Legoland Letters, She drank the Kool-aid

Dear Nieces and Nephews:

Another letter from a Goshen resident, one from ARCADIA HILLS, praising Legoland as the savior of the tax base!!! This sacrificial lamb states: “Don’t get me wrong. At first, I was not happy about it, being as I live in Arcadia Hills which will border the park. But that being said. I am all for it now, after attending meetings listening to what the park and Merlin Corp. can bring to not just Goshen but Orange County in general. Much needed tax relief, much needed infrastructure repair just to mention a few. And maybe just maybe a better atmosphere. A reason to want to stay here. Because many of us who will have a chance to move out of Orange County will. My 22-year-old daughter has already expressed an interest in leaving Orange County and New York in general.”  

Your 22-year-old daughter is going to stay in Orange County for Legoland??? Are you kidding in general or just yourself? Is it for a Job, because she is too old to go to the park, if established.  As for being impressed by the presentation at a meeting, they must have been different meetings than the ones Auntie and the Team attended, because Auntie was not similarly impressed with the “dog and pony show”. Did you receive anything else from Merlin Entertainments besides an impression? And the “much needed infrastructure repair” will be done when 17 converts to Interstate 86. And will hopefully address the already clogged traffic without the addition of millions of people and their cars as predicted by Merlin.

Off course, Auntie was checking to see if you really were a resident/homeowner in Goshen and unlike the others that were definitely, absolutely, living somewhere else with a business in Goshen, you are a bit of a mystery. Unless you are living intermittently in your relative’s home on Larchwood Drive, you appear to live in Chester.  You do not own the house in Arcadia Hills, you will not suffer a direct loss, your family will.

“We need Legoland to help the economic environment.” Sally, did you ever consider that it might be a wash? If Legoland does help with the tax base, the amount they eventually contribute will be offset by the drain on resources, the environment and decreases in property value. 

You should wait until the Government Center is fully active before you make such an assessment. After all, MANY will be visiting Goshen just to see the $79 Million storage unit building parked in front of what appears to be the exact same exterior on the rest, just redone. And with the County offices back in the heart of Goshen, those businesses should revert to the “pre-renovation” state.

And then, Sally Anne Elving, you will say, “oh, why would we bother with Legoland?  Especially since it is basically a ludicrous concept for an amusement park.”. 

If Legos are STEM,  then stacking cans in a supermarket is a college degree.

 

Arcadia Hills on the left, Elant Senior Living home on right with the future Legoland site right in the middle, Harriman Dr. at bottom Photo from The Chronicle by Robert Breeze 

http://www.chroniclenewspaper.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20160815/OPINION03/160819972/0/PHOTO90/What-Glen-Arden-residents-may-not-know-about-proposed-Legoland-project