Big Dipper to CP?

Well, there's a problem with making a bid on the coaster. Herschman or ACE or anyone else for that matter could have easily bid on the coaster, but if the land proposal was rejected, then they would have still been responsible for removing it from the proporty. That would have cost a lot more. Based on what we're seeing now, the likelihood of them accepting the Dipper land proposal was probably small anyway. Someone else has a 440 acre bid that included the parcel where Dipper sat. I believe the Herschman bid was only for about 20 acres.

Jason Hammond said:
...are you saying you hope ACE is screwed or Apex?

How is that even the least bit confusing? I was obviously speaking of Herschmann when I said....

It'stoo bad there wasn't some sort of stipulation in the bids where ifaccepted you were held to it because I would have loved to see thiscompany get screwed since they only bid on the property for one reason.

I was saying that Cedar Fair obviously knew of their (Herschmann) intentions and had the auction prior to OK'ing the proposals for a reason. Why do you think BD was the only piece of equipment that CF had to approve prior to it being certified. Did it not occur to anyone else that CF doesn't want reminders of a park across the lake for decades to come?

I would think it had more to do with making sure All of the land was sold. The Small piece of property that Herschman was bidding on was right near the lake (if not right on the lake). So just like Herschman qualified their bid requiring the Coaster to stay, Whoever bid on the 440 acres including the land the Coaster sits on, may have been unwilling to negotiate for a lesser amount of property. I would venture a guess and say that Cesar Fair saw the potential for selling most of the property to 1 buyer and didn't want to deal with the Coaster getting in the way with that. So at that point they made the decision to add Dipper to the Auction because it would no longer be feasible to consider Herschman's proposal.

Jason - but there was the ACE complaining in another article about approaching this guy to buy it, and him demanding that they use HIS moving company to move it. Apparently his price was significantly higher than they thought reasonable.

What I'm saying is that ACE wanted the coaster preserved, whether on that property or elsewhere, so why didn't they bid on it? Instead, what I am hearing is their whining that they aren't getting their way and it should be "given" to them.

ACE didn't approach him, he approached ACE.

I mis-read that part then. Thanks.

No problem. I can see why you would say that if you thought it was the other way around.

Sounds like the guy may have paid the $5K with the idea that he'd turn right around and just give/offer the coaster to ACE and get a huge paycheck moving the thing.

It's explained fairly well in the second paragraph of this news brief.

JuggaLotus said:What I'm saying is that ACE wanted the coaster preserved, whether on that property or elsewhere, so why didn't they bid on it? Instead, what I am hearing is their whining that they aren't getting their way and it should be "given" to them.

They were offered the coaster by CF. Whether ACE wants to admit to it or not, I seriously doubt CF is going to make something like this up. Even if they weren't offered the coaster then they should have bid on it, period. No matter if they were waiting on some other land offer to be approved, if you want it that bad then you should have done something about it. Stop whining and crying about some contractor overcharging for moving it and either pony up the cash or dry your eyes. Don't cry about someone taking a business venture because you think it's "unfair". The real world is a mean place and not everyone cares about some lame coaster club.

That was all speculation started by the local media and propogated by Norton. They were likely confusing the fact that there were previous ACE executives working with a local Developer on a bid for part of the proporty. I defy you to find anything from Cedar Fair saying they offered the ride to ACE. And even if they did, ACE couldn't afford to disassemble and move the ride. Not to mention the fact that they'd have no place to put it or store it.

So it's, in reality, over. They (as far as we can speculate) withdrew their pseudo-bid for the property it sits on and we all know CF isn't going to let it sit where it is now.

The bad taste really started with attempting to get state officials involved with a private business matter on ACE's part.

Do you mean like what happened in 1956, when the Ohio governor blocked Cedar Point owner George Roose from turning the entire peninsula into a residential development? Can you imagine, state officials getting involved with a purely private business matter? It they hadn't succeeded, we'd all be posting to Condobuzz.com now.

^Actualy, if the state had gotten their way, Cedar Point would have become a state park and it would never have become what it is today. The city of Sandusky was also against the state's proposal. It was only 2 years later when Roose and Legros abandon their plans for the housing development and instead focus on turning Cedar Point in the "Disneyland of the Midwest".

From Cedar Point: The Queen of American Watering Holes:

"By June of 1956, Governor Frank Lausche declared that if any attempt was made to convert Cedar Point into a residential community, the State would purchase the property in the interest of public safety and the public well-being."

The state's proposal was primarily to prevent the property from being turned into a housing development.

^I'm not denying that. But, what do you think they were going to do with it once they owned it.

I read it as a threat that the state didn't want to have to follow through on. The most desired outcome is what happened: the peninsula continuing as a resort.

From my understanding the State proposed acquiring the Cedar Point and turning it into a state park to prevent if from ever being developed into residential property. The City of Sandusky opposed this idea as it would no longer be able to be a resort. In addition they'd lose $40K in annual tax revenue.

So the state and the governor didn't block anything, which makes sense since they don't have that kind of authority. Beyond the zoning authority of the local municipality, there wasn't anything anyone could do except buy it. You think Ohio was going to buy Geauga Lake? Fat chance.

Apparently Governor Lausche seemed to think he had the authority. Keep in mind this was still in an era when government was busily confiscating millions of acres of land around the nation for highways, the military, and other uses.

Of course they would have paid for the property had it been taken. In fact, the Ohio Assembly authorized up to $1.5 million to spend if necessary. It's called eminent domain.

I neither said nor implied Ohio was going to buy Geauga Lake. My line of thought was a response to Loopy's complaint about trying to get state officials involved in a private business matter. My example was to establish precedent, right from Cedar Point's very own history.