the rec staff and some folks from some members of the board of Let the Kids Play. Back in June, the Westchester Recreation and Parks Society, which is all the professionals from around the county, they do an annual luncheon and there’s an award for the lots of awards, and the passion in that room for parks and recreation is beyond anything you could possibly imagine. It was a lovely gathering and a lovely lunch. Let the kids play. It was the volunteer service award for a group. There’s one for an individual and one for and one for a group. And they were sort of held up as the example of a private group that supported municipal recreation. And I think Let the Kids Play and that model was an incredible opportunity for something that everybody agreed was a top priority in the city and you had a facility that was so inconsistent and so hard to plan against the availability of it. And I think After lots of let’s let’s let’s say it nicely vigorous debate and discussion, as we always should have, the decisions were made at the council and and elsewhere that we found the right path in terms of the type of field, the surface, the things like that, all which are which are are safe and appropriate for for that space. This spring, which was our first full spring of having availability for the field, there was not one cancellation of an event due to field conditions. Were there some really bad rainy cold days that maybe A game was called offshore, but not one cancellation has been due to the surface and to the field condition, which is unheard of. They were having 50% cancellations on that field two years ago. So
18:01 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Fifty percent, yeah, exactly.
18:04 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
That’s an example of not only how you get there, but that opportunity only came to do it that way because of a public private partnership. And I think it’s something we have finite space. We’re always going to have finite resources, especially financial resources. We’re going to have to really be smart about being flexible. Right. I think the most important thing that any of us can bring to any conversation, and this goes well beyond parks and rec. We can’t be locked into an old model. We can’t be locked into one way of doing business. If we’re gonna move forward and have these facilities, these programs, these opportunities at a level that we all agree rye should have, that may come through private public partnerships, that may come through county municipal, that may come through different ways to look at it. And I think Let the Kids Play, being that agent for that is a perfect way to look at that. I think. When we looked at other facilities around town, we had a long conversation at the commission. This maybe even goes back to your time on the commission as chair, Doug. That’s the sort of permanent model that can help facilitate those facility reconstructions program developments? What’s the, you know, we see Friends of Rye Town Park, of which I’m a proud board member. We saw Friends of Rye Nature Center. We see these organizations and these boards that are not the commission, they’re not the private, they’re not the public staff. But they are friends groups, literally, as the definition goes. What’s the definition and what’s the structure of that for rye recreation? And I think if you look at individuals around town, if you look at our local businesses, if you look at larger national businesses that have a footprint in town, there probably is an opportunity for us to say, what is that? What is that ongoing kind of, you know, sort of permanent friends group where we’re not always saying, we need to do this one specific thing. How do we find the money, raise the money, get the volunteers? There’s something in place where you can then just you can kind of turn that function on and you can turn that passion on and you can turn those connections on to try to get those things done, you know, in a sort of an ongoing way.
19:53 — MyRye.com, Doug French
In a small way we had started Friends of Rye Recreation, but I think that was years ago. We need to dust it off and look at that type of approach, yeah.
19:59 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Yeah, exactly right. And you see and you certainly see it. You know, that’s one way to look at it. Our partnerships with the Lions Club, the Chamber of Commerce, all of our the school district is probably the biggest partner, certainly, for Rye Recreation and an incredible partner. You look at our rec, our relationships with our churches, with our private clubs, all of those things are gonna be an important part of how we move forward if we want to keep that sort of flexible mindset and do things in a way that we think Rye deserves.
20:24 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Well speaking about flexibility, let’s talk about coordination with some of those other providers because there are a lot out there, the schools, the Y. How is the coordination going with all the sports leagues, the coordination going and working together, identifying opportunities and shared services?
20:38 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
From my vantage point, I think the cooperation’s never been better. I think that all that credit goes to Erin and the professional staff and the staff of those different whether that’s from the A D on down at the high school and through the school district or from the entire administration of the Y, it’s an incredibly cooperative relationship. You know, we’re on some level competing for the same eyeballs and participants in programs and things like that. But it never manifests itself as a competition. It manifests itself as cooperation. And I think when you look at it, let’s use Rye Youth basketball as an example. That was a group that wanted to get started. We don’t have one kind of natural rec gym, right? We always talk about it as something that would be on our long-term list. Say, where’s our field house? Where’s our multi-sport fieldhouse that could be an indoor facility that could accommodate those things? We don’t have it yet. Maybe we’ll get there, hopefully, at some point soon. You have middle school, you have high school, the middle school, our elementary schools. And other institutions in town that have Rye Country Day, Resurrection, have facilities that we can tap into, those always seem to be cooperative conversations. There may not be a solution there. There may be a schedule of conflict that can’t be moved or or just that can’t be solved that way. But I don’t think there’s any question that each organization, you know, looks at the opportunities for their own membership only blossoming in cooperation with the rec or the other organizations in town.
21:58 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah, no, and there’s only one taxpayer ultimately, so the more you
22:01 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Correct.
22:01 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Can line across the services. You know, I was at the Port Chester Village Hall the other day. They’re building a gym in the basement of the village hall there. Not to say City Hall’s gonna be a gym, but anyway, I digress. Other ways
22:11 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
We’ll find, we’ll find, we’ll find it somewhere. We’ll find it somewhere for sure.
22:15 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Other ways are to extend the capacity of fields. Now again I know lights are sensitive and understandably so, but turfing, lights, other other multi-use fields, multi-purpose fields, what are you thinking about as far as that?
22:28 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
I think this goes back to the point about flexibility, right? And I think, you know, there’s always going to be a process to make sure any decision like this is being vetted not just by the commission, not just by the professional staff, but by the community. So going back to nursery again, right? There was a long, robust and important conversation about the future of that piece of property, which I think everyone kind of agreed for the most part that it was going to still be a field, but what kind of field? And I think when you look at how you’re going to approach those, you know, how you’re going to approach the you know, the future of those facilities and how you’re going to have that conversation. Can we start this one again, Doug? I apologize. I lost my train of thought on it. I’m sure if we can stop or if you just ask that question again. I’ll start again.
23:36 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
It’s great, it’s a great point. I think so many of our parks are directly adjacent to residential property and major thoroughfares and things like that. So it’s always something that needs to be talked about. It goes back to that point about flexibility, right? There’s gonna be places where things like a different surface, potentially lights, might be appropriate, but there’s definitely gonna be places where it’s not gonna be appropriate for a variety of reasons. The flexibility is what’s really key. And a good natured conversation in the community, as it was at nursery field about that surface and that availability, that needs to be part of this process for sure. Yes, it’s about the commission and the professional staff, but the community in a town like Rye has a voice and wants a voice when those kinds of decisions are being made. And I think that’s gotta be an important part of the process. Those things can help with that, right? It’s how do you expand, knowing that we don’t have a lot more land to find new spots to put in new fields. We can try to be as creative as possible, but It’s really about maximizing what we have and then looking at those partnerships that are going to help us expand capacity as well. I think, you know, those kinds of things are going to be helpful. Nursery being the good example in terms of no cancellations all spring due to field conditions. That’s just an easy, that’s an easy, an easy example of it. I think partnerships with Rye Country Day and other organizations that have facilities now or will have facilities in the future are the agreement, I believe, with the city that Rye Country Day has that there’s always been a carve out there for some some amount of the field time being available for municipal use, I think for Rye and for Port Chester, that’ll be a huge boon for us to be able to have access to that. And those fields may have a different durability you know, availability in terms of time of day, surface, lights, things like that. But that’s but that’s always a question for the community as well.
25:11 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah. And also, you know, playland keeping that in consideration, even though it would be a multi municipal field. There’s an opportunity given our proximity for us to kinda talk to talk to the county about that, just to keep that in mind.
25:23 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
No doubt about it.
25:24 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah. Let’s move to capital priorities. Walk us through the current capital projects picture. I know Gagliardo’s been a popular topic these days.
25:33 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Sure. I would say Gagliardo is probably the one at the top of the list, certainly the one that people have talked the most about in the last six months or so. It’s a gem of a park that not everyone in town is familiar with. It’s certainly if you had you know if you had had kids in youth baseball and Rye Little League, you certainly got your time at Gagliardo for sure. But it does tend to be a bit of a destination, it’s a neighborhood park. I grew up down the hill off of Central Avenue on Walnut Street, and it was certainly one of our neighborhood parks that was within walking distance. I think it’s certainly probably at the top of the priority list. I know it’s in the capital improvement plan that’ll be debated and talked about over the next couple of months. I think the public feedback has been incredibly helpful. Not overly surprising, but I think it’s really helpful to have confirmation in terms of the level of interest and the types of the types of things that people want to see there. No surprise that the vast majority of people just want to see what’s updated there. It was kept in good condition and the park kept clean. I think the city staff does a great job keeping the park in as good a condition as it could be in. It needs an upgrade. We can all be honest about that. And when we had a great meeting at the REC on May 14th, great public turnout. I think there were 60 or 70 people there. It’s on the city website if anyone wants to go watch it. It was a great conversation with the community to say here’s what here’s where we are. There’s a survey coming. The survey was done by 220 people who gave their feedback about what we think the priority should be. In terms of the use of the park, in terms of the actual elements of the park, the apparatus. Everyone seems to agree that the baseball field historically and currently is a great thing to have there. The rest of the park needs some help, right? It needs playground help. It needs shelter, a sports court, and bathrooms. Those are the things that are there. They just need to be updated. And I think Ryan and Erin and the team are talking with different vendors about playground apparatus. And there’s certainly going to be a more specific plan. There’ll be a meeting sometime in the fall at the park. With the community again and the council. So it’ll even be a you know a more in-depth conversation with potentially some more detail around it. But that’s certainly a big priority, a big priority for rec moving forward. I would also say there’s always things at Disbrow that could be looked at. I think Ryan and Erin and the team are always sort of surveying all of our properties to think where could we go with this? Where could we improve the experience for our users? Disbrow’s a good example. Those tennis courts at Disbrow should be at the top of almost any list in town of things that from a recreation standpoint need to be prioritized. They’re they’re they’re at the point now where vendors are telling us, don’t take our we’re not going to take your money to fix them anymore. When you’re ready to replace them, let’s talk. And I think that’s
27:56 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Right.
27:57 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Got to be that’s going to be a priority. Tennis and that would that’s always been a tennis facility, but with the new courts at pickleball at the rec, there’s a there’s a growing list and a waiting list for people to be able to play tennis in an affordable place, which the rec certainly is, those courts would afford not only everyday users, but our high school teams as well. An opportunity to have, you know, the kinds of the kinds of places, the kinds of courts that we deserve for a sport that’s as popular as it is in Rye. Certainly rec park playgrounds, the two playgrounds at Rec Park are due for renovation. Many of the main facilities, but the main building, the front part of the main building, is not exactly a modern facility. You could use upgrades to the bathrooms and to the reception area and things like that. And the back building, which we all think of as new, right? Those of us who have been around for a while, we think about that’s the new part of the rec. That’s twenty years old. It’s still in great
28:42 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Right. Yeah.
28:44 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Condition and kept so by the city staff. But I think those are things that I would say are on the commission’s mind and on the wish list of the professional staff for sure.
28:52 — MyRye.com, Doug French
My wish list is to paint Damiano. I think that he needs a new car. Yeah, let’s go. Yeah, You and me, we’ll go Yeah, that’s right.
28:55 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Let’s go. Hand me a b hand me a brush. Hand me a brush.
29:00 — MyRye.com, Doug French
So I’ll let you take a pause and take a break. And let me just remind our listeners if you have a topic or a person you’d like to hear on the MyRye.com podcast, conversations with Doug French, just email me at French at MyRye.com or let me know around town if you see me. We are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and YouTube weekly. So you could find us also at MyRye.com. Please share, like, or subscribe, and leave a comment. It really helps us grow this local podcast. I do want to mention if you’re a new or regular listener or a viewer, we have the MyRye.com poster here in the studio as well as a picture of Purchase Street. And there’s a Yankee chair on the old Yankee Stadium. And I also want to kudos again to our theme song, Mr. Rye, and for putting that together. It’s a great theme song. So we will get back to the show. And let’s go to the let’s talk about the future of public recreation, kind of looking ahead. We talked a little bit about technology, but I really think technology is a way that you can enhance that user experience, take out the guessing, know when to schedule and it knows when what’s available, able to maybe find other players potentially, right? So what what’s your thoughts on technology going forward?
30:08 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
I think it’s I think you’re exactly right. I think the you know the ease of scheduling, the ease of not only just for for a user to schedule where can I play tennis or where can I where can I get field space, how can I rent the amphitheater, can I rent the shelters for an event, but from a from a the youth sports organizations and that scheduling standpoint it becomes really helpful for the professional staff at the rec to be able to manage that. That’s quite a challenge, is scheduling those the limited fields that we have and there’s somebody that wants them almost all the time. That technology becomes an important part of that process as well. But I think I would say it’s probably had a larger impact immediately on the daily user experience and being able to schedule fees are taken care of. There’s no, you know, there you remember this back in the old days, there was cash being handed over at the tennis courts and things like that. It would just be all of this for over a long period of time, and not a lot of this is not new, but the technology continues to help us streamline that and create efficiencies. You know, we talk about rec. Having a different model than let’s say the golf club or the marina, there’s a certain amount of the costs that are recouped and I think that helps the staff you know, find areas to maximize that and the technology is an important part of that.
31:13 — MyRye.com, Doug French
And what about stronger alliances with other providers? I know there are a lot of rec facilities in town, but many sit dormant at different parts of the year, different parts of the day. Is there a way to align more with the Y or the golf club or the private clubs for some of their facilities and vice versa?
31:29 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
I think there are, and I think that the staff is always looking for ways to maximize those. Everyone kind of knows what we know what the rec inventory is of space. Then you look at sort of more broadly than that, they can easily go outside of that for some of these great cooperative partners that we have, the school district, the Y. Like you said, you know, some of our churches have facilities that are available to us either for camp or for basketball leagues or things like that. Those end up being, you know, a great cooperative relationship, both for folks that are coming to things through the rec or for the members of those organizations themselves. Private clubs is not one that we’ve I think spend you know, a lot of time exploring, but I would say if there are facilities at some of the clubs and the clubs would be willing to have those available during certain blocks of time, it’s not something that I don’t think that the professional staff or the commission would you know would would say no to for sure.
32:12 — MyRye.com, Doug French
And what about cost sharing? I know that the camps is a huge program, has grown, you know, Right, Is there a way to share costs across the camps for entertainers or special coaching or something that you could share the cost of that and the person could hit all the camps, those types of ideas of shared services?
32:27 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
I know that certainly for the rec programs, they’re always looking for ways to maximize those vendors. Whether it’s an individual vendor who puts on a magic show or if it’s, you know, a bigger organization that runs scores of sports programs, youth sports programs on a on a on a given day. I think they’re always looking for ways to maximize that. I don’t know how much they’ve actually participated, how much we’ve said to let’s say that the private club camps or other organizations, hey, we’re having this person come. Could we do that? But I think that’s a smart thing to think about if it’s just gonna be for the benefit of everybody in town.
32:59 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Cost recovery. I know a lot of work is spent in balancing the taxpayer contribution versus user fees and the team does a great job. Just talk to us a little about the success in that and your thoughts.
33:13 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Sure. To be really specific about it, the cost recovery benchmark has always been about forty percent. That’s always been the number that’s kind of when when the professional staff, city manager, and when they look at what recreation is expected to recover from these programs, we all agree it’s a public trust and it’s and it’s a huge part of living in town, but there is a there’s a financial reality to anything that we’re doing. That’s always been that benchmark and the team’s done an incredible job to keep it. Kind of in the mid-40s, if not a little bit higher, the last couple of years, it fluctuates year over year. As you can imagine when we have something really significant like COVID, you’re talking about a different scenario, but that’s citywide and statewide and federally. When you’re talking about weather sometimes can obviously affect the scheduling and the and then you know the cancellations of certain things. But I think you know Erin and the team have done an incredible job, both thinking about what the right level of fees can be for let’s say it’s a camp or let’s say it’s the rental of a shelter or the amphitheater. And how do you know, how it’s fair but probably better than you’re going to get at any other kind of private facility, right? If you need to rent a place like that, you’re gonna get a better deal at the wreck than almost anywhere else, for sure. For sure.
34:20 — MyRye.com, Doug French
I don’t know if you’re aware, but originally rye golf and the boat basin were part of recreation. So you had those three pieces together along with municipal recreation. They separated those off as enterprise funds and
34:29 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Yeah.
34:30 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Then public rec was supposed to stand on its own. 40 to 50 percent is a great model.
34:34 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
And if you look at j just the one thing I would add to is if you look at, you know, you look at the senior program, which I think by most estimates is a modest program in terms of fees and what comes back, the return on that investment is spectacular. And camp is another good example of that, right? Camp is always traditional and remains the biggest moneymaker for Rec throughout the course of the year. This year, we grew the camp registration yet again, which you almost feel like how could you do that? How much space could there possibly be left? And the revenue for the camp is gonna be over a million dollars this year. For and
35:03 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah.
35:03 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
For a small a relatively small parks and rec program, that’s a that’s a massive that’s a massive
35:07 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah.
35:07 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Influx. But I don’t think anybody would say any camper, and I know any parent, myself included, didn’t get their their money’s worth from any program
35:14 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Yeah.
35:15 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
That their kids went to this year for sure.
35:16 — MyRye.com, Doug French
No, and I know the satisfaction surveys are through the charts. Ha ha yeah, always and
35:19 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Always. Always.
35:21 — MyRye.com, Doug French
All right, so let’s tie in priorities to a comprehensive plan. So the comprehensive plan is coming out with the city, REC should be first and foremost to that because it ties into the quality of life. You know, what’s your approach in terms of the priorities that you want to make sure get incorporated in the planning process?
35:35 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Well, I think, you know, the great part is we have a supportive mayor, we have a supportive council and certainly professional staff. As that plan and and as they make progress on that rec and the commission is certainly going to have a voice in that progress in that process. I think there are looks, we always say that we’re all fun and games at the rec commission, but we take it really seriously, right? So
35:57 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Mm-hmm.
35:57 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
We know there are massive priorities that need to be addressed in the comprehensive plan. And some things that are far more existential than recreation and parks programs, but we also know how important this is for everyone that lives in town or people that don’t live in town yet. There’s certainly when when folks are looking to move to a place in Westchester, whether you’re coming up from the city or whether you’re moving over from Europe for work or whatever your circumstances, I think one of the things that people are looking at is yes it’s schools and yes it’s safety and it’s all these really important things. But what am I gonna be able to do? How am I going to be able to enjoy this town? Yes, it’s gonna be Purchase Street and taking a stroll at night after dinner, but are my kids gonna have great opportunities to play sports? Are there gonna be beautiful fields and parks for them to play in? And those things need to be an important part of the comprehensive plan conversation. I know it will be.
36:41 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Alright, so let’s move to the lightning round. Thank you for that. And let’s keep one word answers only. And some guests don’t don’t comply, but hopefully you’ll
36:48 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
One word answers. Doug, I’m a recovering politician. How do you expect me to do this with one answer and one word answers? I’m kidding. I’m kidding.
36:54 — MyRye.com, Doug French
All right, one word that best describes Rye Rec.
36:56 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Joyful.
36:57 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Favorite special event?
36:58 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Turkey Trot.
36:59 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Did you do it? Okay, okay, okay.
36:59 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Tours. I walk it. We walk it. I’m not a runner and I’m not gonna start now, but we’re definitely a walker. We’ve done it and we’ve done it with our dog.
37:06 — MyRye.com, Doug French
The bit the biggest surprise that since you’ve joined the board
37:10 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
This shouldn’t have been a surprise, but the passion that people in town have for our parks and recreation. I mean, having grown up in town, I knew it, but when you see it up close and people coming to meetings or fifty or sixty people showing up at a meeting in May about just about Gagliardo, you can you can see it, you know, in in the in the day to day work for sure.
37:24 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Well your passion also comes through on this podcast. I mean yeah.
37:27 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
It has to. Look, this is an easy thing to be passionate about, I think. And it’s not just for me. It’s all the commission members, like I said, are we are just the we’re the most pa as we always say to people when they come to us to make requests, I wanna start this program, I wanna see if we can do this. Our first answer is you’re preaching to the choir here. We all wanna do all of these things, but it’s also
37:43 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Right.
37:44 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Becomes a matter of priorities and balance too.
37:46 — MyRye.com, Doug French
All right. Let’s get back to one word answers.
37:48 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Sure. Like I said.
37:49 — MyRye.com, Doug French
What improvement could you make tomorrow if you could?
37:52 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Gagliardo.
37:52 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Most popular but unexpected program.
37:54 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Seniors.
37:55 — MyRye.com, Doug French
One more vision for Rye Recreation.
37:57 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Flexibility.
37:58 — MyRye.com, Doug French
What’s your best coffee spot?
37:59 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
I like a good cup of coffee at Poppy’s.
38:00 — MyRye.com, Doug French
And have you ever suggested a topic or guests that you’d like to see?
38:03 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
I don’t remember and I’ve I was l I’ve obviously watched many of the podcasts, but I think having some of the professional staff from the city in in in ways that they would feel comfortable or potentially a panel of them at the same time when you’re talking about different topics, I think would be really interesting. I think it’s easy for us to know who our elected officials are, but I think there are some brilliant, passionate people working in really important jobs throughout the city. So whether that’s Aaron or Ryan or Brian, I think those would be again, not a one-word answer, but I think those would be. I think those would be fascinating conversations for people to hear.
38:30 — MyRye.com, Doug French
And if people want to get involved, just go to the city white website at the recreation page at ryeny.gov/recreation.
38:36 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Correct. Tuesday, second Tuesday of every month, 6 p.m. At the rec. We’re there, and the first thing on the agenda is citizens wanting to be heard.
38:42 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Any final thoughts?
38:44 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
No nothing more than we’ve talked about. I just appreciate the fact that you brought rec and parks and recreation into this conversation. Again, it’s a it’s a it’s always been an endemic part of living in Rye. And we’ve got really dedicated people working on the teams, on the commission and across the community that want to see our facilities and our programs, you know, only get better and better as time goes on.
39:03 — MyRye.com, Doug French
Well Rick, I gotta thank you. Your passion really comes through. It was great to speak with you and get your insights. And also thank you for your long service to the community. Hopefully it continues.
39:10 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
My pleasure.
39:11 — MyRye.com, Doug French
To our listeners, you can find the full episode, transcript, and local news and more at MyRye.com. If you enjoyed this podcast, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Thank you all for listening to the MyRye.com podcast Conversations with Doug French. We are weekly, so we will see you next week. Thanks all.
39:28 — Rick McCabe, Rye Recreation Commission
Thanks, Doug.
