http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories...ly1.html?page=1

(this is a four page article)

Yes but what four parks to sell?

I'm very content with the way Shapiro has planned things out. While it is very sad to see many of their parks go, many which have had great rides, I have to support the choice to get rid of them.

I have the answer to all of their problems...bring back Mr. Six!

No, in all seriousness though, Shapiro as the article states has only been with the company since January of 2006. This will be just his second full year at the helm of the SF parks. As a business student, I am a firm believer in 5 year plans, for executive officers new to their respective companies to get things turned in the right direction. Creditors will want it to be a 3 year plan, but as far as actual realistic goals, let us just see how Shapiro and Six Flags fares over the next two years, if Shapiro is given that much time. I still believe that they can turn it around, the business ideas Shapiro has had so far seem to be fresh tactics for the struggling company. Not to mention Shapiro has shown through his business decisions that he can adapt and admit failure. According to the article, Shapiro's big idea in '07 was to spend more on marketing the parks. Upon realizing this past year, that did not make a huge bit of difference in attendance, he immediately decided to do away with that policy and not carry out a weak decision any further.

There just are two questions that need to be answered in accordance with Shapiro's marketing policies:

1.) What is the possibility that every bit of that marketing money in the budget last year was needed just to sustain attendance figures in a year of a weakening economy?

-and-

2.)With the expanded marketing policy of Six Flags in 2007, would attendance have been reflective of the increased marketing had it not been for the bad publicity of the very unfortunate Superman:Tower of Power malfunction?