Bell's new home

[Rico]

Damn! Scotched by that business plan thingy again!

I want to see what Mr Bell's response is. When the Tulsa Fairgrounds asked for a plan... he (Mr Bell)  griped they made demands and gave him not enough time to respond.

He's had several years to dream up a very elaborate plan. One that would almost assure his acceptance by many Counties.

My guess..... He will have an excuse or the same tired worn out plan that he had been living off of for so many years.

Sorry if I offend anyone with this. I liked Bell's... But then it became static and stale after so many years.
All "Great" amusement parks change.
Just like the comic books I liked are not the cup of tea for the kids today. Entertainment, like everything else, has to keep pace with the times.

A point that I believe eludes Mr Bell.

Just my opinion of course.

[Conan71]

Get out of my brain cell, Co...I was looking for your funny crayon letter that Robbie wrote to the County...LOL.

First page of this thread, my friend.

[DTowner]

If/when the new Bell's opens, it should be renamed "Fantasy Park".

[RecycleMichael]

Project is off. Wagoner County Commissioners change mind...

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/bell%27s-sales-tax-vote-pulled-by-wagoner-county-commissioners

An effort to revive Bell's Amusement Park is now on hold. Tuesday, Wagoner County Commissioners called off an election to raise taxes for a new fairgrounds.

"There's a lot more information that needs to be gathered before we ever get to that point," stated District 2 Commissioner Chris Edwards. His comment was met with applause from opponents who attended the regularly scheduled meeting.

Commissioners Edwards and Jim Hargrove want more studies done, and they want a business proposal from Bell's before moving forward.

The unexpected decision surprised Commissioner Tom Vincent, who was out-voted two to one.

"I didn't know anything about it until they started going into it. And by that time they'd done so much damage that it just killed the whole deal," said Vincent.

No one is more surprised than Robby Bell. He had "no clue" the motion to cancel the vote would be made.

It was just last week that the three commissioners signed off on a deal with Bell, who has been looking for a new location since the Tulsa County Fair Board didn't renew the park's lease in November 2006.

The Wagoner County lease agreement was contingent on passage of a 1/4 penny sales tax increase, which would have funded 40 acres for the amusement park and built an Expo Center and animal shelter off Highway 51 near Coweta.

Edwards fears the project will end up costing more than what the taxes would generate.

"I think we need to back up and do a better study; and maybe do it in phases instead of trying to do it all at one time," Edwards said.

Bell isn't sure what will happen now.

"If they were afraid the tax wasn't going to generate what they needed for all the elements, they should've decided that before they talked to us," said Bell.

No word on a time frame for another vote.

[Conan71]

Anyone care to bet someone at Wagoner County tracked down Randi Miller and quizzed her about Bell's dismissal from the Fairgrounds?  Either that or commissioner Vincent went public with this a bit soon.

Rico does pose a good question, I'm curious what the Bell's have in writing. A bunch of warehoused rides isn't the same as a business plan.

[YoungTulsan]

Anyone bet there was no way in hell Wagoner county was going to vote in favor of increasing sales taxes for an amusement park?  Coweta looks to be about 10% of Wagoner county's population if you want an idea of how the "Does it benefit me directly?" vote would go.

[rwarn17588]

I'm no fan of David Arnett, but this recent report about Bell's is pretty damning, and I have few doubts about its veracity:

http://tulsatoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1860:bells-relocating-what-to-where&catid=58:local&Itemid=106

Money quote:

Shortly before the park's closing, Brewster said, "Executive Director Rick Bjorklund had representatives from Six Flags come out with their ride inspectors and walk through Bell's.  They were just aghast at the state of disrepair of the rides.  As I remember it, they noted that it was the only major rollercoaster in American without automatic brakes – Zingo only had hand-brakes.

"Had the Bells come to the Board and said they would reinvest in the park and maintain the park, then certainly, that would have been a win-win situation.  It would be nice to have a downtown Tulsa amusement park that was vibrant, well-maintained and well-run, but that option was not available," Brewster said.

[Conan71]

"Brewster had previously represented in a lawsuit the family of a child killed by a failure of a ride at Bell's on April 20, 1997."

Revealing comments by Clark Brewster in the story.  I don't know if anyone was previously aware that Bell's was in arrearage on rent or whatever it was they owed Expo Square.  I know I'd not heard that before.  It sounds as if the manager of ES was in possession of a posted-dated check from the Murphys at the time Bell's was booted out for rent on Big Splash.

One can only guess that Bell's was suffering from a cash flow issue.  As an outsider, the biggest flaw I saw in their business model was their dated concept of a cheap admission (what was it? $5?) and charging per ride.  This made entry a reality for young punks who were there to do nothing but stir up trouble.  That also meant that probably many parents or grandparents who paid $5 per head to watch their kids have fun probably didn't spend money on rides once in the park, but may have bought some concessions.  I still think a $20 admission which was inclusive of all rides would have gotten rid of undesireables who weren't there to ride rides in the first place, raise revenue and not have run off their core crowd.  At that rate, they still should have had plenty of money for better upkeep and pay a rent Expo Square was happy with.  Being rid of thugs and doing a make over on the park would have helped drive more people to the gate.

All that said, Clark Brewster had no business voting on whether or not to renew Bell's lease, he should have recused.  I consider he had a conflict-of-interest from representing the Kurek family in their lawsuit against Bell's.  It should also be noted that the Bells did not drag the family through a long painful process, they settled relatively easily.

[tulsabug]

It should also be noted that the Bells did not drag the family through a long painful process, they settled relatively easily.

Indeed - what fine upstanding people they are! "Sure we killed your kid through our gross negligence, but it's all good since we didn't string it out in court!" Honestly dude - that has to be the dumbest idea since Greedo shooting first.

[rwarn17588]

Indeed - what fine upstanding people they are! "Sure we killed your kid through our gross negligence, but it's all good since we didn't string it out in court!" Honestly dude - that has to be the dumbest idea since Greedo shooting first.

Agreed. The Bell family settled because if they'd let the process proceed through court, that jerryrigged part would have cost them way more money from a mad and disgusted jury.

[Red Arrow]

It sure would have cost the Bells a lot more if it went through a full trial.  I wonder if the family of the deceased would have gotten any more.

[Conan71]

We've discussed this point before around the time Bell's lease was not renewed.  They were horrified by the accident and did not want the family to suffer any more than they already had.  It was found in the investigation by the Dept. of Labor that Bell's had manufactured a replacement part out of un-approved material and did not notify the DOL such modification had been made for a re-inspection.  They screwed up and admitted as much.  They were quite cooperative throughout the investigation.

Portraying the Bells as some sort of callous business operators is grossly inaccurate.  I hope if you have the misfortune for someone to be accidentally killed on your personal or business property that you aren't treated near as harshly in public discourse.  They carried more than the statutory minimum liability insurance, which at the time was $300K.  It's never been publicly stated how much that policy amount was, nor how much the Kurek's settled for.  Pat Kurek's father stated at the time, he'd recieved phone calls that industry advocates and attorneys would have pointed to rider negligence, so he accepted a settlement offer.  There were multiple witnesses at the time who stated the boys in the ride car which broke were horsing around, bouncing up and down and forward and back.  Yet, the Bell's never resorted to a contributory negligence defense even though the riders were not observing ride safety rules.  It would appear that Mr. Kurek was more worried about a jury reducing his award if testimony about the boy's behavior in the ride car came out in court.

"Rep. Richard Phillips, R-Warr Acres, questioned the requirement cap for liability insurance for amusement parks, which must total at least $300,000. He said that is a low limit, especially in cases such this one that result in the deaths of children.

Kurek noted that Bell's liability was covered by insurance above the minimum. However, he said that because the case has been settled, he could not go into specifics.

He said he settled because he feared industry attorneys would have tried to attach blame to the boys, because that has occurred in similar cases.

"That's what they do," Kurek said, adding that he has received phone calls intimating that this would be the tactic the industry would take if the case went to trial."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_19990826/ai_n10130769/pg_2/?tag=content;col1

I discovered while trying to find settlement details on OSCN in the Kurek case that Brewster & Deangelis represented another family in a "friendly suit" in 1999.  Why was Clark Brewster allowed to vote on the Bell's lease when he was on the Fair Board?  Didn't that create at a bare minimum a conflict of interest since Mr. Brewster already had an adversarial relationship with the Bells and their business?  Should he have voted on such a contract?  That seems rather corrupt to me.  I also find distaste in him dishing over details of one of the cases now as if the Bell's were the worst amusement park operators in the world.

Rick Bjorklund was quoted in the Arnett article that Rwarn posted.  That's the same Rick Bjorklund who was fired for holding a check for 1/2 of Big Splash's 2006 rent for more than a yaer and their 2007 rent had been allowed to go unpaid.

Also noted was that Bjorklund employed Six Flags inspectors to look over Bell's.  This is the same Six Flags which has had multiple deaths at it's parks across America due to operator negligence and improper maintenance and which was cited by OSHA for multiple violations at one of it's parks, including 38 in one inspection in 2007.

"Between 2004 and September 2007, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspected Six Flags parks five different times and found a total of four violations. On September 10, 2007, OSHA cited Great America with 38 safety violations, alleging "multiple serious and repeat violations at the amusement park, ranging from defective emergency brakes on an industrial truck to a lack of labeling procedures for preventing inadvertent machine start-ups." OSHA fined the park US$117,700.[18]"

I hate to cite Wiki as scholarly, but sometimes, it's the best clearinghouse of information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidents_at_Six_Flags_parks

That said, the dismissal from Expo Square was entirely something beyond the Bells not paying enough rent, one customer death in 55 years of business, nor peeling paint.

(Simple matter of disclosure: I went to HS with Robby Bell and always considered him a friend.  That said, I've never given them a moral "free-pass" on the Kurek case.  I was appalled at the treatment they got from the Fair Board, considering the obviously more favorable treatment Murphy was getting on Big Splash and the fair midway contract.  Bell's needed updating and I've consistently criticized their business model.  However, I also personally understand the struggles of owning and maintaining a seasonal business- from a business my family owned and how weather can affect your fortunes from year-to-year.  It's not mentioned anymore that they had secured funding to the tune of $750K for a new ride shortly before being booted from the fair grounds and they had ostensibly secured funding for a multi-million dollar roller coaster.  No easy task if they weren't solvent. No, I'm not in the Bell's pocket.  I helped campaign against Sally Bell for Karen Keith in the County Commission election.  My only purpose in posting this is so that an accurate account is left here instead of gross generalizations, half-truths, and downright ignorance of actual events which happened.  I happen to believe an amusement park could be a great regional draw for the area).

[dbacks fan]

Conan, you get my vote for most informative psot of the day.

[Red Arrow]

We've discussed this point before...

Thanks for the memory jogs.

[tulsabug]

Conan -

This is all fine and good - however I would think if they were so concerned about rider safety to begin with, they would have fixed the ride correctly with the right part instead of just overinsuring and crossing their fingers. I'm not saying they aren't human and they didn't go through emotional havoc due to this, but clearly they weren't thinking long-term at the time they fixed the ride, and it's probably fair to say every other ride there suffered from the same sloppy maintenance. No owner's manuals for the rides - no training on how to fix them - little training on how to run them - these are all documented with how Bell's was run. Frankly I get angry everytime I think about when I rode on the Wildcat as a kid thinking it was scary but knowing that it was safe, when in actuality the danger was very real.

In the end - the whole Wildcat incident was just a microcosm of everything that was wrong with Bell's when the family ran it. They don't know how to run a business by any means - and it's not because seasonal businesses are tough - it's because they have no business sense. They like to blame everyone else for their problems - they band-aid problems and hope that's good enough - the don't plan long-term - and the list goes on and on. How they have the rides warehoused now just goes to show they haven't changed at all. It's so easy for people who do run businesses (like you and myself) to see what they are doing wrong yet they're completely blind to it. Why anyone in their right mind would give this family the chance to do it again, I have no idea. I'll climb off my soapbox now.....