Jackson Jambalaya

Free the animals, bulldoze the site, fire the staff, and burn the files. Adios.

Jackson has no real need for a zoo. They simply cannot afford one.
From reading the news it looks like there is enough animals roaming the streets.

I'm pretty sure that the zoo could survive if it were moved to Rankin or Madison County. I'm also pretty sure that the powers that be in Jackson would rather see the zoo fail.

I've some great memories of going to the zoo, but that was almost thirty years ago. Oddly enough, I feel the same way about the Mississippi State Fair or concerts at the coliseum.

Weird.

Seems like the city would rather the Zoo close than be moved.

Lots of talk, no action. Typical of most politicians, but especially the losers elected in Jackson.

Deliver a truckload of animals to city hall.

Starting at 10AM Monday morning, and repeat every two hours.

Repeat until an emergency meeting is called.

Wait for the results of the special meeting.

If no resolution, resume deliver of the animals to city hall.

City legal department: where things go to die. Shameful that the zoo has been waiting since 2016 on a county contribution because of legal department bureaucracy. Who's in charge of the people working for the city? THE MAYOR. DO YOUR JOB MR MAYOR.

Jackson admin is so incompetent. They are ignorant jackasses.
Jackson is in a deep state of lost.

Please, someone put the zoo out of it's misery!

Didn't the City Council give a 90 day notice to the zoological society back a couple of months ago? I expect the zoo to fold when the time is up. It's a shame how low Jackson has sunk that the administration would rather kill the zoo than let it move locations.

Just shut the zoo down and get those poor animals out of there and to a better place. Just about anyplace would have to be better.

Cities that ARE zoos don’t NEED zoos.

Paul Mitchell, if you are so sure then why aren't either Madison or Rankin writing a check for $100 plus million to build a zoo? Probably more, but $100M would start a small one.

No, Rankin nor Madison could support a new, built from scratch, zoo. Cities that have had a nice zoo for years are still spending those kind of dollars to just keep them up to participate with the competition.

Rankin has the Yogi Park - and Madison has the great lake up north. A new zoo in either county would be just as much a waste as the current Jackson zoo.

3:04
No, Jackson is the most radical city on the Planet!!
Just ask LaDumba, he'll tell you that it is.
And, and, and, it's the damn white man's fault, not his, or his Daddy's, possibly Yarber's or Johnson's, but, definitely the White Man.
He is less than an empty suit, or empty chair. He's not even a decent imitation of Al Sharpton.
All you white people that voted for this moron have only yourselves to blame.

The time has come to show some real leadership, be responsible and quit flushing money down the toilet, a zoo is an extravagance for a city like Jackson that can’t even provide basic services.

Poff has to resign at this point. She was brought in years ago for her fundraising prowess. It's obvious she hasn't been able to produce results... for the last ten years. I would have more wiggle room if she was just brought in, but the truth of the matter is, she's been here for a long time, had a chance, and failed. A few years ago, she authorized 6 digits of marketing that, to my knowledge, didn't really do anything. She effectively threw good money after bad. Poff, resign.

Next, to all my neighbors here calling for the zoo to be closed, I ask you to think about the employees here. Go down there at talk to the keepers. 80% of them are from out of state, are highly educated and experienced, and, for the most part, live within the city limits, pay rent and taxes, and are proactive members of the community. If we close the zoo, that's 20 college educated, tax, rent, and bill paying families we've let move to another state.

Finally, Major Choke needs to get his office in order. I'm absolutely tired of hearing about these agreements that are just sitting on that jackass's table. Hinds Co. gives the city $40,000 for employee pay, and it sits on that jackass's desk for months, now they're cutting people's pay. It's just unacceptable.

If a movie theatre can't survive in Jackson, a zoo probably won't either. It's a safety thing, not a racial issue. So put a fork in the zoo; it's done.

Nobody wants to take their family to the zoo anymore. Travel through the “combat zone” puts them in too much danger. The city might as well go ahead and shut it down so that the animals can be sent somewhere they can be properly cared for.

9:52 - DAMN IT< get over it. The zoo is not a JOBS program, designed to provide jobs for you, your friends, or those "professionals" you are so worried about. The reason that the City of Jackson puts a Million dollars a year into it; the state generally puts one or two million a year; and evidently the county has been trying to pour our tax dollars from there into it as well IS NOT TO TAKE CARE OF THOSE KEEPERS - highly educated and experienced as they (may or may not) be. If they are good, they can get a job elsewhere but the purpose of the zoo is not to make sure they keep their job.

Hell, it appears that you must be planning on running for the Jackson City Council - or the MS legislature - with this kind of thinking.

No, the zoo was created to provide an educational/entertainment venue for a paying public to enjoy. The jobs - from these highly educated and experienced keepers you are concerned about - are a result and a creation of the zoo, but not the purpose. Take your Democratic mindset back to the council chambers and get out of this, and future, discussions. If you want to make an argument for taxpayer support of the zoo, at least come to the table with an argument that focuses on the program, not worried about those sucking the tits created by it.

In the meantime - I hope that the ILA that has been languishing in the Mayor's offices, or those of his staff - stays there. Damn, he should be getting the dozens of ILAs off his desk that deal with spending county money on the needed infrastructure throughout the city, but this particular one should die on the vine - no need to pour more money into this dry well.

If the county money were transferred, it would only help cover the overdrafts, the past dues, and the multiple debts that Poff and crew have allowed to develop. With a $300k overdraft, along with the misspent bond money of close to the same amount, these county dollars would not make a dent and the impending closure of the zoo would not be postponed by as much as a day. Save those tax dollars and use them for other needed projects - in the meantime, stick a fork in this one; its done.

2:46


"If they are good, they can get a job elsewhere"

Which is out of state. The last time I checked, Mississippi was trying to *avoid* the brain drain, not encourage it.

"The jobs - from these highly educated and experienced keepers you are concerned about - are a result and a creation of the zoo, but not the purpose"

You do know that those keepers are the educators in the zoo, right? They take care of the animals and educate the guests and students that go to the zoo.

If you're okay with the brain drain, want to encourage it by forcing the professionals to get jobs out of state, and continue it by cutting off educational opportunities for Mississippi's students, just say so.

Grab a knife and cut the attitude; you haven't thought this through.

No 759, I have thought thru this. The brain drain you refer to is not solved by the pouring 9f millions of dollars in tax money in order for a few 'professionals' - be they efucators, keepers, cage cleaners, or whatever employed. By your tgeory, the city and state should just go hire people at any cost if they have a skill - be tgat keeping caged animals or making buggy whips to beat the snimals. Just as buggy whip makers may have a unique talent, we don't need them anymore. And while they may be good people who at one time in the past decided to live here, keeping them here by subsidizing their jobs is not the purpose - and certainly not the priority of government.

There are plenty of trained lifeguards in the area and having public pools would be nice. But we can't afford to keep up and maintain the pools, so we don't need to keep the lifeguards on salary just because they are good people and trained in their field.

Yes, I will say it again - the public zoo is not a jobs program - for you or for the keepers. I'm sorry if you and your friends are going to have to find employment elsewhere. But using the jobs as the reason for keeping open the zoo makes no more sense than Jackson keeping open the Grove Park Golf Course that has so few people playing to pay that it can't afford to pay the professional thar cuts the fairways, much less the staff that manages the 'pro' shop.