The Citizens for the Preservation of TR Memorial Park invited residents to a gathering on Tuesday, July 11 so that they could demonstrate the size of the proposed Main Street Association carousel. Unfortunately, when people arrived, they found the gates to the park uncharacteristically - locked. It surprised the committee members who frequent the park. Fran Leone said it is always open until after dark.

A town spokesperson said the gates usually are closed at 11 p.m. "We were short-handed that day and it was closed early," said the spokesperson.

The glitch didn't stop the demonstration of the size of the proposed carousel planned for the open space in the park. It is hard to imagine how big a building is when you hear the number of feet it will encompass, unless you are in the construction/development business. To make it easier for people to see how large the proposed carousel would be, Carla Panetta of the Citizens for the Preservation of TR Park contributed wood laths, (the material that was used in plaster wall construction) to mark off the 65' x 65' square area that is proposed for the carousel. Outside that area (as shown in the photograph) would be a concrete plaza and connecting walkways. She also brought about five bamboo poles that she taped together to show the ridge height of the building at 35'.

After demonstrating the size of the proposed carousel, the group held an informal meeting to discuss their agenda.

New committee member John Palmer, Esq. said he grew up in Queens and went to Forest Park where there was a carousel, but he added it was a giant park and the carousel was off in one part of it. He said Theodore Roosevelt Park is too small to accommodate a carousel.

Mr. Palmer said he regularly visits the park as does attorney Jerry Raymon who ran the meeting and gave his reasons for wanting to preserve the park as stated in the original deed to the town. Time and time again, he said, the document says the park is to be natural open space as well as citing the paragraph that says "no carousel" for the park. In a Letter to the Editor Mr. Raymon recently gave some of his reasons for preserving open space in the park. He wrote, "As a lifelong resident of the Oyster Bay village area, I knew the village when it was a viable place, certainly with more activity than now, but it always had an 'unconnected' waterfront.

"Why does it have to be connected now? This is the way history and the good Lord created and developed this village, which many who don't live here envy those who do.

"I doubt anyone would disagree that today Huntington Village is 'alive,' yet it does not have a direct connection to its very attractive and active harbor only a short distance away, which just proves that both can thrive on their own when properly developed. I think trying to fuse the town and the harbor in Oyster Bay is inconsistent with maintaining the character of the town and the harbor, and the way it has geographically and historically developed on its own since the 1600s. Attempts to merge them now could destroy the historical uniqueness of both," said Mr. Raymon.

He added, "Many of us enjoy both the village and the harbor and the separation which allows for a different 'lifestyle,' including a serenity at the waterfront, where one can experience a 'vacation' environment right in one's backyard without having to spend a small fortune to get away to the Jersey shore or some other vacation spot. I would also note that Roosevelt Park has never looked as good or been maintained as well as it currently is. I, for one, do not want to turn Oyster Bay harbor into a Baltimore harbor, or to disrupt the beauty of the Bay's natural, tranquil separateness nor to make the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park, the Theodore Roosevelt Amusement Park."

Committee member Fran Leone too thinks the park is looking better than it has for a long time. Ms. Leone has long been committed to saving the park. "I showed George Baptista, (Town of Oyster Bay Parks Department deputy commissioner) the area around the flagpole, that needed work. I did that even before the carousel was a threat to the park. I have been working with the Oyster Bay Civic Association TR Park Restoration committee as well as on my own on saving the park and getting it back to where it used to be with flowers and landscaping."

She added, "I've been going there regularly and am very pleased with the new park manager Ron McDonald. He is doing a good job and improving the park's cleanliness."

Ms. Leone added, "Don't hold the park hostage to be responsible for revitalizing the town. There are a lot of issues that should be addressed first like parking and cleanliness. Don't expect that throwing something in the park is going to solve all the problems of the hamlet."

Ms. Leone said the group may adopt as a mission statement, a policy of the New York State Office of Parks. It says in an Alienation of Parkland handbook: "Municipally owned parkland and open space are non renewable resources which are carefully preserved in all communities. Once lost to another use open space is difficult to recover. For this reason the NYS Office of Parks strongly endorses the maintenance and expansion of municipal parks and open space and encourages a no net loss of parkland policy."

The committee is meeting this week and is planning an open meeting or an event in the park to bring the issues to the public's attention - to be announced.

Oyster Bay Civic Association President Marie Knight is working on an overall restoration of the park in accordance with the instructions to the Town of Oyster Bay from the Theodore Roosevelt Association when they turned over the TR Park deed to the town. Key to the civic association's proposal is a change in parking for the village - which is seen as the greatest impedment for commerce in the hamlet. Ms. Knight said Renaissance Properties (the new Northern Bay Management group for Island Properties) is supporting the proposal of the OBCA for parking in the hamlet, as is the Oyster Bay Chamber of Commerce." She also has a proposal for the restoration of TR Park. She said, "We have the architectural rendering for the park and met with the new park manager Ron McDonald. He has seen the rendering. We had a two-hour meeting on Tuesday, July 11 and we are working to keep everything in line with the deed and they like the rendering the architect has done. We are going to work with that and every aspect the deed has."

Ms. Knight said of the park proposal, "We are doing the whole park, in competition with Main Street who has focused on a carousel. They went from the antique Nunley's, to an upstate carousel and now they want to open up the entire park to the general public although it is a Town of Oyster Bay facility. They are bulldogging their way through TR park to get to the waterfront. You can see that through this, their fourth carousel proposal attempt. We are not going to let them do it with the help of Ron McDonald and Mr. Baptista.

Ms. Knight is working with civic association attorney Anthony LaMarca to set up an open forum on their proposal at town hall. "The architect Lou Baldino will do a presentation of their proposal for the park with 'all the bells and whistles' needed," she said.

The Citizens for the Preservation of TR Memorial Park can be contacted at 628-2293 and PO Box 82, Oyster Bay, NY 11771.