Jackson Jambalaya

Where is the proposed new location for the Jackson Zoo? I haven't seen any concrete numbers but hasn't the Jackson Zoo been in steady decline over the last few years? Honestly I do not see it revitalized in its current location. I would love to see it located off one of the major roadways. Evidently if they are having this meeting something must be in the works.

Zoo would be great in the Children Museum, Natural Science Museum, Ag Museum area Much safer area (well for Jackson safer). Good roads in and out of area. Family could make a day out of visiting area.

Just a thought.

Yep, the state is gonna open their own by the Children's Museum. the city can keep that turkey if they want to.

I live in northeast Jackson and think this is great.

Nothing like a pro-active neighborhood group. Their ability to plan for potential area decline will surely be the key to keeping the community thriving and the zoo as a safe family destination where unaccompanied women will continue to spend their afternoons with small children. Much better than spending the afternoon shoppinng and sailing around Harborwalk!

I wish there was room for the Zoo near at Riverside Park. It'd make the park even more of a family draw.

put it in madison next to the JSU campus.

You could use the Lefleur's bluff golf course property and create some synergy with the new Children's Museum and Natural Science Museum.

The MBJ had a commentary several months ago:

http://msbusiness.com/businessblog/2013/04/12/mbj-funding-for-jackson-zoo-should-be-reconsidered/

While I sympathize with West Jackson wanting to keep the zoo in their neighborhood, I have never ONCE patronized a business near the zoo. Not even a gas station. While the zoo probably provides some stability to the neighborhood simply because of the number of visitors driving through the neighborhood, it's time for a move. With the ever increasing options for your entertainment dollars the zoo will only survive if it can increase visitor numbers. Located near several major highways that feed not only Jackson residents but Rankin and Madison, a new zoo would thrive at LeFleurs Bluff while keeping tax dollars in City of Jackson. It would create an entertainment destination. Zoo, Natural Science Museum, Children's Museum, Ag and Forestry Museum and Wills Smith Stadium. You couldn't ask for a better concentration of venues anywhere in the metro area, if not Mississippi.

Jackson has a Zoo? Where?

You guys are cruising for a classic Kenny Stokes announcement:

"We ain't gonna stand for dis!"

who owns the Zoo and who owns the land it sit on???

mayor Butch Lee of Brandon will take the zoo
He already made the city a circus

As much as I enjoy playing golf at Lefleur's Bluff, putting a nice zoo in that space would be a great idea. Probably an idea that makes too much sense for the morons on the City Council. After all, "dat's property of de State. We can't control dat, or rename dat".

I too live in NE Jxn and think the zoo should move to Lefluers Bluff near the MS Children's Museum. Do kids on field trips from across the state really go into the annals of west jackson now to see the zoo or do they avoid it altogether? Put it where everything can, and will, enjoy it.

Speaking of K. Stokes, anyone else heard that his career was spring-boarded by finding out where road-renewals were going to take place, then going out to those areas, hanging out with the locals, and "conveniently" noticing that the roads were in horrible shape... to which he would loudly state, "I'm going to get somebody out here to take care of these roads!"?

Building a zoo from scratch, from the ground up, certainly has some appeal in that it can be designed to be "state of the art." However, the cost of building and relocating would be huge - probably in the $100M ball park. Instead of spending that, why not spend $10M-$20M to fix up the current location into a showpiece.

The "crime" discussion is yet another red herring. You hop off I220 and drive 1 mile on Capital St. No one is pulling people out of their cars or robbing people in the parking lot. That mile of Capital is not pretty, but it's not Afghanistan lined with IEDs either. But I do understand that white people in Mississippi will not partake of anything in a Black neighborhood, regardless of the true safety issues.

I want my golf course left alone, as I play at Lefleurs Bluff often. This isn't Chicago where we are out of space - why do we have to destroy one treasure in order to build another?

Hey, what a minute. This is a no-brainer. Any new zoo must be placed in downtown.

Well, by all means, let's leave PP's golf course alone. Oh, wait. It's not "your" golf course, asswipe, it's the State's golf course that you frequent. Apparently you haven't been to the zoo in a while. What's been done to it is borderline criminal. Whoever has been in charge should be fired. It's a dump. But, they did build themselves a nice office building over by the old monkey castle, which was a stagnant, stinking hole for flamingos last time I was there.

I think the Zoo is in a terrible location and that's one reason it doesn't have the visitors it could. LeFleur's Bluff would be an excellent location. It would make the Zoo a much more visited destination and it would be seen from at least two major thoroughfares.

Having said that, the city leadership has a legitimate point. One of the problems the city faces is a dwindling tax base. For whatever reason (Donna Ladd will blame racist white people fleeing the city, suburban expatriates will blame poor city management, etc), the facts are what they are.

One big problem is that Jackson is a state capital and, as such, has a lot of state buildings and properties that are not contributors to the bottom line. UMC is an example, as is LeFleur's Bluff park.

Whatever revenue the Zoo brings into the city, if it relocates to the park it would take that money out of the city's hands. A responsible city official would have to be concerned.

Kenny Stokes is a blithering idiot, but he's not relevant any longer in this capacity. His wife is no better, but if she opposes the move on revenue grounds, she's actually acting in the best interest of the city. The same could be said for the other six members and Jokeway.

I don't know the answer, but I at least understand why the council SHOULD oppose the move. However, I'm certain they will take the JFP-approved tack of crying racism, which shows they are motivated by self interest rather than the greater good of the city. If any one of them (other than Whitwell) suggests opposition along the lines mentioned above, I'll be stunned.

However, I might actually visit the Zoo (something I haven't done in well over a decade) if it were to relocate to LeFleur's Bluff.

Move the Zoo to the Riverside Park (as noted above) and relocate the Hinds County Jail to the West Jackson location.

Buy they have TV and Radio celebs serving ice cream at the Zoo. Isn't that enough?

There is no money to improve the zoo....we can't fix our streets or the water system. Putting improvements over there is smearing lipstick on the elephant. That's gonna really tick off the pachyderm.

Move the zoo to Lefleurs and turn Colonial Country Club into a public course.

Not sure why KF allows the bad language, but let's go with it. To 4:16PM, The zoo is a dump because it's starved for cash. Put it anywhere you like, but if it's not funded it will eventually end up in the same situation.

Why build a new zoo from scratch? If you want a zoo, simply correctly fund the old one. Fix it up and make it a showpiece.

And if your response is that no one will fund even a showpiece zoo at the current location because "they have to drive a mile on Capital Street through a black neighborhood," then shame on you and shame on those who agree with that thinking.

Not one Jackson taxpayer penny for anything related to the Zoo as long as the bill for $400+ million of mandatory infrastructure upgrades remains unpaid.

Can't support a Zoo any longer. It doesn't make the list of priorities. Shut it down.

we can't afford a zoo--sell the animals and visit New Orleans zoo- one of the best in the US and only 3 hrs from Jackson

4:52 your intentions are good, but the state is not going to pour any more money into the broke ass city's zoo, or anything for that matter.

Creating a center of real destination activity at the Children's Museum is brilliant.

Teddy's new Eastover gig is branding itself "Jackson's City Center". How ya like them apples Prophet?

BTW Prophet. Why does Wanda shop in Flowood?

The zoo has never had enough donations to do what was needed to keep it up and current. My children attended zoo camp every year they could while growing up, and my oldest worked there and is now in vet school because of that zoo and their zoo camp. You can easily get to the zoo off I220 without problems. Quit running away from west Jackson, and make it a better place. It's not that far from downtown, and if you want downtown to make a comeback, you must revitalize the entire area. I am sick and tired of everything leaving Jackson just because they are scared of "black people".

Has nothing to do with "black people" 5:32. it has EVERYTHING to do with location, Location, LOCATION. The state has a lock down winner by the CHILDREN'S MUSEUM for crying out loud. The CITY OWNED and managed zoo is, and always will be, grossly lacking.

Put it in Fondren, because that's the only neighborhood that matters. Fill it with only hip animals from trendy countries like Tibet and Ireland. Sell craft beer and exotic snacks like imported Venezuelan popcorn and free-range chicken on a stick. Build a BB King's in the center and a Rainforest Cafe in the back, so the hip, urban millennials can have a percentage of their $65 meal go to saving the Brazilian snail darter. Don't allow anyone who used to live in Jackson but moved to Madison or Rankin counties access. Name different exhibits after prominent, hip citizens, e.g. the Donna Ladd Snake House or the Ben Allen Ostrich Cage or the LaRita Cooper-Stokes Hat Concession. Build an elevated walkway connecting the new zoo to the King Edward, because millennials hate cars. Install a Frisbee golf course to be in harmony with the eco-friendly exhibits. Put a twenty foot high photograph of Jeff Good at the entrance to stroke his massive ego.

Just move it to city hall, and get the supervisors to meet there also! I for one would pay to see that entertainment! Or better yet, how about the Farrish Street area, then at least Jackson would get something out of all that money spent on that sinkhole!

5:43 is once again a happy person!
He couldn't WAIT to say something shitty!

Do YOU live in West Jackson August 12, 2013 at 5:32 PM? The JFP "partners" preach your crapola all the time. Where did they buy a house? Belhaven.

Actions speak louder than your hollow words.

Priceless 5:43.

5:43......you left out the unicorns and rainbows......signatures of Fondren.

FORGET the new location. Zoo wants $1,400,000 from Jackson taxpayers just to pay tribute to the zoo accreditation jihadis.

I just think it's a shame people just leave and won't stay and renovate their own area. And don't say it isn't the black people. Whites don't move away until the black people move in. It you kept up your neighborhoods all along, the only people who could afford to live there, no matter what color, would keep it up. But no, you've got to have something new and forget about upkeep.

Let's all take a moment to cool down and listen to this special prayer from a young Catholic boy.

Considering his recent Rah-Rah Jackson columns in the Clarion-Ledger it sure would be a big time gesture of leadership if Lieutenant Robert Graham of the Jackson Police Department kicked in District 1's $700,000 allocation from the money they are ripping off from the Clinton-Byram Corridor to help keep the Jackson Zoo afloat.

You could put a big ass sign up Graham about how you saved the day for the Zoo.

Yes I know we are not in South Carolina, but the state, the city of Columbia, Richland County, their next door neighbor Lexington, Lexington County all got together with the utility company SCANA and built Riverbanks Zoo an annual top 10 in America Zoo. It takes a lot of cooperation as well as give and take. That's why it won't work here.

Does 6:17 live on Flag Chapel Road? ...I didn't think so.
Hypocrite!

To 10:36, Har Har!

Could you imagine Jackson, Hinds County, Rankin County, Flowood, Madison County, Ridgeland, and Madison, all working together to put the zoo at Lefleurs Bluff?

Nope, not gonna happen. The only thing our neighbors are interested in is seeing if they could somehow "steal" the zoo to their town/county.

This is 6:17. I live near Callaway High School, and am the only white person around.

Blogging at 3:54. You must be guarding your home.

Just build the domed football stadium and the 20,000 seat basketball arena next to the existing zoo. All of Jackson's problems will be solved, as it will create a year round tourist destination.

Our zoo certainly ain't what it used to be, but my kids still love it. The surrounding neighborhood is depressing, but it's a shame to people are so easily intimidated. I've never felt threatened traveling to the zoo, and I don't recall hearing of single report of any serious incidents involving people traveling to and from the zoo.

I don't take my grandkids to the zoo because of where it is located. I grew up in that neighborhood when Jackson was nice and safe but now I'm told by JPD it is not even safe for me to take my grandkids and show them where I grew up at and that makes me real sad. So if it is not safe to show my grandkids where I grew up at, it is not safe for me to take them to the zoo. I would not go to Jackson at all if it were not for the fact my doctors are in Jackson.

To 8:01am, of course there is no issue of safety when traveling that one mile from I220 to the zoo. Of course there haven't been any incidents involving people traveling to and from the zoo. You're looking for logic and rational thinking from people that have no interest in either. All they know is that "the zoo is near Black folks, so I ain't going."

It's a shame these people are such cowards and pussy(cats). I often wonder how they explain their fear to their wives and children, and how their families can respect such cowardly men who are so afraid.

I have to disagree with a lot of people. The main problem at the zoo is mishandling funds period. They say the Mississippi area alone cost 8 million dollars. I find this laughable truly. The bear house doesn't even have an ac unit inside a closed cinder block building. The office by bears is SUPPOSED TO BE AN EDUCATION BUILDING WITH EXHIBITS. They were given federal funds for that yet the exhibits were NEVER produced? How about the 250, 000 plus spent on a splash pad. Why? When funding is in such desperate need ? The orang exhibit... have you seen this pitiful "REDONE" exhibit. The yard for my DOG is bigger oh and they have a dirt yard the same size as a sandbox. The zoo may argue but they are tree dwelling so their answer a small concrete tree with a cheap little house. How about those rhinos? How about it was so hot it died on exhibit and literally cooked. Yea it happened. If the folks in jackson want a zoo start by getting rid of upper managment! P.s. I don't see them cutting their extravagant salaries. They only pay keepers about 18, 000 a year. They make them do everything including maintance work tree cutting etc. They make 60, 000 or better a year and stay in their offices!

Appears that PittPanther can't overcome his/her own cowardice to use his/her real name. It is easy to throw around the terms coward and racist from behind the JJ cloak of anonymity.

Pitt, you need to give it a rest, sweetheart. Maybe you haven't noticed, but, Jackson is 80%+ "black folks". You cannot go anywhere in Jackson without being near "black folks. Just where do YOU live? Don't you get out enough to know this simple fact? You are right about one thing, as long as one is traveling that stretch you are relatively safe. Why don't you stop at some of the convenience stores along the way? Like the one at Ellis and Capitol, where more than one "black folk" has been shot and killed? I often wonder how you can explain to your wife/husband what a freaking moron you are. (and if you're going to call someone a pussy, don't be coy about it)

Really? The Jackson Zoo wants a 51% INCREASE in the funding it receives from the City of Jackson? LMAO

We are talking about saving the same zoo that has packs of wild dogs killing animals, right?

If the city wants to keep the zoo and keep it in West Jackson as a policy decision, that's fine but it needs to step up and fund the thing properly. Since the city can't repair its roads or its water pipes, that solution seems pretty unlikely. Therefore, the zoo needs more donations or more attendance.

My family lives in Flowood, we're Friends of the Zoo, and we go once, maybe twice a year. We mostly spend our limited time there in the renovated areas, the splash pad and, of course, riding the train.

We support the zoo, but frankly, the older areas are just too depressing to look at. Some look like they haven't been upgraded since I visited as a kid 30 years ago. In fact, you couldn't convince me that isn't the case.

I don't mind going through that area to go to the zoo, but we'd go a lot more if it were in an area with other attractions around it. Also, there are so many nicer, newer attractions in safer areas between our house and the zoo that we literally have to drive way past other things the kids want to do in order to get to the zoo. That eliminates a half-dozen or so trips each year that we might otherwise make.

Then again, maybe Jacksonians can just call all the suburban whites racists and cowards and they'll start sending checks. That worked the last hundred times with... uhh... well, maybe it'll work this time.

PittPanther:

Where would you propose the $10M-$20M (btw, I think that is a low estimate) to fix the current zoo location come from?

To 12:50pm, where would the $100M to build a brand new zoo come from? I'm basing my assumption that a serious effort to rehab the existing zoo would be significantly less than building a new zoo from the ground up. I haven't heard any real numbers as yet, either for a rehab or a Lefleurs Bluff zoo.

But I do know it's unreasonable to underfund the current zoo for decades, and then wonder why it's not as nice as Memphis or New Orleans.

If the state wants to fund a zoo, fund the one we have. Make it a showpiece. I do know that if they build a new zoo, it will be done as cheaply as possible - that means no train, no lake - things that are already in place at the current zoo.

2:45 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.

The only option is to close the zoo. Jackson can no longer pay for it at even a basic level and there is no way in Hades lawmakers are going to vote to build a $100 million dollar state zoo in Jackson.

Let's all continue to take our children and grandchildren to the zoo in either Memphis or New Orleans. They do not mind one bit accepting our money - makes perfect sense. Much better than being robbed, shot or car-jacked or all of the above. It's a much better plan than relocating the Jackson Zoo to an area where families are safe in our own capitol city and would bring in revenue - but, that would be way too easy and you would have to use common sense to make a decision like that - and, we know that will never happen in the city of Jackson. Just keep doing what you are doing now - stay on the same track and pretty soon you will crash and burn!

Why did they build the Zoo in the ghetto? I visited during a school field trip... once.

@6:30 PM - According to legend, when the zoo was built, the area around it was a veritable paradise-when only whites lived along West Capital of course. Then *the blacks* ruined it by moving into these pristine neighborhoods, forcing these brave, fearless white folk to flee their glorious neighborhoods for the hinterlands of Madison and Rankin Counties.

Forty years of this cycle of flight and disinvestment among other things has transformed it into the wretched ghetto that it is today.

10:58
No, it wasn't 40 years of flight and disinvestment transformed it into the ghetto it is today. It's the pieces of shit that moved into the area.

1:13. CORRECT.