Council Discusses Closing Zoo, Mayor Balks

 The Jackson City Council discussed closing the Jackson Zoo during a budget hearing yesterday but not without resistance from Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's administration. 

 

The Jackson Zoo collected only $70,000 of revenue in the 2023 fiscal year.  Parks & Recreation Director Ison Harris, Jr. submitted a budget request for $1.6 million.  The deficit created some consternation among the City Council as President Aaron Banks brought up a word never mentioned before in the hallowed chamber: "Closing." 

 Mayor Chokwe Lumumba took issue with Mr. Banks, claiming the revenue was "zero" when it assumed control of the zoo from the Jackson Zoological Society.*   However, Mayor Lumumba lied yet again.  The Jackson Zoological Society ceded control of the zoo on October 1, 2019. The numbers speak for themselves. 

 

 

The final attendance for FY 2019 was 48,114.  It was 73,000 in 2018 and 101,000 in 2017. Not exactly "zero" as the Mayor put it. 

Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley urged the Lumumba administration to seek grants to help the zoo.  The zoo is in his ward.  Mr. Banks said the Council should consider closing the zoo.  He said the city had thousands of other needs, including a surprise $2 million rate hike for its insurance policy.  WLBT article on insurance hike. 

Chief of Staff Dr. Safiya Omari said such a discussion did not belong in a budget hearing but should take place at another time as she refused to address the zoo's financial picture.  She said closing the zoo because of a $1.6 million deficit "was a kneejerk reaction."  

If the zoo closed, it would stake some time to transfer the animals.  Mr. Banks said the administration stated in an email it would cost over $600,000 but the Mayor said it would cost more. 

Kingfish note: It is impossible to take Dr. Omari and her boss seriously after their ARPA funds fiasco.  She said they should figure out a way "to make it work."  Well, this is what Dr. Omari and Mayor Lumumba think of the zoo.  They planned on spending only $250,000 of ARPA funds on the zoo while dropping $4 million - yes, $4 million - on creating an open-air market on Farish Street.  Yeah.  That is their idea of helping the zoo.  The City Council tore up all those plans after the water crisis a year ago and decided to direct all ARPA funds to water projects .

Closing the zoo will not immediately free up $1.6 million but it must be seriously considered.  The city does not have the money to create a prime attraction at the Jackson Zoo nor does it have the will to do so, judging by the ARPA plans.   The city would have to keep the zookeepers while paying for feed and vet services.  Homes have to be found for the animals and unfortunately, some animals will have to be put down due to age.  

Corporations close unprofitable divisions all the time.  However, the administration is not drive by logic but ego and the Mayor can't admit his zoo showdown might end in failure.  He never dreamed the zoo would close for nearly a year.  Don't think that little episode doesn't stick in his craw.  Closing the zoo is simply not an option for him.  However, the Jackson City Council is the one that can pull the plug and pull the plug it must.  

One last note.  Many want to move the zoo to Lefluer's Bluff by the museums.  Doing so would be a mistake.  The bluff is a GREAT location but a HORRIBLE site.  The area is hilly but worse, it floods.  Good luck getting past the USDA with the history of floods in that area.  The zoo would have to shrink from its current 33 acres to 25 acres, leaving no room for expansion or additional exhibits.  

A much better site is where the old car auction site used to be by the Junction shopping center.  Raising the railroad tracks created easy access to the area.  It is right by two interstates.  There are restaurants, shopping, and hotels on East County Line Road and at nearby Renaissance.  A zoo would work much better there than it would on Lakeland Drive.  

However, such will never happen.  The zoo belongs to the Mayor and he is going to do to the zoo what he did to the water system and Jackson crime and that my friends, is the bottom line.

 * Yours truly served as a Board member of the JZS.