Question: What is the Friends of Long Point and what are you trying to do?
Answer: Our objectives are to restore and preserve a piece of the park's history gradually / over time. We would like to do this by helping out with the exhibits at the Walter Kingston Long Point Museum & Visitors' Information Center and working closely with the Town of Geneseo in ways they feel we can best help the park.
Our hope is to help revive the nostalgic park as a Livingston County destination location and provide clean, wholesome, safe, and affordable entertainment for families,while maintaining the highest standards in quality and service.
The Friends of Long Point Park in Livingston County, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) Not-For-Profit organization and operates on grants and donations. Any charitable donation is Tax Deductible and is greatly appreciated!
Question: Who owns the Park?
Answer: The Town of Geneseo owns Long Point Park.
Question: If rides are reinstated to the park, who owns or purchases the rides?
Answer: The details would need to be worked out with the Town, but we anticipate that Friends of Long Point Park in Livingston County would own and purchase the rides.
Question: Who is responsible if your organization goes belly up?
Answer: The Friends of Long Point in Livingston County, Inc.
Question: I don't want to pay for this with my taxes. Aren't grants a government form of my taxes?
Answer: Grants are not just from tax revenue (private foundations are an example of this). For those grants that are based from tax revenue, it would be nice to utilize the funding in our own community before sending it to another location.
Question: What do you do about vandals?
Answer: If rides come to fruition, the park rides would operate on a limited basis. Suggested operational hours-- between 12 noon and 8 o'clock in the evenings (with later hours on special occasions to showcase the lights - such as on the third of July).
We would like to have decorative and artistic fencing and selective lighting to secure the rides from vandals and trespassers. If there are indications of vandalism, a monitoring system could be installed to help apprehend or deter violators.
Question: How big would the amusement ride section of the park be?
Answer: Friends of Long Point suggest this as a small scale venture. The focus—to accommodate young families as well as visitors with nostalgia and history with these rides. We are working with the Town to accommodate their wishes on this matter.
Question: What about trees and cutting down trees.
Answer: The trees that are there now were there when the rides were in operation, as well as at the time the rides were sold in 1990. The focus is to keep the trees and to provide a shady canopy on a hot summer day for all to enjoy. Removal of a few trees may be proposed, but we would work with the Town to minimize and avoid this as much as possible.
Question: What about noise and privacy?
Answer: This is a public park for all to enjoy, and events that happen at a public park can (at times) become noisy. As the Fiddler's Picnic and the Arts and Crafts Festivals draw crowds to the park, a crowd drawn by the Friends of Long Point Park could also be large at times, and it is possible that it could create noise as well. However, the anticipated noise level would not be any more of an issue than the current activities already in existence in the park.
The goal of Friends of Long Point Park is to work to minimize any potential negative impact with the nearby residents who might be directly affected. The first step would be to work with the Town to determine if a natural vegetative buffer along some of the park boundaries could be helpful.
Question: Why have a Friends of Long Point organization?
Answer: Friends of Long Point Park’s goal is to help to enhance the park and help in any way that the Town sees as appropriate. A goal is to keep Long Point Park as a viable asset for future generations.
Question: The Town used State funding towards the purchase of the Park. How does this affect the situation?
Answer: The Town has looked into it and found that the 23-year statute of limitations that was tied to the State funding has expired.
Question: My property value will go down, Right?
Answer: Any answer to this would be speculation. We are working towards a scenario where enhancing the park with rides is a positive experience for the Town and park neighbors. Olcott Beach Carousel Park in Niagara County is an example of a restored historic park with amusement rides that we are using as a model. As stated on their website (http://www.olcottbeachcarouselpark.org/html/history.html), "Olcott Beach Carousel Park has helped to change (the town of) Olcott from an eyesore to an eye opener!" Long Point Park and it neighborhood are by no means an eyesore. The Olcott example is meant to show that the addition of historic rides could be a positive factor in the Town and in the neighborhood.
Question: Why doesn't the Friends of Long Point buy new benches and fix the buildings first?
Answer: A bench alone will not draw a person to bring money to Geneseo that could then be used to maintain the park. Friends of Long Point in Livingston County, Inc., is a Not-For-Profit organization. We would like to see a relationship with the Town where revenue generated over the cost of operating expenses could be used for the enhancement of the Park and it buildings. We will be working with the Town to determine the best way to structure that relationship for the benefit of the Town.
Question: Why not bring in a temporary carnival instead?
Answer: A few reasons-
· Safety is main concern along with control. This venture is not solely about the rides but the park as an entity. The safety and inspection process on the rides is not the same for “temporary rides” versus permanent ones. When a set up comes in to provide rides, the control over the staff of who sets-up, operates, and who is operating these rides is out of the control of the local residents. Safety of our children is of great concern.
· Revenue. If a carnival is paid to operate over a weekend, the money goes out of the park and is not invested in the park. The revenue from permanent rides could go to the enhancement of the park instead.
Question: Can you put the rides in a different location? (Either within the park or down the road?)
Answer: One of our biggest intentions is to preserve a portion of Long Point history. If the rides are relocated in the park, parking or green space could be lost. We also recognize that the last 25 years of the Park's history includes a wide grassy vista with open access to views of Conesus Lake. We are not looking to change that, as any potential rides would be close to their historic location west of the parking lot near the Walt Kingston museum building.
Question: What about parking?
Answer: The property operated before 1990 without issues in parking. If only a small part of the amusement rides are reinstated, it is estimated that parking would not be an issue.
Question: What about traffic?
Answer: Closing at an earlier time would help alleviate traffic. And again, the property operated before 1990 without any major issues in traffic.
Question: What about environmental impact?
Answer: We are presently researching SEQRA and environmentalrequirements.
Question: What about bathroom facilities?
Answer: The bathroom facilities that are there now are relatively new (within the past five years) and are larger than the facilities that were there when the park was in operation prior to 1990. Large crowds from recent events (such as the Arts and Crafts Festival and the Fiddler's Picnic) show that the bathrooms could sustain the visitors drawn to the park by the Friends of Long Point.
Question: What about insurance?
Answer: Our organization has researched insurance for amusement ride operation and would be able to sustain it in the same manner as Olcott Beach Carousel Park.
Question: Do you want the Town to pay for this?
Answer: No. It would be financed through private donations and grant monies (grants would mostly be used for ride and exhibit restoration).
