Jackson Jambalaya

Great!! Let's get all of those that voted to move the zoo to pony up an additional several thousand dollars a year to pay the $100 million or so needed to move it.

Easy to make a poll - would you rather have ice cream or turnips?

Easy to say -- let's move the zoo. Just as its easy for the Board to say "we are going to move the zoo." That works as long as you are working with OPM - "Other people's money".

Attn 2:02 PM Why would i be against moving the "Jackson" zoo, I live in Madison County?

Well, first off, with that attitude, why would you care?
You, after all, live in Madison County.

While I realize that Madison Countians think theirs doesn't stink (almost as bad as those from Rankin), but just for your edification, the zoo folks assume that the state will pony up a lot of this money, along with giving up state land.

If, however, you don't plan to pay for any of the cost - because you live in Madison, then in the end your "vote" on this scientific poll amounts to zero. Thanks for playing, though. We appreciate your input.

At the very least, jackson should get out of the zoo business. They can't even pave streets or bill water correctly.

Sadly, it is time to shut it down. Move the 900k in support the zoo received from the city to the city's infrastructure.

Yes!

Move the Zoo

Sell it, give it, to the State.

Kane Ditto transferred ownership of Riverside Park to the State during his administration. The result? Two excellent museums being built for the entire state to support financially and enjoy!

Jackson can no longer afford to subsidize the entire state by maintaining an accredited zoo.

Contrary to some miss-informed or deluded persons, zoos, like municipal golf and tennis courses, community based gyms, etc. are not created to be self supporting, much less make a profit.

No zoo in the world exists without government subsidy. A government subsidy means that all of us pay a little so such venues can be affordable for everyone!

Yes Disneyland, Disney World, and venues of that ilk, are designed to turn a profit. The minimum per person admission prices of $80 to $120 are are designed to ensure a profit.

How many folks would be going to the MS Children's or Natural History Museum at those rates?

Jackson is not in the zoo business. They just pay for it. The zoo is actually just a plaything for a few self-annointed individuals that enjoy spending our money for their pleasure.

Once the city gave the operation over to this small group that controls with an iron fist, and no transparency, it is no surprise that they want more and more of the area's tax dollars to make their playground nicer. Just don't ask them how they spend those tax dollars, or try to provide any input.

Yes. The City of Jackson should decide whether or not to move the Jackson Zoo based on 1,030 "votes" from citizens from Madison and Rankin Counties. **EYE ROLL**

I'm all for moving the Zoo. Lefleur's Bluff is a wonderful place, Maye's Lake maybe even better. Either of these locations would benefit The City of Jackson. However, if I really wanted to be selfish, I'd say put the new Zoo in The City of Brandon near the new amphitheater. That chunk of property is already like an African savanna.

3:33 who are these people that control the zoo for their own pleasure?

What zoo? No one has proved to me yet that within Jackson, there is a real-life example of a working zoo. Remember the zoo off of W. Capitol? That is now an animal concentration camp!!

Wow. Some angry individuals on here. What did the animals do to you? I live in Jackson and voted to move the zoo. Though I do hate to see it leave the current area where I have fond memories. I have been twice in the last couple of years and it was still very enjoyable there. Sadly, the majority of the potential visitors will not go to that location. I think the synergy of activity at the proposed Lakeland area will vastly increase attendance. I will help work to raise $$ for the move. I hope that some of the exhibits and the entrance archway can be successfully moved.

Zoological parks may be fading as a concept, anyway. Especially in a small city in a poor state,like Jackson,perhaps a zoo simply is not viable. Our resources are scanty, and a zoo costs a great deal to run well. I will be sad to see it go, as I have many fond memories of trips there, but I'd rather see it go than watch it limp along. And as for remaining in its present location! That should not even have been an option to check on the "poll". West Jackson is an appalling example of urban rot, an unfit destination for a family outing.

The real problem is that when everyone lived in Jackson, the resources were concentrated and we could have nice things. Now everyone is spread out over three counties and shocker, the city has a problem supporting them. The planetarium loses money as well. So do we let them all go out of business, or do we regionalize them in terms of creating a board made up of the metro burbs and counties (akin to the levee board) that is governed and funded by them all, or have the state take over? It should be asked if we even want to have nice things for the metro area.

If it's nice but not safe, no one will attend it. I've had my vehicle broken into several times during the day, including Banner Hall and the Art Museum. I won't be back. Over time, all amenities will leave, and Jackson will sink beyond repair. Ask yourself, why would any sane person invest in Jackson when thwy have a choice.

Get our government out of golf course management, zoos, amphitheatres, planetariums and trade marts. All of that should be done by the private market. If the market won't support it privately, why is does some politician get to spend my money on it?

@3:06pm
I live in Madison County as well and I do have an interest in what happens with the zoo. I have an interest because Jackson is the capitol city of my state. A state I have lived in for nearly 50 years. What happens in Jackson tends to have a ripple effect across the state.
As for how the move will be paid for I think you know as well as I that there will be state monies used to subsidize the move. State dollars that come from -gasp- your tax dollars and mine.

Don't think when these burbs go recruiting they don't mention some of the cultural exhibits here.

Isn't Lefleur's Bluff owned by the state and didn't the state say last year that it's not happening?

I have to agree with 3:12 post. The City needs to get its affairs in order. The current administration cannot run this city Of course, the City doesn’t mind the white folks who are about to drop an estimated $850,000,000 into downtown Jackson development. That’s straight from the horses mouth of one of the investors.

@4:39 PM,

Mayes Lakes may be a pretty nature area but the area around it floods often and severely.

Well, but Kingfish, those days are gone. Many nice people have fled, taking wih them their tax monies, and we who remain are sadly saddled with the dregs of society. This is a dead, dead horse much flogged on this site,and frankly, I see no shining hope on the horizon. I wish I could. Pardon my mixed metaphor...

Regional services are the way to go and that is the way a lot of the country works.The Metro governments work together all the time but Jackson still makes it hard for all.

Madison County already has two zoo facilities: city hall and the county courthouse.

Jackson should give up the zoo. The animals deserve better surroundings and maybe better treatment - talking about funds for food, sanitation, etc... The City of Jackson could not manage a one car parade much less a zoo. Be nice, spread the animals around to other zoos that are better financed because it is only going to get worse here. We already have idiots running what is left of the city. The Bold New City is now the Pothole Capitol of the USA. Jackson's city management is worse than that of Flint MI. Thought I'd never say that.

Let it die a slow agonizing death, euthanize it with a dart gun, or move it. The first two in that series can be a piecemeal duo act, the third a solo. All three will be painful. All three are the only realities on the horizon.

Kingfish: I think you made glaring errors in all three of your posts. First off, you said 'oddly enough' 18% want the zoo closed. What's 'odd' about that?

Next you mentioned something about Jackson folks now being spread out among three counties and the city not being able to 'support us'. What the hell does that mean? You think Jackson 'supports us' in some way?

Lastly, you seem to think when industrial locators look for prospects, they actually mention the 'amenities' Jackson has to offer. Obviously you've never been anywhere close to the process. Sure, Amtrak stops here and there's the museum out on 55 and a teaching hospital (none of which is managed by 'Jackson'), otherwise...nope. Actually, the 'downside' of Jackson hampers all industrial recruitment efforts in surrounding municipalities and those involved hope the subject of our capitol city won't even come up. But, when it does, the inclination is to shout, "Hold On! LOOK! A squirrel outside the window!"

"No zoo in the world exists without government subsidy". Really?

https://reason.org/commentary/zoo-privatization-2011/

I see our reading comprehension-challenged friend is back.

... you made glaring errors ...

Put up and show us all how it is done. Pull your head out, start your own gig and COMPETE with Kingfish.

For the City of Jackson a zoo is an extravagance which it simply can't afford, the humane thing to do is to transfer the animals to zoos which are better funded and equipped. With better leadership, perhaps Jackson could solve its basic problems (infrastructure and crime) while seeking a durable solution for the zoo - sometimes its just smarter to recognize when something isn't sustainable.

Two questions arise:

1. What happens to the animals in the interim? Do we keep the existing zoo alive for a few more (costly) years while we build the new zoo?
2. No way to know, but on average, how much are the 756 who voted yes willing to pay out of their own pocket to build a zoo they'll visit every 2-5 years?
3. Could the existing zoo be turned into a satellite jail to reduce overcrowding? It was desigend to keep animals in, after all.

6:06 Tell that to Madison County and Rankin County who've been sucking on the government teat for years with their sales tax giveaways to build the Outlet Mall, Trustmark Park, Renaissance and Costco.

I used to think aquariums would never work without a water source nearby like a river or ocean. Then I saw the Georgia Aquarium. I doubt the Jackson Zoo could survive on only 25 acres at LeFluers bluff. Figure out the acreage for any successful urban zoo and you'll see it sits on more than 25 acres. However, an aquarium would fit. The Pearl River and Mayes Lake could be featured or tied in somehow. A little vision, a lot of money and you would have a real attraction that would fit that site very well. The zoo, sad to say, would never work on that site. The best course of action might be to shut it down.

If the zoo shut down permanently, I doubt the city of Jackson would spend the money on something useful like infrastructure. It'll go to something useless like paying a consulting firm to make recommendations about revitalizing Metrocenter.

A new zoo would have to be a regional 3 or 4 county development or a state of Mississippi project. Jackson cannot financially support a modern zoo. Jackson has far too many financial challenges to even consider staying in the zoo business alone. If the current "leadership" of Jackson cannot accept shared stewardship of the project, or if the other governments don't want to help just forget the whole thing and move on. People who can afford to go to zoos will go to New Orleans, Atlanta, etc. One less thing to worry about.

Shut it down, abolish the board, fire the staff, burn the files, raze the buildings, and salt the ground where it stood. That should do it!

9:36 - "urban zoo" that sounds like all of Jackson...thanks for the laugh!

April 5, 2018 at 5:07 AM, I think you got up too early. Or maybe you're just confused. But clearly, you don't have a thing to do with recruiting residents or businesses to the Jackson, Mississippi Metropolitan area! "Obviously YOU've never been anywhere close to the process." Cultural amenities, ballet / USA IBC, opera, symphony, planetarium, ZOO, museums (art and history), stage productions, events, the medical corridor, the Mississippi legislature are within the Capitol City. Surrounding counties offer the reservoir, running trails, shopping, dining, more cultural events....Those of us who ARE involved use ALL of our area amenities.

As someone who has been transported up Lakeland by ambulance (after having my car t-boned by a redlight-running hoochie doing 80 down Lakeland in a Sequoia, whilst texting on her sail foam), I hate to think how much longer it would have taken me to get up the hill to the emergency room, were the intersection clogged with zoo-goers. It's bad enough, that what is essentially the entrance to Lakeland (the primary corridor for people heading for the hospitals, and an important corridor for people heading to the Airport) is cluttered with that baseball mess, and with the Ag Museum. The Zoo would make an already-iffy situation absolutely untenable.

People come from EVERYWHERE, to attend zoos. Many of those people are unfamiliar with driving in "big cities". Hell... MANY of those people can barely drive AT ALL, and are in vehicles which are barely roadworthy. I'm envisioning a tricked-out pickup, driven by some Cody-Trey McNeckerwood type, tearing down Lakeland, headed-home to Pearl, colliding with a 1993 Caprice from Issaquena County, loaded with grandbabies, and the babies of the grandbabies - headed for the Zoo. The Caprice will have been inching tentatively in some strange direction, while its occupants try to figure out how, exactly, they are to negotiate all those unfamiliar turns, to git up into that zoo. The one who can read, will have been trying to decipher the directional signs, at the moment when Cody-Trey's F-250 slams into the car.

The resulting carnage and traffic tie-up will be only one of many.

Pleeeeeeeeeze! Leave the Zoo where it is. Give it to the state (as other readers have suggested), and buy-up all the decaying and deserted properties surrounding it. MAKE A BIG, BEAUTIFUL STATE PARK, incorporating the Zoo and the lake (and an RV campground, of course, since this IS Mississippi) - all the way to I220 and even across to My Nellie Gardens - a corridor of green (which it pretty-much is, already, since half the structures are gone). People would LOVE to sell, for next-to-nothing.

I bet you're from Oregon and freak out about pumping your own gas.

Actually, if one were to ignore the ignorance of the reasoning for not putting the zoo at Lefluers, the end concept suggested is not a bad idea.

Instead of spending $100 million plus to move the zoo, into an area that is not zoo friendly (residential; topography; and others); an area that the residents don't want to see converted from a nice green (golf course) space into a literal zoo - instead, give the zoo to the state, and let them spend half that money into a revitalization/urban renewal program. Clean up and open into nice green spaces the area between the cemetery and the zoo, and then all the way to 220. The net benefits might make the investment be positive - between Sonny Guy becoming an attraction, Hawkins Field, the industrial park, Livingston Lake, and then nice green parks. Buying the dilapidated vacant housing and shuttered commercial buildings would be much less expensive than the cost to build a new zoo and the benefits would be a two-fer. Improving the zoo, and improving the entire area. The third benefit would be not destroying the existing Lefluers area that we in the neighborhood like as it is.

ANON SAID

"No zoo in the world exists without government subsidy". Really?

https://reason.org/commentary/zoo-privatization-2011/
April 5, 2018 at 5:14 AM

The article you linked clearly says "privately operated". Jackson Zoo is already operated. Goal of privatization said to be "reduce" subsidy. It's easy to say "increase private donations" but much more difficult to actually do.

If the Zoo is left at its current location, it will surely die. I know people that had yearly passes last year that never went for obvious reasons. Move the Jackson Zoo to a better, safer location close to Lakeland Drive. Allow the Zoo a real chance to thrive. Bring some of the old structures or rebuild the landmarks that are at the old zoo to the new location.