A new lease for the operation of Longshore’s sailing school seemed to be cruising along.
Now, however, it may have hit choppy waters.
Residents are questioning the process by which the next 10-year lease may be awarded. The present one expired October 15. The Board of Selectwomen are scheduled to vote on Parks & Recreation Department director Jen Fava’s recommendation at their next meeting, on Wednesday (December 13, 9 a.m., Town Hall auditorium).
Bill King, Heidi McGee and John Kantor — board members of Greenwich Community Sailing, which submitted a bid to the town for the sailing school/ boat rental contract — contacted “06880” with concerns about the process. McGee and Kantor grew up in Westport, and still live here.
Separately, so did Jeff Manchester — another native Westporter, involved in a competing bid.
Longshore Sailing School (Photo copyright/Stefen Turner)
According to Manchester, RFP responses were due October 18, with feedback to come a week later.
After several delays, on November 30 3 potential suitors — the current operator, former operators currently running the Greenwich Sailing School, and a Boat Locker team — all independently met with Parks & Rec director Fava, deputy director Rick Giunta, and a sailing consultant doing business with the current operator.
On December 4, the 2 bidders received a brief message from Fava. She thanked them for their interested and said, “Upon further review, we have chosen to move forward with Longshore Sailing School” — the current operator.
Sources say that the 3rd member of the panel interviewing the RFP candidates was Stu Gilfillen, director of education for US Sailing. Sources say his department employs a leader of the current Longshore Sailing School to teach instructor training courses.
Previously, Gilfillen “liked” Longshore Sailing School’s Facebook page. “Not sure how this was not a conflict of interest,” the Greenwich group says.
After news broke of the Parks & Rec decision, reaction on social media was quick and intense. Among the comments:
- What the hell happened here?
- Why would the town renew its lease?
- I am stunned and disappointed to hear this.
- And may the worst team win. Makes you wonder what influenced the outcome.
- This is sad in so many ways.
- Bull****!
- What a disaster. Were there other applicants?
- Has anyone complained to Parks and Rec? The place is unsightly for residents who use the park.
- I don’t understand how anyone over the age of 12 thinks this is an acceptable way to leave things.
- WTF?!
- Did anyone else make a bid?
- So sorry to hear this.
- It is dangerous for young children who play on the nearby playground.
- Yikes! Hurts my eyes.
- This desecrates all those shipshape awards given to students over the years.
- It’s a law suit waiting to happen.
- Seems a shame to sacrifice a 50-year-old institution that’s brought joy and taught work ethic to generations of CT kids. No way they can make a case to the town they are the best candidate in light of track record ( insurance ??) and literal photographic record. Frankly they are a liability to Westport and the surrounding towns’ children.
- Supremely disappointed in this outcome.
The 2 unsuccessful bidders have independently asked for a review of the Parks & Recreation Department selection process, “particularly given the dawning realization that there was a serious conflict of interest involved.”
They hope the Board of Selectwomen will carefully review the matter, before voting to approve the contract.
“06880” asked Parks & Recreation director Fava for a comment about the process.
She said, “The RFP referenced training and certification in accordance with standards of the United States Sailing Association. Stu Gillfillen is the director of education for US Sailing, so we reached out to him to participate in our process as his expertise pertains directly to the core of this operation.
“We do not believe there was any conflict of interest as Stu knows all of the respondents personally and all have had various affiliations with US Sailing. Additionally, the decision was not up to Stu alone and questions from the panel were fair and consistent across the board.”
==================================================
King, McGee and Kantor described the background of the Longshore sailing program.
It began in 1960, the year Westport purchased the private Longshore Country Club.
The Westport Recreation Commission (now called the Parks & Recreation Department) ran the program until 1975. That year, “Longshore Sailing School” took it private.
At first a sole proprietorship, Kantor — its president — reorganized it in 1978, as a for-profit corporation.
It ran successfully for decades, say Kantor, McGee and King. It was a pioneer and national model for community sailing programs.
An additional location in Old Greenwich was established in 1998. Called Greenwich Community Sailing, it was sponsored by Old Greenwich Yacht Club.
In 2001 Kantor, still president of Longshore Sailing School, Inc., donated the existing building to the town of Westport. A long-term lease was granted by the Town in order to amortize its cost.
That lease expired October 15, 2023.
Longshore Sailing School (Photo/John Videler for Videler Photography)
In 2017, Longshore Sailing School’s ownership changed hands. Jane Pimentel purchased all shares of its stock (including all assets: boats, docks, tools, furniture and equipment, at both locations) from Kantor for the token amount of $10.
Kantor, King and McGee now believe that “a public program, in a municipal park, should be run by a non-profit organization. That is the standard model for community sailing programs throughout the country. Now that the long-term lease is ending and the building is fully paid for, it is the right time for change.”
The trio have concerns about boating safety at Longshore. The Sailing School, they say, taught boating safety courses since 1960. But in 2017, the new owners “abruptly” stopped offering Connecticut Boating Safety certification courses.
In 2023, LSS also removed the boating safety component (one of the 2 weeks of “Sailing One”) from the junior program’s curriculum. “Boating safety education should never be compromised in a community sailing program – and certainly not for the sake of profit,” Kantor, King and McGee say.
They also note that a non-profit could give back to the community through lower user fees, and scholarship for people needing financial help.
Furthermore, they say, Pimentel’s group closed the sailboat rental program on weekdays in mid-August for the last 2 summers — “historically, the time of peak boat rental demand.” Last summer, they continue, LSS further cut sailboat rentals on weekdays through most of June.
In 2021, Kantor and fellow Greenwich Community Sailing Board members say, Longshore Sailing School abruptly abandoned its long relationship with Greenwich. It was “a needlessly embarrassing, avoidable, and well-publicized separation. Bridges were burned. As a result, LSS lost roughly 1/3 of its revenue, and its safety net of cooperative partnership.”
The bidders call the facility a winter “eyesore” Last year, they say, “tools, sails, electronics, hoses, etc. and all manner of equipment, including gasoline containers, were left unsecured outdoors – next to the children’s playground. Kayaks were left unsecured on beach racks, windows were left open, boats were left upright and uncovered – filled with moldy leaves, snow and ice – throughout the fall and winter.”
The situation seems the same this year.
(Photos/John Kantor)
Manchester — another bidder on the RFP — says that when vendors made a pre-proposal site visit to Longshore in late September, both they and the Parks & Rec team were surprised by the lack of upkeep on town-owned land.
Manchester calls it “a huge liability to the town, for any kid who walks a few steps from the playground and is injured.” The ice skating entrance is nearby too.
He adds, “Westport residents, the new hotel operator and any visitor will be stunned to see one of the best pieces of real estate in Westport being rented out as a junkyard, for a mere $5,000 license fee per annum.”
(“06880” covers the Westport waterfront. Please click here to support our hyper-local journalism. Thank you!)
