Canobie Coaster
Posts: 2694
Registered: 7/26/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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 8/3/2007 7:54:23 AM
http://www.savetrimpers.com/
A website dedicated to saving Trimpers has been formed. There memories and experiences about the park can be shared and also people can learn what they can do to help save the park. The park was originally put in jeopardy due to rising real estate bills.
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Track Record
19 Wooden Coasters
54 Steel Coasters
73 Total Coasters
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/3/2007 11:13:52 AM
as much as i find the prices at astroland and morey's annoying, when you read about property taxes like this thing at trimper's it shouldn't come as a surprise that beachfront amusements are usually adept at reaming your wallet out.
since i'm not a real estate expert - perhaps someone else can feed me some insight. why aren't beach amusements granted unique zoning status, so they aren't expected to pay taxes in the same manner as hotels/condos? they obviously cannot, even at their best, generate the kind of income that hotels/condos do. since they play a big part in the draw and provide a huge portion of the evening entertainment at any beach (hence raising the desirability/value of the real estate), why not allow them to permanently pay lower property taxes?
i can't get my head around real estate these last 7 years. it's bizarre and the inflation curve is mind-boggling. since i was a kid the cost of a candy bar or the cost of a pair of jeans has gone up about 60%, but in general real estate has gone up 400%!.
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Canobie Coaster
Posts: 2694
Registered: 7/26/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/3/2007 12:59:31 PM
Unforntunately amusement parks wouldn't be able to pay lower taxes because if they pay lower taxes, other businesses would want to pay lower taxes and so forth. I guess they are just trying to be fair to everyone.
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larrygator
Posts: 4654
Registered: 11/7/2002
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/3/2007 1:47:14 PM
^hey Tom, I hear you. I guess the municipalities don't feel the beach parks are pulling in the people. They think it is solely the water.
Look on the bright side, ridiculuous property taxes for the beach front housing at least keeps the taxes lower for the middle class near the ocean that is priced out of the beach front.
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/3/2007 6:26:05 PM
Quote:
larrygator said:
^hey Tom, I hear you. I guess the municipalities don't feel the beach parks are pulling in the people. They think it is solely the water.
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maybe they should try to tax god for putting an ocean up against their wonderful municipality.
Quote:
King Yoshi said:
Unforntunately amusement parks wouldn't be able to pay lower taxes because if they pay lower taxes, other businesses would want to pay lower taxes and so forth. I guess they are just trying to be fair to everyone. |
churches don't pay taxes, because they don't exist to earn profit (in theory). the tax structure should correspond to the thing itself, how it subsists and how it fits into the community.
btw, i accept that the trimper's situation could be more than meets the eye. it seems a shame and a matter of greed winning out...but there are always nuances and details to situations like this...
interestingly, i read a few dissenting views on the trimper family on a blog. i wish i could find it right now. it was relating some stories about how back in the day they hardballed small boardwalk businesses to get more space for themselves and to put the businesses they wanted near to their own area of downtown. it was interesting and very plausible...but i take such things with a grain of salt. it was a blog after all...
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the following sentence is false.
the preceding sentence is true.
Message updated 8/3/2007 6:48:31 PM by hrrytraver
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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8/3/2007 6:38:21 PM
There is a way around it. They could Implement tax Brakes for tourist destinations in the city this woudl also help any museums and Sports teams. They could give a discount for Historical statues.
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coaster05
Posts: 6207
Registered: 2/29/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/3/2007 7:42:33 PM
I never really want to see a park leave, but I was 2 hours from Trimpers, twice in the last 6 weeks and just felt no reason to go. If I love parks and I feel that way I can only imagine what 90% of the GP feel.
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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8/4/2007 12:38:59 AM
What were your reasons for not going?
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Canobie Coaster
Posts: 2694
Registered: 7/26/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/4/2007 7:35:01 AM
Probably the same as me. I could either go to Ocean City and do the parks in the area, or tour our nation's capital. I didn't feel like making a 2 1/2 hour drive just for a couple of parks with rides that could all be found at parks across the country. Their only 2 major coasters could be found at other parks across the country (Vekoma boomerang and Chance tobbogan).
Message updated 8/4/2007 7:43:30 AM by Canobie Coaster
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coaster05
Posts: 6207
Registered: 2/29/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/4/2007 9:47:15 AM
^That's actually pretty close. Once I went to different parks and Ocean City seemed to isolated, the second was the Capitol and I choice PKD which is not even close to one of my favorite parks. They just have nothing to interest me.
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/4/2007 10:21:49 AM
trimper's is very nostalgic for myself and many marylanders. it's not a destination in itself, there's no denying. it only draws people who are already there for the beach but for OC that means a LOT of people - i just read that summer weekends see about 350000 guests to the island.
trimper's has been hacked up, rebuilt, rearranged so many times that most of the classic touches are long gone. but the indoor portion of the park, where the amazing herschell-spillman carousel is, has a totally unique vibe - i've never seen anything else like that. i haven't been for years, but there was a strange kiddie boat ride in the indoor section that was unlike anything i've seen before or since. by the looks of it that boat ride was ancient. (anybody know if that thing is still there doing circuits in the pitch black oily water?)
also totally singular is the haunted house. it's probably been butchered or left to fester at this point, but that thing is regarded by dark ride nerds as a classic pretzel. also very old.
does nostalgia itself keep a park openor stimulate attendence? no.
but i'm thinking about doing a check up on the park next week, just to see for myself how it's looking after all these years. i'd like another chance to see it if it goes -as i child who loved amusement parks (and one who spent sometimes weeks on end in OC) i've clocked in hours at this place like you wouldn't believe. the reason my brain doesn't work right now is probably because of the zipper down there that sits right in front of the ocean rearranged my neurology.
Message updated 8/4/2007 10:31:35 AM by hrrytraver
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ginzo
Posts: 564
Registered: 7/16/2006
Rank: Gold Critic
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8/5/2007 10:34:18 AM
Quote:
since i'm not a real estate expert - perhaps someone else can feed me some insight. why aren't beach amusements granted unique zoning status, so they aren't expected to pay taxes in the same manner as hotels/condos? they obviously cannot, even at their best, generate the kind of income that hotels/condos do. since they play a big part in the draw and provide a huge portion of the evening entertainment at any beach (hence raising the desirability/value of the real estate), why not allow them to permanently pay lower property taxes? |
Maybe they aren't given unique status because they can't afford the bribes they would need to get it. 
Seriously though, my mom is a municipal attorney, and I ask her questions like this all the time. She usually gives me an answer like, "That's just a problem that cities have." Like here in "downtown" Cincinnati there is a parking problem because we have a ton of parking lots, and very few parking garages. It turns out that the property tax on the garages is cost prohibitive. There's no real economic incentive to build them because the taxes on them are outrageous. Does the city care to fix this discrepancy? Hell no. What do they care, really? City Council here all get free parking right next to City Hall. Therefore, there is no parking problem.
You're assuming that cities are run by people that give a crap, and are competent enough to enact meaningful, sensible changes in the community. Many times that's just not the case. Our city council has botched so many potentially awesome deals concerning new development it's not even funny. The developers usually just get tired of dealing with the crap, and move their project across the river or out into the suburbs.
Message updated 8/5/2007 10:37:31 AM by ginzo
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adriahna
Posts: 4692
Registered: 6/4/2003
Rank: Site Moderator
Skooter Junkie
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8/6/2007 4:15:00 AM
Holy moly, ginzo - I had no idea that you were from my hometown... next time you drop by Aglamesis or Esther Price, think of me, will you?
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erinys
Posts: 230
Registered: 9/28/2005
Rank: Bronze Critic
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8/29/2007 12:46:10 AM
The water boats are still there - the water isn't always black, sometimes it's a "peed in the pool" greenish blue - loved those things as a kid, amazed I've never seen them elsewhere. I swear they changed their location within the indoor area, but not sure how they did it.
The Haunted House was refurbed for the 2006 season, so it's doing better. Somehow, the Rehoboth Funland Mansion was refurbed for the '07 season, so it's now better than Trimper's (IMHO).
There are so many descendent shareholders now the situation is more complicated than in the past. My understanding is that the 2nd largest shareholder was the 2nd or 3rd wife of the late Grandville (sp), the one who was mayor of OC, who is not a mother to any of the children or a real Trimper in the eyes of locals, lives down in Florida now and wants her money. It is claimed that Trimper's profits last year were only $900,000, and the property tax increase exceeds that. Supposedly the number of visitors to OC has been stagnant over the past few years at 8 million, so there's no additional revenue coming in from more customers (and the area by Thrasher's is already impassable on big weekends). I want them to get a historic property tax adjustment, but not sure how it can be done without giving one to the Courtesy Shop, Dolly's, and Fisher's Popcorn too. It's a mess. A couple years ago the lovely Shantytown Village an uncle developed sold out because the price offered by condo developers was an offer they couldn't refuse, and that was Bayside.
Marylanders, push your representatives for tax exceptions for historic properties. If Trimper's goes, I'm never going to OC again, just because there is nothing else there for me.
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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8/29/2007 10:45:22 AM
That might be part of Trimpers problems as well. You say traffic is bad and there all thats in the area. If that is true why would more people Come. They Should as a City be looking into things that will keep people coming and draw more people. They should look into Outside parking and public transportation. They need to make the entire area more Inviting.
As for the Discount if they have to Offer it to a few other Businesses that are also a staple in the area then give it to them.
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erinys
Posts: 230
Registered: 9/28/2005
Rank: Bronze Critic
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8/29/2007 5:21:27 PM
Thrasher's is on the Boardwalk http://www.oceancitycam.com/ - it's the Boardwalk that becomes impassable. There's decent bus service in the town but it is looked down upon by the thousands waiting at stop lights in their convertibles and jeeps. If only all the grungey boardwalk t-shirts shops were adjacent in order to be able to declare eminment domain and build something attractive . . . .
Ocean City has appealed to the State of MD to give them more advertising dollars, but I'm not sure why the state should be paying to try to attract more visitors to one specific town vs. another.
Trimpers could raise their prices a little. OC Pier Rides, now owned by Jolly Roger, charges much, much more for their crappy Haunted House and pathetic excuse for a Breakdance. If Trimper's doubled their prices they'd still be less than the pier rides. A 20-25% increase would be nearly imperceptible and let them survive another year. But with rising property taxes, how long will that work? A tax abatement for historic properties would solve the problem.
The commercial zones that are now filled with bars in Dewey Beach, up the road in Delaware, have all been rezoned to allow for condos and time-shares (does this sound familiar to anyone?), so perhaps the number of visitors to Ocean City will increase when there are no activities or destinations left in other beach resorts.
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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8/31/2007 2:00:37 AM
Jolly Roger has $17 buck all ride pass for the pier and park but it's very limited hours. Though i found it a bit odd that 3 parks have all got a wacky worm. maybe they should see about trading it in for anything deferent.
They could charge more but double the cost is a bit extreme. i don't know the ticket amounts. but maybe go up anotehr ticket on each adult ride. up the POP to 30-33 but add an extra hour so till 7:00 pm to add value.
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erinys
Posts: 230
Registered: 9/28/2005
Rank: Bronze Critic
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9/1/2007 12:00:19 PM
You're right - I'd missed the unlimited at JR. Last summer (can this one be over so quickly) it cost us approx $5/each to ride the horrible Horrible House, so I haven't been back this year. Trimper's wristband is a steal at this time (that I hope to take advantage of tomorrow. . .).
I saw a CLAIM that Trimper's tax bill is for 34 parcels they own around the town, not just the two major ones. Of course some of those additional parcels may be locations where they house summer employees and are vital to having staff on hand as needed. They might be able to move some things to West OC or Berlin "cheaply", but not everything.
Message updated 9/1/2007 12:08:59 PM by erinys
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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9/2/2007 6:56:18 AM
True if they own houses in that area it might be more cost effective to house them in another neighboring town and Buss then in.
But I think step one should be ti Increase the POP price. Since it's such an aver valued option now. Like I said ad an hour or 2 to the POP time frame to help keep it's value. i mean I payed $40 for POP band at Rye Playland. and that was for 8 hours of time.
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