News: Sandusky officials want sit-down with Cedar Fair CEO

We enjoy the Sandusky area. We moved here (Huron Township) from Missouri about 5 years ago.
There's plenty to see and do locally and when we need more it's just under an hour's drive to Cleveland.
Yes, it can be a bit gloomy here but I'll take gloom over high heat and humidity.

The heat and humidity in Northern Ohio is just as bad, and often hotter, than it is in most of Florida in July and August. There's definitely more snow, too in the winter. The flat, gray sky doesn't last for weeks in Seattle (or even days), where it also doesn't usually snow unless you get into higher elevations, where you can see mountains. If Seattle was such a miserable place to live, the housing wouldn't be so expensive.

IDK Jeff,
Google tells me Florida is the second most humid state in the US and Seattle ties with Cleveland for gloom.
Perhaps your issues with Sandusky are psychological.

As for the snow, I don't mind it, I'd hate to live anywhere without 4 seasons. Can't imagine waking up to palm trees on Christmas morning.

Thanks, I'll go see my therapist. But I have not had issues with season affective disorder in Orlando or Seattle, and it was every winter living in Ohio.

And palm trees? I've gone to the beach on Christmas, and it's awesome. Most Christmas mornings in Ohio, I mostly recall waking up to dead grass, dirty melting snow piles, mud and leafless trees. Yay Jesus!

While I don’t share Jeff’s distaste for winter and I am far from a biblical scholar, I don’t believe it was snowing in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.

Jeff said:

Thanks, I'll go see my therapist. But I have not had issues with season affective disorder in Orlando or Seattle, and it was every winter living in Ohio.

And palm trees? I've gone to the beach on Christmas, and it's awesome. Most Christmas mornings in Ohio, I mostly recall waking up to dead grass, dirty melting snow piles, mud and leafless trees. Yay Jesus!

Give it a rest, man. You don’t like Ohio. We get it. However, Cedar Fair corporate has been based in Sandusky all of this time and has done well there for many years. With your logic, if weather was the deterrent for many corporate offices, then there wouldn’t be a single corporate office based in Ohio. Those who are seeking a corporate level position apply and accept a job based on the job description. Not the weather where the office is located. Anybody in their right mind that doesn’t like the location of an open career position wouldn’t apply for the job in the first place.

Has anyone heard anything about the actual meeting yet? If they've had one. What the conversations were that have been shared. What the direction is?

TwistedWicker77 said:
Give it a rest, man. You don’t like Ohio. We get it. However, Cedar Fair corporate has been based in Sandusky all of this time and has done well there for many years. With your logic, if weather was the deterrent for many corporate offices, then there wouldn’t be a single corporate office based in Ohio.

You don't need to tell me what to do at my house.

I didn't say anything about Ohio, I said Sandusky. There's a reason Key Corp, Progressive and Nationwide are not in Sandusky. It has "done well there?" What does that even mean? A micromanaging CEO who was in over his head lived there next to the park for years, and that's how the office did there. The CEO that turned it around lived 40 minutes away and didn't even spend that much time in Sandusky. His successor doesn't even live in the state. Qualified executives don't want to live half way between Cleveland and Detroit. It's not where they are.

Late to the party. Is it still casually late?

I think it got mentioned somewhere in this thread, but it would seem to me that it would be completely unnecessary for anyone not tied to Cedar Point directly to live/reside/work in Sandusky. Or even close. Cedar Fair is now something far greater than Cedar Point, especially since that aforementioned Kinzel era. Far greater.

I agree with what Cargo Shorts responded to me initially back on page one; that there is most likely anxiety over a commitment to Sandusky. I suppose there is also some "bragging rights" by saying such a small town is the home of the corporate offices to such a big name. Now that I type it out, I would actually guess it is more of the latter. I'm not sure what more Cedar Fair could do for Sandusky after the acquisition of Sawmill, the BGSU campus satellite, and the erection of the Sports Complex.

I would also guess there is some fanboy anxiety that this would signal the end of Cedar Point being the apple of Cedar Fair's eye. It's always been the "flagship park"; does Cedar Fair leaving mean that's over? (No).

Should people connected directly to Cedar Point live and work there? Of course. Should Cedar Fair corporate live and/work there? Why?

TwistedWicker77 said...

Those who are seeking a corporate level position apply and accept a job based on the job description. Not the weather where the office is located. Anybody in their right mind that doesn’t like the location of an open career position wouldn’t apply for the job in the first place.

I agree, which is probably why they are moving some corporate positions out of Sandusky. And that isn't a knock on Sandusky, or Ohio. I love Ohio. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, at least for now. But to remain successful and dynamic, Cedar Fair is going to need to continuously attract talent from all over the country (which best represents their portfolio), not just relying on "home-grown" talent like in the Kinzel era. Per this article, it would appear that at least for now, there is some flex involved where positions are, not an all-or-nothing-here-not-there approach (with a significant tilt towards Charlotte)

Which goes back to my original question. I still don't see a reason why Cedar Fair needs to be based in Sandusky. Other than adding some "prestige" to the city's portfolio, I see little purpose it serves.

^^TwistedCircuits: I'm not sure the meeting has even happened yet.

Kinzel Kastle was built in the middle of the park because Kinzel lived on the other side of the parking lot, and it was a convenient way for him to closely monitor all of the people he didn't trust to do their jobs. That's why that building is there. There is zero reason to have that building in the middle of the park, as it does not contribute to the operation of the park in any possible way. It does block sunlight from the marketing office in the evening, in a building that already has too few windows.

Cleveland.com is reporting that a meeting is scheduled for next month. Quite an extensive article, I don't know how to link to this page. Article mentions the various investments around the Sandusky area, no mention of erection Kevinj.

Jeff said:

It does block sunlight from the marketing office in the evening, in a building that already has too few windows.

Actually that building does not block the sunlight from the marketing building as it is a well established fact that the sun doesn't shine in Sandusky.

Watching a National Geographic show about what would happen to the Seattle area if an earthquake hits the area. I didn't realize that the Ring of Fire extended all the way up there. The simulation that they run shows that area to pretty much be wiped out and then the tsunamai hits. Heck of a 1-2 punch. The show says a massive earthquake hit that area in 1699. And as the norm of an earthquake show, the next big one is imminent.

And never fear, the next episode is about a tsunamai that wipes out the entire east coast.

Maybe Sandusky is not such a bad place to be.

Sandusky elevation, 597 feet above sea level.

Welcome to Opposite Week.

On another note used to know a cartographer with the Defense Mapping Agency that told me Mt. Rainier is an active volcano with a whole lot of ice on it and if it erupts and melts the ice the topography will funnel the water right at Seattle.

Aw, man a thread I can get behind: a pissing contest on urbanism...

I am a city guy but always thought there was a cool small town romanticism with Sandusky. Though outside a summer at the Cedars, I've never lived there.

I don't like Seattle (or the West Coast in general) Always loved midwestern cities. Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago... Sandusky has a small extension of that. I got sick of Orlando after two years.

Charlotte is cool because it offers the big city amenities on a smaller scale. It's easier to get around And an solid airport for exodus. ...So did O town. Wait the best part of Charlotte is the ease to leave? But culturally I'd choose Sandusky too. No MLB in the state. I don't like BBQ and Fury isn't in my top 25.

jimmyburke said:

Cleveland.com is reporting that a meeting is scheduled for next month. Quite an extensive article, I don't know how to link to this page.

https://www.cleveland.com/business/2021/06/is-cedar-fair-slowly-mov...erned.html

TwistedWicker77 said:

Because you were not a Kinzel fan and he hurt your feelings a few years back, does not mean us true Ohioans don’t want to root for something that has brought great things to the Sandusky area.

Lastly, I wouldn’t say any of the recent CEOs have turned anything around per say other than the hotel and beach. But that’s a different conversation for a different time.

It's probably good that you deleted this post (you know I can read those, right?), because it's pretty ridiculous. You can objectively observe that Kinzel overstayed his welcome. All within a few year's time, he overpaid for Paramount Parks, tanked Geauga Lake and nearly sold the company to Apollo for pennies on the dollar. The "people gotta eat" CEO's connection and empathy to customers didn't go much beyond picking up trash and making sure ride capacities were high. Accommodations, food, design, strategic pricing, technology, and above all, people management, suffered when he tried to run a billion dollar company like a mom-n-pop.

And while we all might have our opinions about Sandusky versus everywhere, it doesn't change the fact that experienced executives don't want to live there. That's why they're more likely to live in Charlotte.