Monday, April 16, 2018

Zoo consultants questioned fund-raising campaign

The Jackson Zoo commissioned the consulting firm Shultz & Williams to study the ability of the Jackson Zoo to fund a major facelift.  The recommendations were not encouraging  as S&W recommended that the firm not proceed with a $15 million capital campaign until the zoo's future was more secure.  The report's executive summary is posted below. 


Kingfish note:  Disclaimer: I serve on the Board and thus am bound by a confidentiality agreement.  I will post more information when able to do so.








18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since when is a public board restricted in its comments that don't involve contract bids, legal matters, negotiation plans or personnel matters? Since boards are controlled, to an extent, by public meetings regulations, they can't make decisions outside the open meetings anyway (unless they go into closed session).

I think you've mounted a 'high horse' in your claim to be mute.

Anonymous said...

Get those poor animals out of there and shut that dump down. I can't think of any legitimate business that can survive much less flourish in that part of Jackson. Also I truly feel that it would be borderline criminal to fool some unsuspecting tourist and their family into going into that war zone thinking they were about to visit a worthwhile zoo and end up getting themselves killed.

Anonymous said...

At this point, the only legitimate avenue for the zoo to continue to operate at the current location is to partner with the state and make the zoo a state zoo or state park. I'd do this thru Jackson State University, adding an Animal Sciences degree to their offerings and making the zoo a part of the training, etc. This can be accompanied with state funding for a massive amount of one-time improvements, etc.

Of course, this will never happen.

Anonymous said...

The zoo has shot itself in the foot by being so secretive with their dealings. They get almost $1 million per year from a public entity (City of Jackson) but they act like its all family money and nobody's business.

Close the zoo.

Anonymous said...

I don't want to make excuses for the zoo. It's fate is sealed. It will be moved or closed. The city administration can either beat a dead horse or go to work TRYING, TRYING, to find a reasonable way to finance a move. However, I'm sick of these raving idiots talking about people getting killed at the zoo, or going into a war zone. Sure, it's not the pleasant part of town and it's not where most people feel comfortable, but hundreds of thousands of people are in far more danger in the New Orleans French quarter every year than in that ole zoo. The zoo could be much better someplace else,but this is Jackson Mississippi and there are some people who wouldn't be satisfied if Disney were located in west Jackson. Whew!

Anonymous said...

Tourists, in Jackson? That is laughable.

Anonymous said...

I see why ole CW doesn't support the move, West Jackson has seen lots of decline over the years, but lets not be sore looser...Move the Zoo to Leflur so that there can be an entire experience and day spent in the City of Jackson!

Theca Jones said...

1:54 I feel the exactly the same when I go to Shuckers.

Anonymous said...

1:05 - The standard reply would be for you to either start your own blog or research the archives, but, since neither of those answers applies....Oh well.

Anonymous said...

S&W deserves a raise for having the courage to recommend the OBVIOUS---DONT THROW GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD!!!!

Anonymous said...

1:54, couldn’t agree with you more. The sooner the animals are moved to another, safe location — preferably out of Mississippi — certainly, out of Jackson, MS — the better.

Ophelia said...

Oh, now, 1:54, settle down. I agree 100% about moving the innocent animals to fresh fields and cages in more prosperous cities, that can afford to treat them as they deserve. But really, about the unsuspecting tourists---"get themselves killed"? Yes, West Jackson is a slum, no other word will do, and it shall remain a slum, but I have visited the zoo many times in the past few years, and never felt endangered.

Anonymous said...

10:05 You mean you actually took children to the war zone and they weren't slaughtered? Unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

I'm beginning to doubt the zoo will ever move. It will likely die a slow death at the current location. Funding and attendance will continue to decrease, animals will be relocated to other zoos or die and not be replaced, until there's little left and the inevitable will happen.

Anonymous said...

last night a woman was shot in the head on bullard street. so--marty mctourist goes to the jackson zoo...needs gas...goes to a station in west jackson..hopes and prays he and his family doesn't end up in a body bag.

the zoo needs to either move or be shut down. and if we put state monies into the project, it has to be in a location where people don't get shot in the head on a seemingly regular basis.

Anonymous said...

The animals are the things that is suffering the most.
While all of the people argue about which group is the racist and people continue to kill people all around the zoo, the animals are fenced in waiting for the next pack of dogs to come through looking for a meal.
At least, for the sake of the animals. Either move the zoo or close it. All of you people will find some other reason to call each other racist.

Anonymous said...

This report is dated November, 2016... what gives?

Anonymous said...

Boy , on a hot foggy morning with a south wind those folks at Eastover are going to get a good wiff of elephant poop. As people travel from counties south of Jackson up 55 they will first be succumbed by the lambasting smell of the Jackson’s sewer plant at Savannah Street. Then as they start exiting onto Lakeland Drive they will get another powerful dose of aromatic wonders alerting them that they are there and have arrived!



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