Santa Clarita wants to annex Six Flags Magic Mountain

Did anybody see anything in this article that would make you think there is enough incentives available from the city or county to change minds? Six Flags needs a billion or so in savings to excite shareholders. Hunderds of thousands up to a mil per year does not make me want to rush out and buy stock for a company 2 billion in debt.

I've no clue what the city has to offer...but I cannot help but think that it is not enough.

No. And I don't think the city is stupid enough to think they can change Shapiro's mind with they're measley offerings (at least I hope not). However, if there are some offers out there from theme park operators weighing the idea of a MM purchase, this may add some wood to the fire. If nothing else, it shows that the city has some interest in keeping the park open. I've never heard of that before, usually it's the opposite.

As for the Irvine Spectrum, I can't help but think (knowing what I know about California real estate) your not going to see anything like that here.

It's Condos baby. ;)

As I mentioned elsewere, public ownership is the only reason that Rye Playland survives as an amusement park. The park is profitable but the real estate is so valuable that it would have been sold long ago had it not been a county park.

I do believe that municipal waterparks would be a practical operation in some communities. These parks require less capital investment than a ride park and they could add revenue to the community's recreation budget from a source other than taxes. Many municipal parks have pools already and some even have a few waterpark attractions such as waterslides, wave pools or children's water play areas.

"that is NOT true about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Our politicians are above under the table deals... they don't bother to hide it and just hold their hands out in the open for all to see."

Pennsylvania local officials just practice legalized extortion. Review fees, recreation fees, construction escrows, inspection fees. On one project we did several years ago, the township had an "inspector" (actually a kid just out of college) spend 8 hours a day at a job site inspecting. One day he sat in a car for 8 hours watching a concrete curb dry. They charged our client 75 dollars an hour for inspection fees. The inspection fees cost more than the design did.

---

Hunderds of thousands up to a mil per year does not make me want to rush out and buy stock for a company 2 billion in debt.

---

Nor does the current price have you running out to sell all that stock you bought recently. Don't worry, I'm sure it will go through the roof when they sell the the mountain.

Sorry...the heat has me all bitter. ;)

I still think some land developer has Shapiro's ear offering to pad his back pocket. It's going to take a lot to derail his plans to close the park. If his intentions was to sell the park to someone else in the industry, why would be so critical of the park he was preparing to sell? It’s like showing a house to prospective buyers, while complaining about how much his home sucked. He doesn't seem to want anyone else to be interested in running the park, as if he has other plans for the property. Is it just coincidence his plans to sell SFMM came out after Cedar Fair spent all their money on Paramount parks? Maybe that's just my impression.

Who owned the Mountain before Six Flags? Was it ever locally owned?*** This post was edited by rc-madness 7/18/2006 12:52:49 PM ***

It was built by Newhall Land and Farming and Seaworld. The latter sold out after the first season. Newhall L&F owns most if not all of the land surrounding the park. They are real estate developers, and may be first in line to, in this case, repurchase the property. IMO if they do they won't keep it as a park. The reason they sold out to SF in the first place is because the ROI wasn't fast enough for them, and there were other problems besides.

jan:

Sadly I got out of PKS (SIX) quite a while back. I always have an automatic stop around 15-20%. I'm tempted to get back in...but I think I've learned my lesson with theme park stocks...

Anyhow...SFMM seems gone. What can we gripe about then...?

P.S. Are you going to make one last trip for Tatsu? Or is not even that worthn it? I'm conflicted.

omg, you have got to ride Tatsu! Normally I'd say to just wait until you *wind* up at the park. But you'll kick yourself if the park closes this year and Tatsu can't be moved.

It's an excellent ride. It's funny that the one ride I will miss when the park closes, is the one they just put in. ;)

If you look at it from a financial stand point, if the city were to annex the property then all sales tax for the city would increase. In my area there is a 6.25% sales tax, 5% goes to the state and 1.25% goes to the city and county. If the sale is in city limits then the city receives .75% and the county receives .50%. If the sale is outside of city limits the county receives all of the 1.25% and the city receives nothing. I believe if this is the case in CA. then the city stands to gain alot of money...

And the county stands to lose a lot of money...

I dunno. We'll see if we can get out to Tatsu. I'd go just to ride Goldrusher and Skytower one last time. But it would have to be on our way to the Bay Area or something...with some seriously discounted tickets.

Anyway, doesn't annexation require votes of the people who live there? Since nobody lives there, how does this kind of thing work. Who gets to decide?

If you are annexing a large area the people who live there vote But if you are only annexing one parcel the property owners agree's to it (or asks for it)It is almost always rubber stamped by a judge.