Owner of small theme park in Long Beach fights city over safety concerns
The City of Long Beach has proposed a transition from three armed rangers in El Dorado Park to 12 unarmed safety ambassadors, but the owner of a small theme park inside El Dorado Park says he's pulling his business out if that happens.
Patrick Wolovich, owner of El Dorado Frontier, the small theme park that operates within the park, says the area is already unsafe and the city's plan would only make things worse.
Wolovich has operated his theme park for four years. He and his team designed and built nearly everything in El Dorado Frontier from scratch.
"I'm not even enjoying it anymore and it's unfortunate," he told CBSLA.
Video from just two weeks ago captured the theme park being broken into again.
"I came over here to discover they broke our window, stole our register...they stole a bunch of things, our equipment, several thousands of dollars in equipment," he said, adding that the thieves even stole the camera that recorded the break-in.
Police in Long Beach said they're investigating the burglary, but Wolovich said this break in was minor compared to others that El Dorado Frontiers has suffered.
"We've been here four years, and we've had about five break ins, one of them which was a tally of $25,000 in equipment. So, it's tallying up over $35,000 in all the break ins we've had," he said.
This is why Wolovich said he's fighting the city to keep its armed park ranger program. If approved, the 12 unarmed safety ambassadors would start in October.
"I've already told them that if this ranger program goes away, the El Dorado Frontier program is going away, and I'm just pulling everything out, just because I've had it," he said.
Wolovich said his workers, including his wife, have dealt with aggressive confrontations guests, mostly outside of El Dorado Frontiers. He's also concerned for employees of El Dorado Park itself because, he said, they will have to be there to diffuse any potential situations if there are no park rangers to handle it.
Still, the theme park owner is hopeful that he can continue sharing El Dorado Frontier, though right now says the Frontier's future is unclear.
The budget for the new proposal of 12 unarmed safety ambassadors has yet to be approved, and Wolovich said he's meeting with city leaders next week, hoping to find a different solution.
