Today I lost what last piece of faith I had in the city of Detroit. There was some earned back by how well the Superbowl went, but was all destroyed and flattened.
Kwame Kilpatrick, enemy of children, animal lovers, and future Detroit tourists single handedly orchestrated the closure of the Detroit Zoo in the last two weeks. He forced the city council to vote to either pass the whole thing off on the AZA, or to close the zoo. With only a couple days to decide, they ended up at the last minute asking Oakland County to pay for it, at 5pm on Friday.
Oakland County said no, and the workers will be laid off this week, and plans are being made to ship off the animals.
As a member of the Detroit Zoo, and as a resident of the City of Royal Oak, where the Detroit Zoo is located, I am outraged. I am boycotting the City of Detroit, and hoping for the downfall of Kwame Kilpatrick, who is, as of now, dead to me.
I'll post further when I find information on a save the zoo movement.
[ February 21, 2006, 09:20 PM: Message edited by: Lyrhawn ]
Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :
quote:Today I lost what last piece of faith I had in the city of Detroit.
*kicks Lyrhawn in the junk*
Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
You will be missed, Detroit Zoo.
Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
quote:Originally posted by clod: *kicks Lyrhawn in the junk*
Clod, what's with you and kicking people in the junk today?
Think of the pandas!
Posted by Jeni (Member # 1454) on :
Thankfully, I don't think there are any pandas at the Detroit Zoo. Maybe Red Pandas.
The closing of any zoo is a sad, sad day though. I'm sorry. Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :
*kicks OSC in the junk for good measure*
Posted by jennabean (Member # 8590) on :
:'''''(
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Yes the Red Pandas! The BEST kind of Panda.
Those little guys are like cute personified.
That was my favorite exhibit. That and the Polar Bear exhibit, which was the largest of its kind in North America. And the Otter House, which was just built a couple years ago.
Posted by Jeni (Member # 1454) on :
Red Pandas are my favorite at my zoo, too. They are ridiculously adorable. I have a Zoo Pass (a yearly membership that includes free admission), so often times my sister and I will go directly to the Red Panda exhibit, stare for 30 minutes, and leave. It's a great way to brighten up a day.
Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :
*staunches jennabean's nosebleed*
Posted by jennabean (Member # 8590) on :
Is this a red panda? If it is, they are adorable and definitely one of the more interesting animals at the zoo. They are so active and really put on a show!!!! That one is at the Calgary Zoo!
Posted by Jeni (Member # 1454) on :
Yup! This is our local red panda.
Posted by jennabean (Member # 8590) on :
Hey, those apostrophes are clearly coming out of my left eye.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
There's actually two different species of Red Panda. But so far as I can tell the only difference is the coloration on the face. One species has a whiter face, and the other has a redder face.
Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :
*lone panda wanders out the show down to jeni and jennabean*
"better dead than red"
*swift-kicks jeni and jennabean s in their respective junk*
*waddles off*
[edit: tried to put jeni in a corner. NOT a good idear]
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
I can't remember if I've seen the Red Pandas at the Miwaukee County Zoo. I need to check them out more often. Jeni, have you moved back into the area?
Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :
*kicks PC in the junk*
*shrugs*
It's a knee-jerk thing.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
WTF?????
Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :
*round-house-kicks Telpy's junk*
Posted by jennabean (Member # 8590) on :
I wish I knew how to show you guys movies! I found a little clip I took of a baby caribou stumbling all over... he's only a few days old!!! I am not the greatest narrator though...
Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :
*puffs out chest*
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
Hi fallow.
Posted by Jeni (Member # 1454) on :
clod: Stop.
Glynn: Yes, I am back in Muskego for now. The red pandas are now next to the new Big Cat house, which is also a treat.
Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :
*grabs PC round the neck*
Damnit! My water done broke. And, yer here, and you're the best option I got.
Lead the way.
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
Random + Violence = Comedy Gold!
Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :
*throttles PC*
Stop commentating and get me a nurse!
Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :
*drops clod jr. onto the floor*
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
This is just great. I used to prefer Detroit over Flint. Mainly because I grew up in Detroit area, and the fact that Flint just sucks. However, this bit just takes the cake. It's not as if Detroit can't afford to keep it going. They are spending too much at the same time on trying to beautify the waterfront of the east side. That has to be it.
clod, quit being an idiot.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
*licks clod*
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Clod, you're cute. *smooches*
As for K-man and Detroit, it's all a power struggle. K-man wants to rule supreme over the City Council, he's done this kind of blackmail before with the 4th of July Fireworks.
This time the Council didn't back down. Now we're all loosers. *sigh*
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
A majority of the waterfront development money is coming from state and private investors, not from the city coffers.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
However, you didn't see the council jumping on this one.
I'm not sure if the link will work, but if not...here:
quote: Under the proposal that was rejected, Detroit would have maintained ownership of the zoo, which is located in the suburb of Royal Oak. The mayor's office said the deal would have saved Detroit about $5 million each fiscal year.
quote: "By (City Council) not acting, we lose the $4 million from the state," zoo society Chairman Gail Warden told The Detroit News. "For me, it would have been a no-brainer. I was very disappointed, frustrated and angry."
You think they can retract from their decision?
Posted by xnera (Member # 187) on :
Oh no!!!
This makes me very sad, because visiting the Zoo was one of the highlights of my trip to Detroit last year. Due to time constraints, I didn't get to see much of the Zoo, and was hoping to go back and see the rest some time. I feel sorry for the zoo's staff, volunteers, and patrons, and also for the animals who will have to be rehomed. Posted by Ophelia (Member # 653) on :
I loved the Detroit Zoo. I have very fond memories of it from my childhood. I went to some sort of daycamp there and everything.
Stupid Kwame. Why did they vote him in again?
Posted by xnera (Member # 187) on :
A Windsor native I met while taking photos of the Odette Sculpture Park dissed Kwame something fierce. From what he said, it sounded like Kwame hasn't been too willing to work with the suburbs to improve the area as a whole.
(I may be misremembering--it was a while ago, and I had mild heat stroke at the time.)
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
He really doesn't care about the subrubs.
I think somehow he misses the fact that the suburbs are where Detroit gets most of its money. Who does he think is going to the games in Detroit, or the casinos, or the DOH, DSO, and the Fisher? It's all the burbs. He has no problem taking their money, but when it comes to giving anything back, or a unified effort to clean up the area and make southeast Michigan better, he turns up his nose and takes the lone wolf road.
He's power hungry, and doesn't know what he's doing.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Nah, he's a deepcover agent for PETA.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Why does PETA want all the animals sent to zoos where they won't have as much space and people to take care of them?
It's not like when a zoo closes they all get released back into the wild.
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
That is sad.
Clod what is up with you lately? This is getting out of hand.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
What I meant was, Kwame "Kilpatrick...and the Zoological society proposed an agreement that [the] council rejected on Monday." The proposal wouldn't have to have been made -- and the state wouldn't have had to offer a large bailout as part of that proposal -- if the city council hadn't run Detroit into the ground*, and turned city finances into a big sucking hole. So what's the response? Council member Barbara-Rose Collins said, "The symbolism is that Detroit is a black city and that we’re unable to govern ourselves. So we need an overseer, the state legislature, or what have you, to step in and tell us what we must do and how to do it." "That is a racist attitude. I resent it very much. I’m trying not to let it color my judgments, but we’re not a plantation, blacks aren’t owned by white folks anymore."
Yeah, right: failure to balance the checkbook/budget is a racial issue. And yeah, right: closing the zoo is KwameKilpatrick's fault.
I'd be looking for waterfront developers pushing council members to close the Zoo so the land can be freed for "improvement". Just as WalterReedArmyMedicalCenter -- best of the best in trauma care and exotic disease management, both in treatment of patients and training of medical personnel -- is being closed in WashingtonDC cuz developers are drooling over the prime real estate. The rest of the "blah blah blah" is just hooey to coverup political malfeasance.
* Detroit's population has fallen from 2million to under a million; to the smallest of the 300 largest cities in the world, if it hasn't fallen off the chart since 2002.
[ February 21, 2006, 08:46 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Wait, what do the waterfront developers have to do with wanting the zoo property for development? The zoo isn't even in Detroit, let alone near the water.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: There's actually two different species of Red Panda. But so far as I can tell the only difference is the coloration on the face. One species has a whiter face, and the other has a redder face.
Maybe it's just embarrassed. Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Sorry, I googled "Detroit zoo" and pulled up a zipcode centered in the map linked to above. Can you link to a map of its real location.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
The big blank space there next to the golf course is the zoo. It's in the lower left corner of the map, north of 10 mile and west of Woodward.
Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
So, where is this Petition? I'll sign it.
And the baby panda at the National Zoo is waaaay cuter. Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
I am glad to report that the lady on the Detroit City Council who make the silly remarks about Detroit not being a plantation owned by whites, has apologized and admitted that what she said was inappropriate and not helpful. The Detroit City Council seems to be astounded at the enormity and fervor of the public's dismay and outrage at the prospect of the Zoo being closed. Maybe there is hope yet that the Zoo can be saved.
When the I-696 expressway was put in which runs along the south boundary of the Zoo, the suburban communities financing it designed it to accommodate the Zoo and protect its animals, digging it way down deep, and putting up high noise abatement walls. The Detroit Zoo has a 100-year history, and no one ever thought there might be a time when it would not be there.
I have always been especially fond of the open train (small trolly) you can take through the Zoo. No trip to the Zoo seemed complete without riding the train. There was just something special about it. I preferred to ride the train to the back of the Zoo, and then walk through the Zoo toward the front. I remember riding the train at the Zoo when I was a child.
I think the best solution would be for the course to be followed that was when the Toledo Zoo was about to be closed back in 1982, and the surrounding communities came together and took over administration of the Zoo, which has been successful ever since. This would be especially appropriate for the Detroit Zoo, since despite its name, it is actually located in the suburbs, two miles north of Detroit, in the city of Royal Oak.
Posted by xxsockeh (Member # 9186) on :
I signed. I mean, I've never been to the Detroit Zoo, not even Detroit. I haven't even been to the USA. But I thought I'd help out. Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Royal Oak and the surrounding communities would be more than happy to take over administration of the zoo. As a Royal Oak resident and zoo member, I would gladly vote for any proposal to appropriate funds for the zoo.
It's sad that the Detroit Council would rather see it DIE than let someone else save it.
Ron, where in the area are you from? I assume you live/lived in the area?
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
It is almost funny now, the Detroit City Council is backing and filling, claiming they never said they wanted to close the Zoo, nobody wants the Zoo to close, the Zoo is certainly NOT going to close, it is all the fault of the media for misrepresenting them and saying "the sky is falling, the Zoo is closing." What a bunch of clowns! What about the termination notices to Zoo employees that were already going out?
The Michigan legislature is meeting to try to devise a new subsidy package to send $4 million to support the Zoo, to take the place of the subsidy that was forfeited when Detroit City Council failed to meet the deadline.
Lyrhawn, I live in Troy, about seven miles north of Detroit. I was raised the first ten years of my life in Royal Oak.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I have high hopes they will find a way to save it now. They are talking about turning over operations to the DZS, but also about expanding the tax base that supports the zoo to the surrounding suburbs, which I think is perfectly reasonable. Except, I think that with that transfer of operating power needs to come a transfer of ownership to the Detroit Zoological Society as well.
I think it is absolutely ridiculous that one member of the City Council actually called for a boycott of the suburbs. Sorry but, the suburbs could survive a boycott from Detroit, I don't think however, that the same is true the other way around, and were they to do that, It'd be a long time before I spent money in Detroit again.
Ron - Really? I work in Troy. Have you ever been to Champps Americana? Nice to see someone on here is a neighbor Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
My father was a manager at the Lakeside Mall in SH MI, and I grew up in Utica two blocks fro Hall and Van Dyke.
aspectre, have you ever even been to Walter Reed? I have, 12 years ago, and it was too small and too old even then. The proposed new facility will be better for everyone, and be a cutting edge facility...
....crackpot politics notwithstanding.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I used to love the glass elevator at Lakeside when I was a kid. I haven't been there in forever now.
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
Lyrhawn, I have never been to Champps Americana.
A number of contributors to the Detroit News Online Forum are saying: "Close Detroit; keep the Zoo open." It kind of expresses the exasperation a lot of us feel.
Posted by Ophelia (Member # 653) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: I used to love the glass elevator at Lakeside when I was a kid. I haven't been there in forever now.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
You will be missed, Detroit Zoo.
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
But I thought I'd help out. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)