Conneaut Blue Streak wins $50K Pepsi donation

^^ And babies...don't forget babies, Carrie

obxKevin said:
Regarding my last post, "hate" is not the word I should have used, and I apologize for that. The word I was looking for was animosity. I just don't want to see anyone begrudging the park anything good that happens.

No. You're still wrong.

I have no animosity, hate, dislike, etc.. for the park. I'm just done caring. My general feelings on the place, and its financial practices fall in the "meh" category.

So the proper word choice should have been 'apathy'? ;)

Way to go CLP and all those who voted!

We went there a few weeks back. It was fairly crowded.

Hope they can get a better motor for the Scooters.

Yeah, but "meh" fits in better around here.

New word? Mehpathy...

"Raven-Phile is quite mehpathetic to Conneaut Lake Park's situation."

Oh, I like mehpathy.

Conneaut Lake has accumulated a fair amount of debt as it completed work to get the Blue Streak up and running, which is obviously the park's biggest draw and one that will be important if it hopes to find future success. The Pepsi Refresh money wasn't necessarily needed but it sure does help, as I understand approximately $125K was spent. I admit to wondering whether or not it's a good idea to open the coaster for a very short amount of time, but if you figure 10K people take rides between now and the time the park closes at the end of the season, that's another $30K at $3.00/ride.

Some of the statements in this thread are by people who obviously have no idea what they're talking about. As Chuck pointed out, some of the other options were downright idiotic. There are far worse things to vote for than sending money to a struggling amusement park. Conneaut Lake remaining open means people in the area have more jobs available to them and perhaps it will keep the local kids entertained so they don't have so much free time in which to build meth labs in their parents' basements. Furthermore, it's ridiculous to insinuate people who spend a few seconds each day voting to send money to a struggling amusement park don't engage in other charitable ventures. If you want to talk about how the proper way to spend money, let's discuss the endless possibilties for money that someone invests in starting and running a roller coaster discussion forum for more than a decade. Otherwise let's not by hypocritical.

Someone loaned them more money? I have a house they might want to buy in Cleveland, too.

obxKevin said:
I said Kara had class.

And she also represents GKTW and it wouldn't be cool for her to say anything. The rest of us, however, are not bound to that.

And I know she has class, we've been BFF's since high school. (Well, since she was in high school, anyway.)

No one said that the people who spent their votes on the coaster weren't interested in voting for other causes. What was said was that those of us who didn't vote for BS, chose to spend our votes elsewhere. That's it. Quit reading into it as some kind of personal attack, when all that was voice was an opinion.

Hypocrisy? Really? Last I checked, people were free to cast their vote for whatever they wanted. I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

Just because this is a site about roller coasters, doesn't mean that absolutely everyone who contributes has a life that is completely dedicated to and consumed by roller coasters.

I have 10 votes a day to use across all categories, not just the $50,000 one. Among some of the things I've been voting for include a $250,000 category for a wellness program at the hospital I work for. That, to me, is FAR more important than getting a roller coaster up and running, as it involves my workplace. Some others include no-kill shelters for pets, vaccines and food for poor families, and free school supplies for kids who can't afford them. Ridiculous? Less important than a coaster? Hardly, but YMMV.

Again, if that makes me less of a coaster fan/more of an idiot, so be it. It's what I choose to do with my votes/Pepsi's money. I couldn't care less what others do, but I've stated my stance. It has nothing to do with wishing the park to close, or whatever - even if someone out there does wish for the park to close, who cares? It's their opinion, and they're allowed to have it.

If someone were really holding animosity towards the project they would have voted against BS.

Not voting is apathy. Voting for numbers 2-11 daily is animosity.

No one did the latter...

...I don't think.

I think CLP HAD to get this coaster up. It's a GREAT marketing spark (not the word I wanted, but couldn't think of the other) for the Fall and 2011+.

And although I think Rob's $30k is a VERY optimistic number, people are still spending other monies at the park or in the local economy. WIN-WIN!

Ensign Smith said:
So the proper word choice should have been 'apathy'? ;)

For some reason, this brought me great joy!

I say - good for them. I hope everything works out for the park. Perhaps this is the impetus they needed to get things back in order.

IMPETUS! THAT'S THE WORD! (I kept thinking inertia and KNEW that was wrong!)

Can we stop using BS as a short form for Blue Streak?! I've been reading the posts as something completely different!

Amazingly, some of them made sense.

Vater said:
New word? Mehpathy...

"Raven-Phile is quite mehpathetic to Conneaut Lake Park's situation."

If you psychically know that someone is disinterested to the state of boredom, does that make you a 'mehpath'?

Is the glass half full or do you not care so it's half mehpty?

Or Mehvrick.

Or Fahrmeheit.

Why has this become an either/or situation? If you voted for Blue Streak's rehabilitation, you're against sick children. You mean you can't help both?

I'm don't think that anyone who posts on a coaster site is obligated to support this project. If it's not your thing, then so be it. But I think there have also been a lot of disparaging comments made toward the people who did decide to support it. Spending $50,000 to rehabilitate this coaster endangers children no more than Cedar Fair or Six Flags spending tens of millions each year on cap improvements, or people here spending hundreds or thousands per season hitting up various parks.

How much is going to be spent to construct a new stadium in Santa Clara? Hit up the city and the 49ers and see if they'll kick in some dough for charity.

Personally, I was also voting for the kid who wanted to put the greenhouse and rain barrels at his school. Apparently, he just missed making the top 10 for several straight months. Sorry, different category, so Blue Streak didn't knock him out. It was his Eagle Scout project, so it could be argued he could raise the money by holding car washes or selling hoagies instead of asking Pepsi for money. And does anyone see the irony of asking Pepsi/Frito Lay to fund a program to make kids eat healthier snacks? Yeah, like that's going to happen.

There's always going to be money that could be better spent elsewhere. Does it mean we shouldn't want more than what's absolutely essential?

There's always the other side of that coin, then. Just because I didn't vote for Blue Streak, doesn't mean I want the park to fail and the coaster to burn down.