TWIW 17: April 20, 2026

In this episode:

• Commissioner of Probation Rocco Pozzi joined to discuss the County’s observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW).
• Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Facilities Lou Vetrone and Director of Energy Conservation and Sustainability Peter McCartt joined to discuss upcoming Household Recycling Days in Westchester County. 
• Interim Executive Director of Sustainable Westchester Tom Watson and Director of Energy Conservation and Sustainability Peter McCartt joined to discuss Earth Day and the upcoming Grid Rewards event. 
• Jenkins discussed the magic of Playland for the 2026 Season. 
• Jenkins highlighted the upcoming 2026 State of the County Address 
• Jenkins highlighted upcoming events in Westchester County Parks.

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Transcript

Intro 0:06

Welcome to This Week in Westchester, the podcast, your weekly audio briefing from Westchester County government. Each week, County Executive Ken Jenkins breaks down the decisions, investments, and initiatives shaping life across Westchester. Clear information, real progress. One place to stay informed. Now, here's this week in Westchester.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 0:29

Good afternoon. I'm Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins. Today is Monday, April 20th, 2026. And this is this week in Westchester the briefing. Um this week we're gonna start off right with talking about something that's so very important to all of us, which is the National Crime Victims Rights Week. And for that, we're going to have our Commissioner, the Department of Probation, that's our Commissioner, Rocco Posey, to come up and speak with us. Westchester County Department of Probation is observing National Crime Victims Rights Week from April 19th through April 25th. And since 1981, this annual observance has called on communities across the nation to confront and remove barriers to justice for all crime victims while recognizing the progress of the victims' rights movement and reflecting the strides made in supporting victims and survivors. Last year's theme was Listen, Act and Advocate, Protect Victims and Serve Communities. That served that as a powerful call to action, reminding us that meaningful support begins with listening to victims, taking decisive action to address their needs, advocating for their rights, and underscores the importance of victim-centered approach, reinforces our shared responsibility to foster safe and supportive communities. So with that, let me turn over to our Commissioner, Rocco Posey. Mr. Posey.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Thank you, County Executive Jenkins and his office for supporting Westchester County probation officers, you know, as we recognize National Crime Victims Rights Week, a time dedicated, you know, to honoring survivors, raising awareness, and reaffirming our commitment to those impacted by crime. This year's theme, listen, act, advocate, protect victims, serve communities, is more than just a message. It's a call to action. It reminds us that supporting victims begins with listening, truly hearing their experiences without judgment. It requires action, responding to their needs with urgency and compassion. It demands advocacy, ensuring their voices are heard within the justice system. It calls on all of us to protect victims while strengthening the communities we serve. Here in Westchester, our probation officers play a vital and often unseen role in that mission. Every day they stand at the intersection of accountability and support, working not only with individuals under supervision, but also directly with victims to ensure they are not forgotten in the justice process. Westchester County probation officers help give victims a voice by preparing pre-sentence and predispositional victim impact statements at the time of sentencing, giving victims a voice and ensuring they are heard in the court process. For victims of domestic violence, our officers prepare more than 2,000 family court orders or protection petitions each year, helping to ensure same-day access to courts, officer safety plans with victims, and provide referrals such as the as to the Office for Women for additional support. Probation officers also respond to Westchester communities following incidents of gun violence, checking on residents, offering resources, and helping communities begin to heal. The probation department receives referrals from the district attorney's office and local law enforcement partners to assist victims of electronic surveillance and tracking. Through deployment of our specialty trained electronic detection canon dog and probation officer handler, our team is able to locate hidden GPS and tracking devices. This work not only enhances victim safety, but plays a critical role in easing fear and anxiety, helping victims again to regain a sense of security and peace of mind. Our probation officers, alongside our accounting team, help restore justice in tangible ways by collecting and distributing nearly a quarter of a million dollars annually in restitution payments, helping victims receive re recover financially and begin rebuilding their lives. This is what it means to listen and to advocate and to act. We also recognize that April marks the 25th anniversary of Sexual Assault Awareness Month with the theme 25 Years Stronger, looking back and moving forward. It is a powerful reminder of how far we have come and how much work still remains. On April 29th, National Denim Day, we encourage everyone to join with the probation department and the Office for Women by wearing denim in solidarity with survivors and to stand against harmful myths surrounding sexual violence. Supporting victims is never the work of one person or one agency. It requires a coordinated, compassionate effort across our entire community. Thanks to the county executive, his leadership, the county has made critical investments in the infrastructure and resources that allow us to deliver a comprehensive and responsive system to care for victims. To the victims and survivors, we hear you. We stand with you, and we remain committed to ensuring your voices are never overlooked. To our probation officers, thank you for your dedication, professionalism, and unwavering commitment to both accountability and compassion. And to our community partners, thank you for working alongside of us to protect victims and strengthening the communities we all serve. Together with the county executive and the county government, by listening, acting, and advocating, we can continue to promote justice, hailing, and hope. Thank you.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 7:18

Thank you, Commissioner Posey, who who was here telling us again how important this is as we do National Crime Victims Rights Week and continuing to make sure that we're lifting up all the voices. Um our probation department does so many things. Commissioner Posey um also talked about whether it was pretrial but afterwards, um going into the communities, doing assessments and doing follow-up and not just on um the side of the probation uh error side, but also to be able to deal with the victims and be able to lift up their voices and make sure that they understand they're not alone as they we're navigating through the the process to go over and making sure their rights are protected. So again, National Victim Crime Victims Rights Week is from April 19th through April 25th. Um, and we're gonna continue to do that work together. We want to say thank you to our Department of Probation and all of those folks that are um intersection of our Office for Women and continued work that needs to be done for National Crime Victims Rights Week. We're gonna switch gears and then we're gonna ask at this point in time um as we talk through the summer, is that we went through 90 degree um days and now we're down into the 30s and 40s. Um, we'll have that for another couple of days. But that means it's springtime where we're gonna go from one extreme to the other. But one of those things that we continue to have to do is to deal with the the list of things for spring cleaning. And that brings us to household recycling days. Um so we're committed here in Westchester County to recycling, and we have one of the highest recycling rates in New York State. This year, the household recycling days will return. So we're gonna kick off the first two recycling days on April 25th, um, up in FDR Park in Yorktown, um, and then follow that up with Spraying Ridge on um Spray Ridge Park in Yonkers and Greenberg, right on the borderline, depending on what side of the park you're standing on, on May 2nd. And tell us more about the rules and the things around that. Um, are both Lou Fatron, our deputy commissioner from the Department of Environmental Facilities, and our Director of Conservation and Sustainability, Pete McCart. So we're gonna come up with Commissioner first and then follow it up with with Peter McCartney, who's gonna just keep staying up here with us.

Lou Vitron 9:32

Right? Thank you, County Executive Jenkins. So uh on behalf of the Department of Environmental Facilities, uh very excited to talk about the first two household recycling day events of 2026, just in time, as the county executive said, for a spring cleanup. Um we all have at this time of year a lot of stuff we have to get rid of. Not everything's collected curbside, right? So these events, uh these are for those hard to get rid of, hard to dispose of items that are not collected curbside by your local municipality. Um and as the county executive said, the first event's April 25th at uh FDR State Park in Yorktown Heights. That's from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. And the second event's May 2nd, uh, also Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Sprain Ridge Park in Yonkers. You do not have to, Westchester residents are all invited, they do not have to register, you do not have to register to come to these events, and they are free. They are very popular, however, as the county executive knows, and there may be lines that you have to wait in to get rid of this material. If you don't want to wait in line or if you can't make it to these two events, we still have you covered. You can always go to the Household Material Recovery Facility. That's the HMRF in Valhalla on the Valhalla campus. That's open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. That uh to visit the HMRF, you do have to make a reservation though. And you do that by visiting environment.westchestercountyny.gov. But uh you can bring the same uh materials to either the HMERF or to one of these HRD events, and that includes, and I'm not gonna get everything here, but uh but you can you can also go to that website, environment.westchestercountyny.gov, to see the full list of items that you can bring. And there are a couple of items you can't bring, it'll also let you know about those. But you can bring household cleaning products, most automotive fluids, flammable liquids like kerosene, butane, and lighter fluid, um, paints, uh uh rechargeable batteries, textiles, uh fluorescent bulbs, fire extinguishers, metal, fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, uh barbecue propane tanks, mercury containing devices, electronic waste, expired or unwanted meds, and tires, but you can also bring documents for shredding. So there's a whole lot of stuff that you can get rid of at these events. Um So for the full list, again, go to environment.westchestercountyny.gov. Uh and for more information on what to bring to these events, you can always go to onto the website or call our recycling helpline, 914-813-5425. I'm gonna turn it over to Pete McCartney. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10 12:15

Yeah, clean out your garages, you know, or your basements, all that stuff you don't know what to do with. And uh you can take it to the HMER for one of these household recycling days. I'm gonna talk about something else that DEF does, Department of Environmental Facilities. Um, we are one of the leaders in uh uh food scrap recycling. We have uh our residential food scrap transportation and disposal program, Roofstead. Umicipalities are are participating in that. I think there's 22, 23. We're up to 25. 25. We have 25 municipalities. Uh a few of them are doing curbside, um, and maybe that's what's to come. But um uh there's also these compost distribution events that uh DEF and and I participate in. Um and we also sell compost bin and rain barrels as well as other things that go with that. You can either do uh vermicultures. We've talked about these before. Um uh there is one tomorrow, uh Tuesday, April 21st. It's at Glen Island Park. This is gonna be a distribution of the compost. I think it's all filled up. I'm pretty sure that one is filled up. Yeah, and I'm gonna mention those. And uh, but the the uh the store for the compost bin and rain barrel sales is open. It's gonna be open until 7 o'clock tonight. And um you can go on there. It's uh westchester.compostersale.com. I think they might put it up there. Yep, there we go. Um so and then there's gonna be several other compost distribution days, and you do need to register for these, and they do fill up. So uh if you're interested in getting some of the compost back that you've given out, um that's uh let's see. The next one after that is April 28th, that's at the Sprout Book DEF uh facility, that's uh Cortland Manor. Uh May 3rd, Mamerinock. That's a Sunday, May 3rd, 10 to 2 at the town commuter lot. Uh these are all distribution. May 12th, Spring Ridge Park. It's in Yonkers, as you all know. And then the last one for this season, until we schedule the next ones, uh, is May 20th. And that's going to be a compost distribution event as well as a compost bin and rain barrel sale. So if you don't get in for this one, you can get into that one uh next. So um that's it. Westchester.composter sale.com. And um I want to thank you. It cut it start from the top. We do a great job here in Westchester County, but it comes from the top. And you you walk the walk. I really appreciate that. You got a suite of EVs, you got the solar panel, you do it all.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 15:01

So thank you. All right. Well, thanks a lot, Peter. Um, but for first the the household recycle days that are that are coming up, uh again, um it's trying to do two things is one to make sure that we're keeping things out of you know illegal and unnecessary dumping in different communities. Um so going around for that. Um as um Deputy Commissioner Vallone pointed out, um, is that it they are really, Rotron pointed out that they're really, really, really popular, right? So they average about 3,000 people coming, right? So give or take a few um days of you know, few few hundred people depending on the day, um they are rained or signed uh uh most of the time. So rain or a sign to be able to do that. And again, whether it's um your your shredding that has to go on for whether credit cards or old bills, et cetera, things that you want to make sure that get shredded. So the shredmobile will be up there, be able to do that. One of the greatest parts, you pack up your car, but when you get there, there's swarms of people that go around, you don't have to get out there at all. Um, I didn't hear you mention whether or not there was um pharmaceuticals, usually there are as well. Um so again, it's an opportunity to bring those things to be properly disposed of for pharmaceuticals. That that usually is under control um of the county police and making sure that those um you know medications get disposed of appropriately, not you know you know drop down the toilet because that's not a good thing that doesn't actually work, right? So we want to make sure to keep those things out of our waste stream altogether and do that. So again, very, very popular. Um, and again, signing up for them whether you go to the HMERF or go um to these household recycle days where you don't have to sign up, but you do have to pack your patients, because again, they usually have tremendous, tremendous amounts of lines to do that. And again, some municipalities have their own recycler centers in addition to that. Um, but people still seem to want to wait and to do those kind of cleanup days, and whether it's paint, whether it's all those other things, that's it's fantastic. The compost days are even better because again, people are just starting to get their planting on, right? They're getting their plant things going on and getting their plots out there and their flats out there and having a good time. There is nothing better than taking some compost and mixing that into the the soil that you have going on. It is it is extremely nutritious for the plants, etc. So again, um a good opportunity and for well the HMRF opportunities when you go to the um to the compost facility there, or for the multiple ones that'll be out into the community, you bring your own bags and all those kind of things you can pack up yourself, right? And then also there uh some that are already pre-uh wrapped up, ready to go. Um look like looks like coffee a lot of times. No, it's not coffee. Don't mill it, don't don't boil that, that would be bad, right? But at the end of the day, that is great. And so depending on your municipality, whether you have curbside recycling um to be able to be picked up for that, to get those materials, those are not free, right? So we're selling them at cost. So whether it's the rain barrel or whether it's the food scrap recycling kits um at different sizes that you can get. So whether you're in an apartment or whether you're in a house, it doesn't matter that we have these particular opportunities to do that. So again, take an opportunity to look those up. Um we want to thank um our Deputy Commissioner Lou Vitron um for Department of Environmental Facilities and certainly our director of energy conservation and sustainability, um Peter McCartney, who's gonna come up just one second some more after we go to the next thing. So now we're gonna talk about Earth Month and specifically about Earth Day, um Earth Day and Grid Rewards. So as we continue to recognize Earth Month, and um on tomorrow Tuesday is Earth Day, we're pleased to welcome not just two guests that are doing important work to build a more sustainable future here in Westchester. Joining us today is our interim executive director uh for sustainable Westchester, um Tom Watson, and Pete McCart making a return. Um they'll discuss our local sustainability efforts, the importance of the demand response programs, and the upcoming grid rewards event that will help residents save energy while supporting a stronger, more reliable electric grid. With that, let's welcome Tom Watson, Pete McCart. On the return. So we'll have to Tom Watson go for it. All right, far easy.

SPEAKER_04 19:30

Thank you, Ken. Thank you, thank you. Appreciate you. Um, thank you to the county executive and his team, especially Pete McCart and Bridget Gibbons, for helping us to spotlight this crucial and great opportunity for Westchester residents and businesses to both take positive action and to save some money. Here's the big story. Westchester residents continue to show their commitment to clean energy with their record participation in grid rewards. Sign up is easy. Download the Grid Rewards app on your phone. It pays residential consumers to lower their energy consumption during periods of extremely hot weather when people typically crank up their air conditioners and electric electricity demand spikes. Last year, grid rewards users across Westchester County earned$203,000 for their participation, with the highest residential user earning more than$1,000. Through Logical Building's commercial program Smart Kit AI, users earned over$202,000, with the top commercial user, the City School District of New Rochelle, earning more than$100,000. In total, Westchester County municipalities, businesses, and residents earned more than$403,000 from demand response with sustainable Westchester and logical uh buildings. We all know there are challenges these days, but we can and should avoid any sense that this is too big for us or that the worst will always happen. Instead, we can all do our part. Every action adds up and has positive impact. And here in Westchester, with strong support and leadership from the county, the county executive, and his team, that is definitely happening. I am relatively new to this role, but three aspects of this work have struck me as extraordinary and really somewhat unique to Westchester County. The first is our network of members at Sustainable Westchester, all 45 towns, villages, and cities in the county. Second is the commitment and expertise of our own sustainable Westchester staff, unmatched technical knowledge and a mission-driven view of this work, along with great partners like logical uh buildings. And I urge you to check out our website at sustainablewestchester.org for more on all of those things. And finally, I'm struck by the sense of community spirit and collaboration all across the county. Is our commitment to clean environment part of the reason why Westchester County's population is growing? I think so. Because it means a better future for all of our residents. And when people act together on Earth Day, during Earth Month, every day of the year, they feel more connected to that community. So, as the county executive has said, please sign up for grid awards. This is the season for it. If you sign up by the end of this month, you'll get the full advantage of our full cooling system benefits and cash back in your pocket. More details, along with our awesome Earth Month calendar, which I know Pete is going to talk about in a second, can be found at sustainablewestchester.org. So thanks very much for having me. Thanks to the county executive and his team. Here goes Peter McCartney. Congratulations on the new position there, Tom. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10 22:43

So Earth Month is very busy time for old Pete here. So uh there's a lot of things going on, as everybody knows. Some have already happened. It's March, it's April, it's even May now. And um it's it's very exciting. You know, just last uh well, it was two weeks ago now, um uh the Westchester Soccer Club had a sustainability night at at their at their game, which they won. And we had nine groups there, and uh um, you know, uh different organizations. Sustainable Westchester was there. There's a lot of different organizations and the environmental uh leaders of color were there. There were a lot of groups that were there. It was a really nice night. Um and there's been a few events that have gone over the last weekend. Uh last Saturday, Mamarinick, Hastings, Sleepy Hollow, Harrison, and Tucco all had events, all had these earth festivals, which are great to go to. Um there's music, there's food trucks, there's um interesting vendors, there's all sorts of art and all sorts of vendors, you know, different things to uh see. Most of them all have a kid-friendly aspect to them because they want the kids to come, so the parents will come. And um Mount Kisko had a nice uh earth day event. Um and one of the things I want to talk about, uh I are you gonna talk a bit about the parks today, County Executive? So um there are multiple pitch-in for parks events. You know, I I we get calls, I get calls um uh asking what can I do? What do I want to do? A cleanup, what do I do? Westchester Parks Foundation does a really, really good job of uh organizing these cleanups and these volunteer events uh throughout the year, quite frankly, of vine cutting, all that they do it. And uh just go to the Westchester Parks Foundation website um and then you could pull up a date or pull up an area where you are, and you'll see all kinds of uh events you can go to. Um but uh on tomorrow there's a pitch-in for parks at Muscood Farm, which is uh a county property. Um the only thing we have going on on Earth Day itself, which is Wednesday, April 22nd, is New Rochelle is having an Earth Day Festival. Um again, more birth uh pitch-in for parks. The big day is Saturday, though. There are so many events, there's so much going on. Uh look up at your own town uh calendar. Um the big one um uh Tom and I are gonna be at. Uh uh performing is the the uh Green Austening Earth Day Festival. Uh that's Saturday, 10 to 6. Uh, and I recommend everybody going. There's an Earth Day at the Nature Center at Greenburg. Um Pound Ridge has got an event. Porchester's giving away native plant seeds, Terrytown has an Earth Day Festival celebration. These are all April 25th. Sustainable Dobbs has got a dirt fest, whatever that is. Uh Larchmont Earth Day celebration, Westchester Native Plant Center, uh that's at Valhalla at the Westchester Community College, right there on the roadway. And then uh Sunday, Briar Clap Briar Cliff, Bedford 2030 Earth Day Fest. That's gonna be a big one. I'm sure Sustainable Westchester will be there, Newcastle, Ardsley, um, and then there's even some in May. White Plains does one, Croton, everybody seems to be doing it. And um, get out there, pitch in for parks, please. Uh I'm not gonna touch your notes. But uh thank you, thank you, thank you for everything, and uh keeping uh keeping Westchester green as it is.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 26:14

Well, and then we we know we don't do this alone, we only have one earth, and all of us are responsible for it. And no matter what opportunities there are, and it was uh a great opportunity at one place I went to over this past weekend um where the the moderator, the leader, was reminding people, and that was in um Sleepy Hollow, um, with the superintendent of the Sleepy Hollow Taratown um school district, Ray Sanchez, was reminding people that no matter what, we all have an ability to make an impact. It doesn't have to be the big things like we do here at the county. Um working with our local municipalities and our partners like Sustainable Westchester, um, but you all have the the license and the ability to make a difference, and that was why it was so great to be out there in Sleepy Hollow um for their kickoff um over the weekend with Major uh with uh Mayor Marjorie Shu of the Village of Sleepy Hollow, um, along with Superintendent Ray Sanchez and a bunch of folks with a bunch of tabling that was going on, including Sustainable Westchester, including Department of Environmental Facilities and all those things. You'll continue to see those um do the local municipalities, not just on for Earth Day and their activities, but continuing. They all have sustainability um can committees to do because again, whether it's for um doing composting and food scrap recycling and trying to figure out ways to reduce waste, there's so many things that we all again have license for, and again, the opportunity to do those household cleanup days to be able to protect the environment, not have things uh you know in the backyard, um picking up mosquitoes and all those other kind of things, and whether those are tires and all those things that are happening. Again, please take advantage of that. The grid rewards, you know,$400,000 worth of savings as real money in real people's pocket. So again, to sign up for those things now to go on the grid rewards app and be able to download those, whether you go from the sustainable website, or you go on and use your your favorite um device app store, whether it's the iOS App Store or whether it's the Google Play store, right, to be able to download those things and be able to continue those to get um going. So again, um thank you so much um for all of the things that we're having going on for Earth Days, grid rewards, and we're gonna continue um to move forward. Um and because it is greening up and everything is just looking lovely, we have one of the best places in the nationally accredited and award-winning park system, the the crown jewel, if you will, of the park system, and that's Playland. Um, and as Playland is getting ready to open up for its 98th season, we've been able to put together a great video. Um, it's a special feature to share with you all today. Um, where Playland Park has been for generations, where families have made that magical summer of memories. Uh the memory maker is with our seventh county executive, county executive Andy Spano, um continues to to uh advise us and remind us of about being the memory maker. Happy birthday, Andy. It was his 90th birthday last week. Um certainly is awesome that Westchester County is ensuring that that tradition is gonna continue this year as we prepare to get everything underway for the 2026 season. As we mentioned before, the park's gonna open pre-season for um on the 16th and 17th of May, and then the grand opening celebration um is gonna happen on May 23rd. So we want to share with you a little mini documentary of Playland, how we got there and where we are now, and a preview of the season to come. Let's take a look at the video.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

For nearly 100 years, Playland has been a place of joy, of summer memories, families, traditions, and that unmistakable feeling of stepping into something magical.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 30:05

What I found when I talk to people is that they all have a story. They all have a connection, and whatever that connection was, whether they met their future spouse at Playland, or whether they were just kids going from the Kitty Land Park, and then when we got older, we would also go on dates.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

Some of the rides may have changed over the years, but the look and feel of the park is essentially the same. We have all these beautiful Art Deco structures that really is the theming of the park, that what it was built in in 1927 when it opened in 28.

SPEAKER_09 30:36

Just to get on the rides, have cotton candy on a summer evening, walking on the boardwalk, on the water, which you can't put a price on.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 30:43

And it was really affordable. So people were able to just jump in the car, take public transportation, come to the beach, and then go back and forth inside Playland.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

But in recent years, the story behind the scenes hasn't been simple. When the Latimer administration took office in 2018, the county inherited a playland management agreement that was deeply troubled. It was badly structured, financially unstable, and already unraveling. Then County Executive George Latimer took immediate action. He commissioned what became known as the McDonald Nona Report. Its findings were serious. The agreement's terms were unfavorable to the county. Standard Amusements was already in breach, and even independent auditors questioned whether Standard could remain a viable company.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 31:49

Standard Amusement folks sued and they went to bankruptcy court. County executive, now Congressman George Latimer, whole career was spent in the hospitality industry. All right, show us your performer. Tell us how you're going to make money.

SPEAKER_03 33:10

Coaster and the Dragon Coaster is the signature of the park.

SPEAKER_09 33:15

Coaster. Coaster got eliminated. Kudos to the people that worked here, that stayed here, um, because that was very difficult. They were used to one way of operating, and the company is very different.

SPEAKER_03 33:26

From 2021 to 2024, the county held up its end of the bargain. Modernizing infrastructure, preserving historic structures, because playland deserves nothing less. What it rebuilt that the public sees is the beautiful Art Deco structures of the park. These are literally one-of-a-kind type rides. The carousel has 66 hand-carved horses that were restored. The Derby Racer, there's only three of them in the world, only two that actually operate. That two was restored. The ride, the building, the mechanics.

SPEAKER_09 34:25

We made this pool zero-depth entry, which is great for children, elderly, disabled, etc.

SPEAKER_03 34:33

It has play areas in the water for children. It still has the historic buildings around it, and the views of Long Island Sound, when you're up top, are just unbelievable. The first sign that signs that we saw of things cracking or not going well, understand that amusements was rides weren't opening, staffing levels were lower, we were hearing complaints mostly from social media, uh, that the park was being too much charged and not enough open.

SPEAKER_09 34:59

The number of cars in the parking lot on a beautiful summer day, summer night, it was never more than half full. And that was never the case when we were running it. Very often we on the big weekends we ran out of parking.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

The lack of maintenance and care, um, the lack of winterization of rides, it kind of became evident as to why there were not so many rides open. These rides take a tremendous amount of stress through a season, and parts have to be changed all the time. And you have an inventory, and that inventory did not exist.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 35:30

So eventually in January of 2025, they send in a termination notice that they want to be terminated and they want to be out of the park.

SPEAKER_08 35:40

County executive Jenkins said he wanted the park to open even if it wasn't completely and all the rides were not open. So I assembled a group from both county employees and also all of our consultant and construction community to make sure that the park was open on Memorial Day weekend.

SPEAKER_03 35:59

When we took back operation responsibility for it, and we saw rides that would have been winterized differently had the county been operating them. The Dragon Coaster, we found uh so much wood that needed to be replaced. And it's not wood that you can really buy locally. It's a certain kind of wood that has no doesn't have knots in it, it has to be made specifically for uh roller coasters, and only a few companies uh actually produce that kind of wood. Then there's track wood that had to be made. So there was no way that we can get all of the uh pieces, including bolts, specific bolts.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 36:33

How are we gonna make sure that we're gonna be able to open Playland Amusement Park, the memory maker? And we did it. We did it with a lot of help from a lot of people. Our Westchester County executive, Ken Jenkins. There's so many memories that get made here, and it would not be a summer without having Playland be part of it.

SPEAKER_03 36:55

And now, Westchester, this is the moment we've been waiting for.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

So we're here in Kitty Land preparing for the opening of our 2026 season. We're at the Kitty Boat Ride where our painters are beautifying the ride, painting, adding new murals on it. Our carpenter crews and mechanics are working hard every single day to get ready for opening. Weather stripping, sheathing behind it, all the plywood was checked. Brown's crew preparing for our season are gonna be planting hundreds and hundreds of some patients, all different colors, to beautify the park and welcome our guests.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

Playland is back, stronger, stabler, and once again fully under the stewardship of the people who care most about it. Westchester County.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 37:39

It is gonna be fantastic. Kidland's gonna be great in the bigger park, right? Having those rides being open all the year, having the Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel didn't open last year. The Dragon Coast is gonna be back. It is gonna be fully operational. I'm gonna ride on it, even though I haven't ridden on it for like, you know, 20 or 30 years.

SPEAKER_09 37:58

If you look at the detail of the paintings that are around the carousel or the derby racer, that to me is art. And that's what adds to the ambiance of being here.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 38:08

The organ playing in the back of the derby racer and the horses being able to lean and move up and down. I mean, all those things, it's gonna be a very, very good year.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

2026 is gonna be a great year of Playland. I mean, we're gonna have the amusement park open, the beach, the pool, we'll have fireworks again, we'll have entertainment. The investment was not made, so it's gonna go somewhere. Playland is here to stay.

SPEAKER_09 38:32

Everything that has been done through the county capital has been brought back to what it was almost a hundred years ago. And that's the beauty.

SPEAKER_08 38:41

That is the true beauty of the park. This sends a message to the community of Westchester that Westchester County steps up to the plate when we have a challenge, we need it.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins 38:51

Balance both history and making the investments to make sure that someone else can have the same memories all of us have. It's not just putting it behind us, it's putting it into the future. So, as you just saw, preparations for the 2026 season are already in full swing. Skilled carpenters and mechanics are restoring and maintaining rides. While ground crews are enhancing the park through seasonal plantings and beautification efforts, Playland Park is back and stronger than ever, and it's run by those who care most about it, Westchester County. And we're certainly looking forward to continuing with our partnership with our our chair of the Friends of Rye Playland, um, Robin Latimer, and our entire team. There's been so much coordination and and combinations. Everyone is so super excited for what we have coming up for you in 2026. So stay stay tuned, everybody. It's gonna be a great, great year. Um, and again, the 16th and 17th of May is where we're gonna have our preseason opening. You know, everything's not gonna be um open yet. We're gonna be tuning some things up. And then the following weekend on Memorial Day weekend, um, Playland weekend, we're gonna open up on the 23rd. It's gonna be awesome, and we're gonna meet everyone at the Dragon Coaster. Coming up on May 6th, um, the my 2026 State of the County address. Um, doors are gonna open here at the county office building at 6 p.m. with an ad the address beginning promptly at 6 30. Um, as always, you'll be able to tune in to the speech right here on Facebook or on the county's um webpage, either one. Uh you'll be able to kick off right from there. But again, um you need to make sure you're reserving to come in. Um that's always at communication at WestchesterCountyNY.gov to uh to sign up and register, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone at the state of the county. Um, you know, what Pete Pete McCart asked us to make sure that we mentioned a few different things that are happening in the nationally accredited award-winning park system in combination with our friends at the Parks Foundation. But we have all these pitching for parks activities going on. There's so many of our young folks that are engaged and involved in different places. Some local community groups are involved. Um again, it's your park, it's 18,000 acres. There's plenty for everyone to to do, whether it's in the Bronx River Reservation and the municipalities that that goes through, or you know, dealing with invasives, going through the different farms that we have, whether it's Hilltop Hanover or Muscoot, Alfred B. Del Bello farm, um, that we can continue to do that. So again, on the 23rd this week on Thursday, that's gonna be at Wilson Woods Park. Um, we're gonna kick that off this week, I guess tomorrow on Tuesday, um, for pitch-in for parks. Again, download the parks app, um parks um dot westchestercounty ny.gov. You can also go on the website and see. But better still, sign up for the parks e-newsletter. It'll come right to your mailbox and you'll be able to see those things. But download in the apps. Um we have pitch-in for parks in Tibbitz on Saturday in the morning um at Scoutfield Um and Bronxville. Um, and then certainly we're gonna continue all of those activities for pitching for parks, um, being able to move forward together and continuing to work with everyone. Um and again, that's this week in Westchester. Um we recognized and we started off with recognizing with Commissioner Rocco Posey from our Department of Probation, um, recognizing National Crime Victims Rights Week, um, who discussed the importance of listening to victims, advocating for survivors, and removing barriers to justice. This week serves as a reminder that supporting victims is a shared community responsibility. Sustainability and environmental action were also front and center. We're reminding all Westchester residents that we continue to lead in recycling. Um, Household Recycling Days returning this spring, starting at FDR Park in Yorktown, Sprain Ridge Park falling weekend um in Yonkers slash Greenberg, right on the line. Um, we were able to welcome both Tom Watson, our executive director for Sustainable Westchester, and Pete McCart, um our director of energy and sustainability for Westchester County, to discuss Earth Day, Earth Month, grid rewards, demand response, where you you get paid to um to go up the grid like we do here in Westchester County. Certainly so many of our businesses do that. Um working with um our Clean Energy Coalition and with the Business Council. We have so many things that are going on that we want to continue to have that leadership here in Westchester as we try to address you know affordability with um with energy prices, et cetera. You have the ability to make some differences. And Earth Day and Earth Month is an opportunity for you to make sure that you're doing your specific part. We so we're so excited to share the progress and the things that are going on with Playland Park, where crews are hard at work preparing for the 2026 season. A nice little mini documentary to share where we went through, where we Are and how we got there and where we are in 2026. The park is set to reopen on May 16th and 17th with the grand opening celebration planned for May 23rd. From ride restoration, landscape improvements, Playland is ready to rock and get families back there for another memorable summer. And that's this week in Westchester. I'm Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins. Thank you so much for watching. We look forward to seeing all of you very soon.