Jackson Jambalaya

Hate to see it stay in Jackson, as that's just kicking the can down the road, but glad it is moving next to the children's museum and the natural science museum. It's a shame they won't move it to a safe area though.

I was hoping they'd move the zoo to the Old Colonial Country Club. Seems like a perfect fit.

Colonial Country Club

Great plan. Sure hope they can raise the capital.

Raise the capital...as in free money from the state.

Not "raise the capital" as in make a viable business case for anybody to invest in it.

For the children. Always works.

Lefleur's Bluff is a hidden gem. Hope they don't screw it up.

That being said, I am for this with a condition: the city needs to demolish and clean up the old zoo once everything is gone. an open green space park is better than blight.

I think creating a "complex" with the Zoo, Children's Museum, and Science Museum in one location is a GREAT idea. I would bet that their foot traffic would increase substantially.

Donna Ladd's head just exploded.

Remember this epic thread?

@4:11PM....Not a bad idea.

It’s a no brainer and thus....DOA.

Colonial is definitely closer to the highway than the current location, but I still think the LeFleur's Bluff Golf Course is the best location. It's at the corner of two major arteries, making it easily accessible and highly visible. It's adjacent to the Children's Museum and the Natural Science Museum, which would provide some nice synergies for learning. It's still in the city of Jackson, so the revenue would come to the city (have to deal with the state-owned land issue). You could even build a pedestrian bridge over Lakeland and tie in with the Ag Museum.

The golf course is underutilized and there are many better locations for golfers in the metro. Building the new zoo there makes sense.

LeFleur's Bluff not a safe area? Good grief, you cloistered Madisonites are snow flakes.

4:09 is probably one of those Madisonites who is terrified to enter the city limits and is convinced all of Jackson will look like Somalia by the end of the year. there still are, and will always be, nice parts of Jackson. With trees!

Location! Location! Location! I would imagine that the attendance is down (assuming those numbers are accurate) because of its current location. At least the proposed new location is much safer.

This on the day that Baton Rouge zoo lost its accreditation

Zoos are outdated.

Wasn't this plan proposed several years back? Too bad the zoo didn't decide to move then but better late than never I guess. Wonder what kind of time frame it'll be. 5 years?

Yes, move it to the Lefleur's Bluff area! Glad to see that this idea is getting traction! As for moving it to the old Colonial CC, there's too much residential property around there (think about the smell from the zoo) and it'll be in the same type of neighborhood that it's in now in just a few years. The Lefleur's location makes the most sense.

So excited to see this! It will definitely increase attendance with the zoo being so close to the children's museum. I just hope they make it look similar to the nashville zoo.

ABOUT DAMN TIME!

Why put it at Lefleur's where there's already something there instead of Colonial where there's nothing? The golf course isn't great but for the money you can't beat it.

@4:09
you hate to see it stay in Jackson?. It's going to be in a great area with a lot of wealthy Jackson families to support it. Example is look on the wall at the children's museum at the families that raised and dona
Re money to keep it afloat. Same thing here.

why do we need a zoo? how about an aquarium instead?with an imax science theater..

I bet ol' Socrates and the other city "vendors" are more excited than the animals !!

Wow. I called this back in college in 2001, including the specific location.

Not saying I'm particularly prescient. It just seemed really obvious.

Who cares. First graders are watching safaris on their iPads. Don’t expect them to sit still and wait on a real animal to poke its head out for 20 seconds. Time to move on. If a private investor wants to start a zoo, go for it. Until then, fix my bridge.

@4:09 I’m glad they are keeping the zoo in Jackson. I’m sure the bare pastures of Madison would be too hot of the animals...and all that fake stucco in the air could harm the animals

I like nature, I like Jackson. I like both so much that I don't want to see a nice park area destroyed in a city that deserves better! Take that freak show somewhere else! How about Pearl? How about Smith Park? How about the JSU Golf Course, or better yet... 219 S. President St. in Jackson....aka City Hall...

What zoo?! You mean the animal graveyard surrounded by cheap fencing and dilapidated houses?

They don't call it LeFleur's BLUFF for nothing,not much flat land on that piece of property. I'll be curious to see how much just the dirt work will cost.

Bullshit phrase of the day..."...find a more optimal location for the animals and their visitors".

Nobody visits a zoo anymore, REEEE-gardless.

If this happens can we get the elephants back?

Maybe the zoo will be able to regain real accreditation instead of the current pay to play roadside attraction sham accreditation.

Insight into the current zoo arena... http://time.com/4672990/the-future-of-zoos/

Moving the zoo to state owned golf course, in the NE Jackson neighborhood makws absolurely no sense, even before considering the cost - that will run into the multiple tens of millions of dollars. Who do they expect to pay for this - the state? City of Jackson? This secretive board that doesn't allow anybody in their secret meetings - despite the fact that the state, and the city, pours millions into their club's operation every year, expects the state to pay their costs whatever they may be.

The last place the state ought to be spending it's scarce dollars is to pour more money into this 'attraction'. Forget the fact that many folks are questioning the appropriateness of the concept of zoos, there is no economic, or social, justification for this movement. Especially when it would take up an existing attraction that is enjoyed by many in its current status.

Jackson can't support a movie theatre, much less a zoo. Give the animals to a real zoo and don't waste any money moving an extinct business.

Vote for Colonial. There's already a donut shop and drive-thru car wash nearby. The three will be natural draws for each other.

12:28, movie theatres are almost as extinct as zoos. Thank the internet. Both will be gone in ten years.

The incompetent Jackson City Council will screw this up and will probably with the mouth of Kenneth Stokes turn the proposed move into a racial issue. They have proven this time and time again.

I thought Ms was on a very tight budget. Spending millions on moving a zoo or supporting mental health and education????? Oh my priorities.

I love the uniformed, but think-they-are-brilliant posters. Zoo visitor numbers are increasing at roughly 2X the population increase in the U.S.:
http://www.statista.com/statistics/227507/zoo-visitors-usa/

Movies are a completely different dynamic and newer-designed zoos with the right animals are destination attractions.

840, please back up your blanket statements - zoos are a destination attraction, or even that zoo attendance is up. There may be a few zoos in US where attendance has actually increased, but most markets have shown dramatic decrease in attendance.

Zoos may be an attraction, but I find no evidence that 'tourists' go to a city for their zoo. Not even the wonderful Washington DC zoo is a 'destination attraction' although it is well attended. Same for the smaller zoos such as New Orleans -,people may go to them while they are in town for other 'destination aytractions' but few if any go there for the zoo.

840, please back up your blanket statement - zoos are a destination attraction.

Zoos may be an attraction, but I find no evidence that 'tourists' go to a city for their zoo. Not even the wonderful Washington DC zoo is a 'destination attraction' although it is well attended.

Would it be more fair to say that they are destinations in terms of day trips instead of major trips?

The city of Jackson is a Zoo and I assure you nobody is coming....as a matter of fact many are leaving. By by CAT, By by, AT&T, By by Sam's Club, By by Academy sports....Kenneth Stokes please turn out the light when the last one leaves.

This is a amazing idea giving the fact that moving it to the Lefleur Bluff will give that area sort of a destination spot. A zoo is built for the people. I think Jackson area and the state is in need of a better zoo with better animals than existing. If you look at the developments that surround that area and the ones that are on the drawing board to me it's will be a amazing area to visit. This is a good step forward if they allow this to happen.

What can I say? Just glad to see it moving to "my house".

"12:28, movie theatres are almost as extinct as zoos. "

Saw the new Bruce Willis flick last Saturday night at Malco in Madison. Parking lost was absolutely packed, as was the theater we were in (one of about 15, IIRC). Theaters may be dying in places where people feel it is too dangerous to venture outside after dark, but they seem to be doing just fine in other towns.

"I find no evidence that 'tourists' go to a city for their zoo."

Maybe you don't have kids, or maybe you don't treat their upbringing like everyone I know does for their own kids. On short trips to NOLA, Memphis, Birmingham, Philly, a day-long visit to the zoo was always included. As they grew they asked to visit specific attractions they remembered from prior visits (does Memphis still have the pandas?). Longer vacations (e.g., San Diego, Philadelphia PA, D.C./Baltimore) included visits to their zoos, aquariums (or aquaria for the grammar police from SA), and wildlife preserves.

Just because Mississippi can't support one single professional sports team, or one single Fortune 500 company HQ, or one single world-class medical facility, doesn't mean we can't start with a small step of revitalizing a zoo as an educational project for all the kid in Mississippi. I agree the crooks in the state and city government have pissed away the money that should have gone for education and infrastructure, lining the pockets of their cronies, but a quality zoo is a sign of a thriving society.

I have posted before about Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. It is a top 10 zoo nationally. It took the City of Columbia, Richland County, Lexington County, South Carolina Electric and Gas, the state of SC and countless private companies to pony up the money to get it started much less keep it going. Charlotte, NC (pop 850,000 metro 2.8M)just up the road does not have a zoo because they realize how costly they are to fund and operate so they send school kids an 85 minutes down the road to Columbia (pop 134,000 metro 850K) for zoo trips.

Columbia like Jackson is the state capital and sit pretty much in the center of the state. That is where the comparison ends. It takes so much cooperation to make things like this work for big projects like zoo's and museums in my 15 years there I did not see much of that kind of cooperation and give and take. I do hope they can pull this off because everybody wins with a great zoo. Riverbanks set a record in 2016 drawing 14,328 visitors in one day! That supports the annual total of over 1.3M each year. The hotel, restaurants, shops all love the zoo traffic. Everybody must win with a new zoo if not its all for naught.

Jackson has a real chance to shine here. As some have said, zoos are facing increasing opposition from those who consider them inhumane. Jackson could build a modern zoo that is on the forefront of preservation and care of endangered animals. Get respectable animal organizations on board as partners. It could be such a positive for the city.

I hope we don't step on our feet like we have so many times before.

Would rather that vast amount of money ey be spent on cleaning up the neighborhood around d the zoo. I really like the
Resent zoo, and I occasionally visit. Lots of childhood memories there. Love the old movies key castle.

10:01 great example. Riverbanks Zoo. Good comparison to this discussion.

Riverbanks Zoo is 170 acres (note proposal of Jackson is 25 acres.) I am sure that the great attraction of Riverbanks will be the same for this proposed Jackson attraction that will be 1/7 it's size.

And Riverbanks just spent $40 million ten years ago to add one species exhibit and improve the gate atea. And another $36 million three years ago for another exhibit.

And, it does not operate without a millage tax on the city residents to help pay for its operation, even with a million visitors a year.

Yes, if we could build a Riverbanks, I am sure it would be a destination attraction. But, we cant build a 170 acre zoo, botanical garden and aquarium -,unless the state decides to not fund a few state agencies for a couple of years.

Doesn't Hattiesburg have a pretty good zoo? Why not marshall the scant state resources and beef the 'burg zoo up and just shutter the whole zoo idea for the metro area?

As someone with children, we make regular trips to Memphis and New Orleans for amenities like these, and placing the Jackson Zoo at a crossroads for southeastern travel (I-55 and I-20) would be a huge win for our area. There are hotels and restaurants in the area, camp grounds at LeFleurs, a kid's museum, a natural science museum, the MS Sports Hall of Fame, and an Ag Museum. I can't think of any city that has a comparable hub of attractions.

I know there are a lot of Jackson haters that post on here, but this would allow our state to have a very accessible, and very important destination that doesn't actually require you to enter much of Jackson.

@ March 28, 2018 at 10:19 AM

Bingo! That is the problem. If the State, Hinds County, City of Jackson, and private investment companies use their funds to "clean-up" west Jackson, the locals will inevitable shout-out GENTRIFICATION! There is a no win situation. People living in Jackson's poorest neighborhoods claim to want revitalization; however, they don't want to pay for it nor do they want other class or race of people to relocated to the area. These are the same people that want to continue to pay the government little to no taxes for schools, land and/or improvements.

Anyone who knows real estate will tell you that the Jackson Zoo is already sitting on prime real estate. The forefathers of Jackson along with private citizens did not place the Zoo, Sonny Guy Golf Course, the Jackson Mall, Ferrari of Jackson Dealership, Hawkins Field, Mynelle Gardens Arboretum & Botanical Center and many more in rundown, crime-ridden, poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods got that way overtime due to a lack of both public and private investments and the people themselves. The top 20% income earners moved out, the bottom 40% income earners moved in. The top 20% income earners will move back in, the bottom 40% income earners will move out. This is real estate buddy and it is a cyclic business. History will repeat itself.

Overall, it is the people who are the problem, not the zoo, the zoo's land, nor the land in West Jackson. West Jackson residents, especially those living in the city center, know that they are occupying prime real estate and sooner or later the area will be redeveloped and that they will have to face displacement and gentrification head on!

Change is inevitable! You can adapt to change and progress economically and socially, or you can sit back, be reactive, not invest in thy self, play the victim, pull the race card, and be left behind. Your choice.

The Zoo stay, the non-investors of Jackson go and go far away!

"Jackson can't support a movie theatre, much less a zoo. Give the animals to a real zoo and don't waste any money moving an extinct business."

Absolutely 12:28 a.m. - if you want to put an attraction on the Bluff then the idea of an aquarium with Imax science theater would be amazing. We lost the one on the Coast when Katrina hit and everyone visited there. Let's have a new idea for once.

MOVE THE ZOO! Lefluers Bluff is an excellent spot! There is enough surrounding commerce & natural buffers that will never erode into what the current zoo surroundings have.

Once removed, the existing site of the Zoo will make for a very fertile place for the new Chokwe Lumumba Memorial Community Garden. It's win win.

Is there a reason to believe the State will turn the land at Lefleur's Bluff over to the City for this purpose?

11:12 AM...Other than being Ben Allen, what can you offer regarding revitalization? I'll wait.

City Cemetary can expand into zoo grounds....fill up in a hurry.

I'm very happy that I sold my home in Belhaven in 2016....the $39,000 loss I took then looks very good compared to what the ZOO is going to do to property values in the area. The smell with drift right over Belhaven and smell like a pig farm. Don't let anyone tell you different !!!!!

938, not just Belhaven, but Eastbrook as well. Just because the zoo wants this land doesn't mean that they are entitled to it. I'm sure David Blount will try to push a bill thru legislature giving this land to city - particularly of he can get a fee for the Overbay Co in the deal - but his influence has shown to be about as strong as his Personality.

Spending millions of dollars for the zoo is idiotic. Putting it at Leslie's is also idiotic. Because I'm sure they will be asking the state for the land, and the money to pay the costs - but keeping absolute control within their closed secret society board - the legislature will let this proposal die a quick and silent death.

"sooner or later the area will be redeveloped"

Correct: later.

Much later.

Great idea. LeFleur's Bluff. Next to the state park where the Winnebagos and Airstreams park. I can see it now. A zoo on stilts so as to avoid the annual flooding. We will be a destination. I mean, where else in this country can you see elephants by riding an elevator to the second floor? And monkeys tossing frisbees through chain circles?

But, I'm dreaming. The state will not turn this area over to the city until Willie Simmons is elected governor and Hillman Frazier is in Tate's chair.

The alligator exhibit would be free and self replenishing.

11:12,

Are you nuts ?????????

We already have everything you named and it has not done a damn thing to stimulate the economy in this area.

There is absolutely nothing you can do to create a healthy economy for this #50 listed state. Stop smoking that s..t !!!!!!

Hey 4:34, meanwhile in the land of "Alternative Facts" aka Laddco, not a word about this stunning but much needed turn of events (no surprise). Laddco is more excited that fellow traveler socialist Comrade Bernie is coming to town to share the stage with Junior.