Nearby Locals

[Coaster Justin]

Sorry if this offends anyone, but I was looking at Thrillnetwork and Coasterlove said things about Great America that I can't put any better.



SFGam has a huge problem with where they are. The village of Gurnee has forgotten that it received most of it's tourists from the park as when Marriott originally built the park Gurnee was nothing but a gas stop on the other side of the airport. Now Gurnee has many shopping locations including the outlet mall. Every time Great America wants to build something new that is over 100' some of the village people complain and try to block it as they think it will lower their property value when the park is part of what increased the value so much from the 70's...

I know what you mean. People like that drive me nuts. I can't stand people who live near O'Hare airport and complain about the noise. If it's someone who lived there before the airport was built, their complaint is understandable. But considering the airport has been there for decades, most of them weren't living there.

The same for Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs) area residents. They complain everytime there has been a change at the stadium such as night games in 1988 or the more recent stadium expansion. The stadium has been there for nearly 100 years, well before anyone who's alive decided to move there. Also, the area that Wrigley Field is in is an expensive area large in part because of Wrigley Field, not despite of it.

So when it comes to residents of Gurnee, I feel the same way. The park has been there for over 30 years. What do you expect moving near an amusement park. I don't think in cases like that, residents should have any say at all. A business should be allowed to operate as they see best as long as it doesn't hurt the environment considerably or in some other way that is illegal.

What I said applies to older businesses, not a new one setting down in a residential neighborhood. So it would be a different story if a new amusement park was built in the middle of a community. I would understand those resident's complaints.


Is this true or what? Remember Entertainment Village?

[viper1988]

Well I don’t really have any say in this topic but I wanted to add something funny I found out this past summer while stopping by one of the Illinois Oasis' on my way to Six Flags Great America. I started talking to this one woman in the convenience store. Don’t really remember much about the conversation or how it got started but she mentioned to me that she and her family live in one of the houses on the southern end of the park right across from The American Eagle. She even told me that on occasion they call the parks maintenance division because they have lived there so long they know when the park needs to put a new coat of graphite on the coaster tracks to make it not squeal when the steel wheels go around the track.

I found this really interesting and kind of humorous as well just thought that I would share it!

[coasterkid94]

I remember a couple of years ago I really wanted to buy a house just by Great America so I could get there really quickly. Since then I have decided that I want to live somewhere where I can't hear people's screams from my house every summer day.

[Galvan]

You couldn't be more wrong about this subject if you tried.

The Village of Gurnee forgetting one of there major cash cows? Are you serious?

Where the hell do people get this stuff sometimes?