Bay Beach has another big year in Green Bay

This is a nice story, great to hear the park is doing well after taking a pretty sizable gamble installing the coaster in the first place.

And can you believe it? It's run by the government.

The local government has gotten out of the amusement park business.

• Under a recent re-structure, Bay Beach no longer receives city funding nor pays revenues back to the city. It’s truly the people’s park with funds donated by local businesses, local residents and park revenue. Friends of Bay Beach is a 501 (c)(3) organization that was formed to independently manage the fundraising for the Bay Beach master plan.

It is a pseudo-private philanthropic endeavor these days.

Doesn't matter, you're the one who went on and on about how the city shouldn't do it because it would be a big immoral failure.

Just because it's successful doesn't mean it's a business any government should be involved in.

Sticking to absolutes is absolutely absurd.

I applaud the Green Bay government for getting out of the amusement park business. Sounds like the peoples'representatives preferred a private/philanthropic model. The outcome parallels my personal beliefs as to proper government involvement in such ancillary endeavors. Which is to say...government get out of the way and let the market determine viability. While tax incentives, etc are reasonable incentive tools in many cases, I never understood or agreed with complete governmental control of an amusement park...like Bay Beach once operated.

I wish nothing but the best to Friends of Bay Beach. It sounds like their expansion plans will make a better place for all to enjoy, without burdening the tax payer with financial risk for such non-essential service. Their philanthropy is to be admired.

If the big bad government hadn't stepped in when and how they did, Bay Beach likely would be sand and dog poop. As things stand, they invested wisely, and now the community has something that they can be proud of. It will pay for itself and generate money, and it provides a place for children and families to go hang out and have fun in non-destructive ways...

Please note that Green Bay is also the home of the only publicly-owned professional sports franchise in the US.

While we can never truly know the hypothetical results of public versus private ownership of this particular park...we do know the government has decided to get out of the amusement park business there. Let us hope that Friends of Bay Beach continues to invest wisely and meet market demands.

The question has never been whether or not government COULD run an amusement park. Government, and the power to issue bonds secured by the public trust could ultimately run any business entity. It might not be as clean and efficient as the public sector, but no doubt that absent the pressures of profit, combined with the ability to raise limitless funds...government can do whatever it darn well pleases.

No doubt that the evidence presented suggests the government did a fine job operating this amusement park. They took risks on the backs of the taxpayer that ultimately succeeded. The question has always been whether they (government) SHOULD have done so...?

Apparently the government in Green Bay decided they shouldn't moving forward. I believe that government did the right thing in divesting the public interest in such a non-essential service.

It is perfectly acceptable to think otherwise.