A group of West Jackson residents and community leaders met last night to fight to keep the Jackson Zoo at its current site in on Capital Street. The Zoo has been plagued by declining attendance and financial problems over the last few years. The zoo also faces a loss of accreditation in September. The board of directors for the non-profit company operating the zoo created a special committee to examine various proposals for zoo's future.
The formation of the special committee spurred a grassroots movement among West Jackson residents interesting in saving the zoo. A group met last night at Voice of Cavalry Ministries Church on West Pearl Street. The meeting was led by Phil Reed and Cassandra Welchlin.* Mr. Reed and Mrs. Welchlin told the assembly the Zoo was facing a loss of accreditation on September 8. The Zoo needed $1.4 million from the city in order to keep the accreditation. Councilman Yarber said the council was "in the middle of the budget process". He also said the previous administration had not told the council about the budget request from the zoo (Anyone surprised?). Several people present at the meeting said Mayor Lumumba supported keeping the zoo in its current location and the $1.4 million request. Ms. Poff said attendance declined 37% over the last six years. Attendance was only 117,000 in 2012. She said losing accreditation will be "a disaster". She also said admission fees comprise 65% of the zoo's funding. The 2011 990 states the zoo lost $743,142.
Ms. Poff said the committee was looking at several options about how to reverse the fortunes of the zoo:
1. Closing the zoo (worst case)
2. scaling back the size of the zoo to the level of attendance.
3. Investing in growth and better exhibits to attract a larger audience
4. Moving the zoo to a site near the Children's Museum and Museum of Natural Science on Lakeland Drive. Ms. Poff said a new zoo would have to be beuilt from scratch and the cost of moving would be $2 million or so per acre.
Needless to say, the last proposal stirred up a strong reaction from those present last night. Senator Norwood said he would not support any funding for the zoo if it was moved to Lakeland Drive. Such was the overwhelming feeling of those present. Ms. Poff said there were three vacant positions on the board of directors from Ward 3, 5, and 6. This news stirred more reaction as several attendees voiced concern as they thought West Jackson was being left out of any discussion concerning the future of the zoo. They also were somewhat upset no one from Weset Jackson was on the committee as well. Charlotte Reeves accused the committee and board of using "underhanded tactics". West Jackson community activist Renee Shakespeare said "the community left out of it all."
Several people present said the area around the zoo was indeed blighted and urged the group to create a plan to revitalize the area (This part of the discussion will not be included in the post but in the video there is a discussion about a creation of a Capital Street Corridor. A representative from the Main Street Association addressed the group on this matter.)
Senator Sollie Norwood said there was a million dollars assigned to the zoo in the 2013 bond bill signed by the Governor. Senator John Horhn previously told the group the same news last month. However, the project has not been approved by the bond commission and thus is unavailable to the zoo at this time. The group decided to send three representatives to speak to the Jackson City Council today.
Kingfish note: Here is what no one realized last night. Fight back and forth. Make the fight a racial one. Spar, spar, spar. Meanwhile the same burbs that have raided Jackson for businesses will do something else. Raid the cultural features. Screw around with renovating Thalia Mara. Make it last longer than six months as scheduled. Watch someone such as Brad Rogers decide to build one next to Trustmark Park and then land all of the cultural events. Want to know a great site for the zoo? That land next to the Sulphur Springs Park I've raised hell about in Madison County. Have a nice park there, and plenty of open pasture to build a zoo. Just like it used to be back in the 40's. I'm speaking in jest but someone will think something similar. In other words, figure it out guys or else the burbs will do it for you.
Another example of ignorance. Several people at the meeting last night raised hell over the zoo hiring a lobbyist at $30,000. Yes, the zoo did indeed hire a lobbyist. They failed to make the connection that hiring lobbyist Beth Clay might have had something to do with the $1 million line in the bond bill. In fact, Ms. Clay has managed to bring $4.5 million to the zoo according to Ms. Poff. Hmmm.... $30,000 for $1 million? I'll take that return on investment every day of the week. Too bad the legislator present didn't point that out to anyone.
*Councilman Tony Yarber, Senator Sollie Norwood, Zoo Director Beth Poff, Board member Erin Shirley, Claude McGinnis (he appeared with a stack of absentee ballots ;-), Eric Stringfellow, JRA Board Chairman Reverend Ronnie Crudup, Jason Brookings, and Louis Armstrong.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
What to do about the Zoo, what to do, what to do.
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39 comments:
Doubt highly one of the suburbs will ever build a new zoo.
KF, your note is absolutely correct. Our suburban "friends" will gladly steal (replicate, duplicate, whatever) every cultural institution in Jackson if allowed. Thalia Mara and the Coliseum could be replaced in the burbs. Next thing we know the Mississippi Symphony and Ballet Mississippi will have their homes in Flowood or Pearl.
I wonder how many of those in attendance actually use their own money, not taxpayer's money to support the zoo? If you really are committed to keeping the zoo in West Jackson, go on their website and become a Friend of the Zoo. It is inexpensive and full of benefits. WWW.JACKSONZOO.ORG
If the zoo does close, Mrs. Poff can always go back to teaching Spongebob how to drive.
It wouldn't be stealing. There is nothing wrong with replicating or duplicating. The idea that the metro area much exist in some sort of deferential stasis at mercy to the whims and wishes of the wholly dysfunctional Jackson is laughable. It is nothing less than an extension of the victimhood mentality writ large. Keep treating the symptoms PP brain because you are terminal from the illness.
They report I saw on the news last night said attendance is down - You Think??? Who is their right mind would take their child/children to that "God-forsaken" location in West Jackson? You're taking your life in your hands just to drive through the areas along the way to the actual location - to say nothing of the location itself! It's just one more area in Jackson that once was a nice place for families to enjoy - Now gone to "Hell in a hand-basket"! But, hey that's what happens when you do not care and have no pride!!
So it's "stealing" to do something better and attract more customers? Tell us more, comrade.
Jackson has a ZOO?
Senator Norwood would rather see the Zoo close than move to the white part of town.
That is a shame - revenue is revenue in Jackson and nobody visiting the Zoo patronizes businesses around the Zoo.
Next to the Children's Museum and Natural Science Museum the Zoo might actually - gasp! - make money and reinvest in itself. Imagine if they put the Zoo on one corner and the Civil Rights Museum at Smith Wills. Lots of entertainment - lots of restaurants - actual revenue.
The last time I visited the Zoo it seemed in disrepair. There were trees down around the train area. Tyrone Lewis could take some inmates down there and do the community a favor.
Video is private??
Who on God's green earth would want the Jackson Zoo or any zoo for that matter within fifty miles of their town or home?
It amuses me (in a pathetic way) to hear people yammer on about how to "fix" the zoo or any other part of Jackson. It is dead, all of it, and you all are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
As for moving the zoo to Lakeland Drive: great idea! Then West Jackson residents can come over to visit it early and often. The diversity of that area will greatly increase. . . and everyone knows that that leads to happiness, economic prosperity, and hip-ness! Studies (commissioned by Harvey Johnson) have proven this fact! Why, just look at how hip and full of "urban culture" the location surrounding the current zoo is! Lakeland drive needs some of that diverse awesomeness!
I hate to hear this about the zoo. I live in Madison with two young daughters- and yes, we venture to the zoo a few times a year and have our traditional lunch at Brents. In addition, we buy an annual family membership to support it. We always try to attend fundraisers for the zoo as well. I'd love to see the area around the zoo revitalized for the sake of not having to move it, but that's just not going to happen. As much as I would hate to see it move from the location I've got to my entire life (my family even had a surprise 16th birthday party for me there), it seems to be the most viable option. Scale down, build a nice facility, and get those memberships going. Jackson should get on it before they lose it for sure. Make a good decision here, otherwise we'll be the only state capitol without a movie theater AND a zoo. Hoping for the best!
With the money it would take to build a new zoo, the city/state could probably bulldoze the area around the zoo and build another attraction to support the zoo and clean up the area. But that would require actual thought and creativity on the part of elected officials....
Pretend the Zoo is a sow's ear and the area surrounding it, a pig. Now, let's get out the lipstick.
Ah, yes, the myth that capital cities must have one of everything. LMAO
Waitin' For Kim To Say...
"Somethin's gotta be did about this!"
A nice place for the Zoo would be the south part of Highland Colony Parkway. The Hinds county area.
On relocating the zoo....lefleurs bluff is a poor fit for an attraction that may require 80-100 acres to develop into a zoo. Lefleurs bluff sits on a flood plain and its best use is as a golf course or wilderness area that can be easily rehabbed when eubanks creek floods. Imagine the evacuation of exotic animals from any zoo there....imagine the cost to repair the facilities from high water. West capitol street was selected 100 years ago as a home for the zoo bc it was the highest ground in the city. Now redeveloping west capitol is a legit topic to discuss here.
9:23 please give it UP already. The zoo is a dump, for 30 years has been a dump, and will always be a dump as it is owned and managed by the broke ass city of Jackson, irrespective of who the Mayor is.
It is an old school zoo. New zoos are not just zoos anymore. They are destinations.
Did I mention the crime infested shithole it sits in the middle of?
Give it up. This is a no brainer. MOVE THE ZOO TO NEJ BY I 55 AND THE OTHER 4 MUSEUMS THERE.
Lipstick comment in 3-2-1 just became a reality at 9:23.
9:34 if finding a spare $100+ million is a "no brainer" then step up and show us the money.
9:34....Do we really want to pour $250MM or $500MM into building a new zoo in a flood plain? Building a new zoo is an expensive undertaking. This is a "100 year" decision we are talking about here. Or could someone or some entity purchase the entirety of West Capitol Street (from I220 to the Zoo, for staters) and level every structure there for less than $2MM? Go to realtor.com and see for yourself.....real estate on West Capitol Street has almost no value. The offering prices are rock-bottom....Property owners would probably take offers that are a 1/4 of appraised values to unload.... Purchasing these lots and turning them into a green space only requires a reasonably small amount of money to make this thoroughfare more appealing to the eye and safer.
And yes i agree that the zoo property has needs that have already been discussed on this blog.....but i think making major curb appeal improvements from I220 to the zoo is easily doable -- real estate there is virtually valueless.
Not a bad idea.
Then for less money than that $100 million, we could build a high speed monorail to the other two museums. Works for me.
Go to realtor.com and see for yourself.....real estate on West Capitol Street has almost no value.
Unfortunately, that applies to lots of places in Jackson.
We built the Metro Parkway so that white people wouldn't be afraid to go to JSU from downtown. Did that work?
We could build the Capital Pkwy from I220 to the Zoo. I expect the same results.
Sorry to keep making this a racial issue, but that's exactly what it is. Sure, move the zoo someplace else in Jackson (Lefleurs Bluff would require a LOT of fill to get rid of the wetlands already there) but at least admit that it's a fiscally foolish decision being made for reasons that go back hundreds of years. The zoo was allowed to get to this point due to those same reasons.
The smart decision would be to refurbish the zoo you have, not to spend $200M on a new one.
By the way, the Philadephia Zoo (oldest in the USA and one of the most highly regarded) is in a ghetto every bit as bad as Capital St. Yet no one is afraid to go there. Not sure why Jackson area people are so afraid all of the time.
Why doesn't the black community -- the vast majority of Jackson's population -- support Jackson's zoo? Why are they letting their zoo decay and why have they allowed their zoo to go into such extensive levels of indebtedness?
There is no reason to go to the zoo anymore. There aren't many animals/exhibits & there are really nice zoos three hours away. I'm not scared of the area. It isn't racial. But, there is nothing there to see.
"By the way, the Philadephia Zoo (oldest in the USA and one of the most highly regarded) is in a ghetto every bit as bad as Capital St. Yet no one is afraid to go there."
I call BS, having worked in that neighborhood for several years. The Schuykill Expressway gets more traffic in a day than I-55 in Jackson sees in a month, and the exit ramp goes right into the parking lot of the zoo. Philly also understands the value of tourist attractions, and the Philly cops, let's just say, are not like Jackson cops. The area around the Jackson Zoo does not resemble Strawberry Mansion, Fairmount Park, Belmont Plateau, Falls Bridge, or the Philadelphia Art Museum.
The simplest solution is to close the zoo. Let school kids go to Memphis and New Orleans and see impressive zoos. Jackson has so many other higher priorities for its money.
Jackson is a Zoo...
3:50 is completely right. i'm originally from pennsylvania--many things in the philly area are set up for surburban dwellers to park right under attractions, or in gated lots right next to them. It's not racial at all--does anyone really want to traverse the streets of a drug and crime ridden neighborhood? the answer is not closing the zoo, but improving 'those' areas of jackson..
Will Stokes pay the entry fee for all disadvantaged Jacksonians to get into the zoo, plus a sno-cone and slice of pizza?
The Atlanta Zoo is in Grant park, though Grant Park has seen some level of regentrification it is still dicey to most. In Fact since the great recession it has become a little more dicey. But The Zoo is quite crowded and well attended. Safe parking is also availbale. On the Jackson Zoo, as I understand it there is also more land availblae tothe Jackson Zoo should they want to expand. Lakeland as has been staed is a flood plain, and such not a practical solution.
10:26 that is a great idea. Problem is cities use to Burn, they don't anymore but this could be a trend. A sort of controled burn with bulldozers instead of fire.
Michigan is doing alot of that in Detroit, at state expence. Just tearing it all down. It will never come back not in out lifetimes and the open land would retain value.
"A nice place for the Zoo would be the south part of Highland Colony Parkway. The Hinds county area."
Actually, that's a great idea!
3:38 is right, the Jackson zoo does not offer anything in the way of attractions. My kids were bored the last few times we went. The Mississippi exhibit was a snoozer, and they got rid of the interesting animals. So, we don't go to the zoo anymore. It has nothing to do with the location.
Jackson has so many other needs that it seems foolish to spend lots of money on a zoo at this point. They should close it down.
Return to the wild those animals that could survive. Gift the others to reputable, well-maintained zoos in other parts of the country. Solicit bids for construction of a regional prison on the site, keeping the board of supervisors and city council far removed from the entire process.
Okay, first of all, I have a HUGE issue with there being this ridiculous division of "black" and "white" neighborhoods. That is utterly repulsive and about 80% of the reason I am leaving this God forsaken state as soon as I have my degree. Second of all, this state and this "capital" are both so out of touch. The zoo is not merely a form of tourism, it is a source for education and for research. Neither of whoch are being implemented by this facility. I hardly could call it a zoo because it is only a prison for animals. Most states see the need for research and enrichment for zoo animals. Jackson does not. Nor is there any respect shown for these animals. Rather, the argument is for keeping it in West Jackson, a place that I wouldn't put a stuffed animal at, let alone, Sumatran tigers. What repulses me more is that Jackson has Sumatran tigers and at least THREE colleges in the area with biology departments and no one is doing ANYTHING WITH THESE ENDANGERED ANIMALS!!!!??????? MOVE THE ZOO!!!! Move is to an area that can utilize it properly. Move it to give the animals meaning. Move it to create an education zoo that supports teaching children AND adults the importance of caring for these animals and our environment. It doesn't matter what the fucking color of anyone's skin is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET OVER IT!!! Dear Jackson, you had your chance, you blew it. Let the animals have a better life. Oh, and also, get off of the racial train. The tracks are worn thin and you're being left behind. Look at places like California, NYC, and Washington, D.C. where white people, black people, chinese, muslims, buddhists, gays, etc., live together and there is a stupid blatant division of races so celebrated by the community. Omg. Get over the HBCU crap and let people progress further than slavery poems or white privilege or even, old white men! Get your head out of the archaic sand and wake the fuck up.... It's so old. And, I hate that I live here.
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