Randi Miller wants Bell's business plan released

[tim huntzinger]

Would have been nice if KOTV had been listening to you 'bloggers' back when it could have saved Zingo.  Once their poll finds that a majority of Tulsans are PO'd at the County for their treatment of Bells, well then they do the real story.

[Breadburner]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

I think that Bell's did a terrible job keeping the facility clean, safe and running. The park was an embarrassment.

Everything else on Expo Square was getting nicer and Bell's was becoming a dump that wasn't safe for families.

I don't know if competitors worked to get him out or not, but what he was doing was not working. He ran the family business into the ground and now blames everybody else.

Sounds like you have a personal problem with Robby......But it's kinda hard to make money when they wont allow you to make the neccesary imrovements.......Your beloved Drillers Stadium is not paradise either......So where is the slam on Lamson.......

[Conan71]

Who else read the blog about the guy they hired, in what- 2004, who was starting to renovate Phantasmogoria?  Along with the new business plan (not the one I secretly obtained) and plans for upgrades, I think the Bells were working in earnest to improve the park.

Was the place pristine?  No, and I honestly can't ever remember it being pristine from my first memories of the park, 30-some years ago even.

According to the News On Six story, Bells paid more rent in '06 than '05, they had approval for major upgrades.  Paid more rent than the other two tennants, so what gives?  I can't believe the Drillers pay less than $1000 per game for rent on their space.  Does anyone know if they have to share concessions revenue with the un fair board?

This was a railroad job and I think the reasons are going to become clear when the Arabian show has run out it's contract and we see what the land is used for then.

Booting out a tennant paying $135,000 + in rent to put in an asphalt free-parking area is a dumb business move on so many levels.  This carte blanche agreement with Murphy also stinks to high heaven.

Sorry, there's just no defending the un fair board on this.

[MichaelBates]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

I think that Bell's did a terrible job keeping the facility clean, safe and running. The park was an embarrassment.

Everything else on Expo Square was getting nicer and Bell's was becoming a dump that wasn't safe for families.

I don't know if competitors worked to get him out or not, but what he was doing was not working. He ran the family business into the ground and now blames everybody else.

We went to the park at least a couple of times every year, and the kids always had a great time. We never noticed anything going on that made us feel nervous or unsafe, and I tend to keep my antennae up for that sort of thing.

[rwarn17588]

It wouldn't surprise me if some sort of hotel is put in the space.

The Microtel there is the only one within a mile of the place. Given all the activity at Expo Square year-round, another one there certainly would be lucrative enough.

I'm not privy to any information. It's a hunch that just struck me the other day.

[RecycleMichael]

quote:Originally posted by MichaelBates
We went to the park at least a couple of times every year, and the kids always had a great time. We never noticed anything going on that made us feel nervous or unsafe, and I tend to keep my antennae up for that sort of thing.

My kids always had fun there as well.

I remember the three or four times in the last four years where they had large gang fights and had to call in 100 deputies.

I also remember the miniature golf course, the part of the park facing the main street, being closed for the last few years. The carpet was ripped and stained for a decade and was never mowed.  How much upkeep does it take to maintain a miniature golf course?

I don't dispute any notion that there were outside forces working against the third generation running the park. I have no idea if it is true.

I also think that the county should ask for business plans for the other tenants when they are negotiating leases and the tenants have obvious problems (like whole sections falling apart or closed because they can't maintain it). That holds true for the Drillers and Big Splash and Fair Meadows.

But the Bell's park was an embarassment. No other family oriented entertainment business I know of like it was run worse than the way this one was at the end.

[rwarn17588]

Lord knows there were plenty of threads on this board in the past few years of people complaining how bad Bell's was.

But RM's point about the poor management and maintenance brings up an interesting aside.

I don't know what was in Robby Bell's business plan. Maybe it was one hell of a plan.

But given that the park was so ramshackle up to that point, who would have any confidence that Robby would properly implement the plan? Plans are worthless unless you have a demonstrable ability to fulfill them. You wouldn't plow future money into a mutual fund if its prior performance was bottom-tier, would you?

[MichaelBates]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

I also remember the miniature golf course, the part of the park facing the main street, being closed for the last few years. The carpet was ripped and stained for a decade and was never mowed.  How much upkeep does it take to maintain a miniature golf course?

The miniature golf course was one of my favorite parts of the park when I was a kid. There were two courses back then. But even then, it wasn't that popular.

By the time I attended a company picnic there in 1993, they had reconfigured it into a single course and removed the easternmost nine holes to make way for several large shelters for private parties. I'm not sure when Bell's shut down the miniature golf course completely.

You don't see many miniature golf courses anymore, and I assume it's because even the cost of having one person manning the booth plus maintaining the carpet and the moving hazards exceeds the revenue it brings in. Even the local Putt-Putt courses, which had no moving hazards, couldn't stay in business.

The remaining part of the course was supposed to have been in the footprint of the new coaster, when Bell's and the neighborhood finally came to an agreement sometime last year. Assuming that was in the works for sometime before it was announced, a major overhaul of the course wouldn't have made much sense.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by rwarn17588

Lord knows there were plenty of threads on this board in the past few years of people complaining how bad Bell's was.

But RM's point about the poor management and maintenance brings up an interesting aside.

I don't know what was in Robby Bell's business plan. Maybe it was one hell of a plan.

But given that the park was so ramshackle up to that point, who would have any confidence that Robby would properly implement the plan? Plans are worthless unless you have a demonstrable ability to fulfill them. You wouldn't plow future money into a mutual fund if its prior performance was bottom-tier, would you?

Did you ever actually ever set foot in the park?  You use pretty strong adjectives like ramshackle, which is a gross exaggeration.  I've been there in recent years, I have pretty high standards, but ramshackle and run-down are not two words that ever popped into my head.

[rwarn17588]

Yes.

[RecycleMichael]

Originally posted by MichaelBates

You don't see many miniature golf courses anymore, and I assume it's because even the cost of having one person manning the booth plus maintaining the carpet and the moving hazards exceeds the revenue it brings in. Even the local Putt-Putt courses, which had no moving hazards, couldn't stay in business. /quote]

The one at 61st and 169 is always being well used. It has waterfalls and more expensive-to-maintain hazards all over and dozens of families playing every time we go by. The miniature golf courses at Celebration Station always seem to have players as well.

My family went to Lake of the Ozarks this summer for a vacation and they had four big miniature golf courses within a mile or two of each other that were all packed.

It ain't miniature golf's fault. It was the park operator.

[waterboy]

I can't get past the fact that the Drillers who take up a similar space on the NE corner paid $18,000 per year while Bell's on the SW corner paid $147,000 per year! Did the fair skew that number so radically? Hard to believe that.  And he was the only one having to present a business plan? Unless they have one heck of a plan for that corner they could have offered him the same rent as the Drillers for a couple years in exchange for re-habbing it.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

I can't get past the fact that the Drillers who take up a similar space on the NE corner paid $18,000 per year while Bell's on the SW corner paid $147,000 per year! Did the fair skew that number so radically? Hard to believe that.  And he was the only one having to present a business plan? Unless they have one heck of a plan for that corner they could have offered him the same rent as the Drillers for a couple years in exchange for re-habbing it.

Drillers pay a portion of concessions as well.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by rwarn17588

Yes.

Okay at least you aren't going off based on other's accounts.

Though I have questioned your comprehension and interpretations before...[]

[Conan71]

Does anyone know how much Murphy remits to the fair each year for their midway attractions during fair week?  Do they split revenue with the fairboard?  Eat caviar with Randi?  How's it work?

How does that contract work?