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Franklin Park Zoo threatens to shut down, kill some animals
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Comments
Terrible!
The $20,000 donation from Kevin James didn't make it all better??
The $20k went to the actual
The $20k went to the actual Franklin Park, not the Zoo.
And I was just wondering
How Deval could make himself less popular.
Killing zoo animals? Really, Deval?
What's he going to do for an encore? Melt down the ducklings for scrap?
Save the Zoo
Bravo Sock_Puppet! What can we do save the zoo for future generations of Bostonians?
The Common?
Mike Ross wants to bring some life to the Boston Common - how about we skip the planned restaurant and put the zoo in there. After all, it started as a cow pasture anyway and then we could have the zoo right next to the circus on top of the hill.
Eureka - Boston has gone from the shining city on top of the hill to the shining circus on top of the hill - who needs Cirque de Soleil!
The animals should be placed
The animals should be placed in appropriate sanctuaries.
I'll take a Mandrill and a
I'll take a Mandrill and a couple of tawny frogmouths.
Which one?
Barbara or Howie Mandrill?
Sadly, not Mandy the Mandrill
Sadly, not Mandy the Mandrill
Let it go
If we are not going to fund this zoo to the level where it is on a par with the best zoos in the nation (which we aren't), then it would be a kindness to the animals to close it.
Franklin Park Zoo will never make it financially. Other museums and attractions in Boston make their money on the Natick mom driving in with her kids. Nobody from the suburbs is going to drive down Blue Hill Avenue unless they are lost. I am sorry, and I wish it weren't so. But it is, and we have to live with reality.
I think YOU'RE lost
Why would you take Blue Hill Ave to the zoo from Natick? The most logical route would be route 9 to the Jamaicaway, head to the rotary by the Shattuck and take Franklin Park Drive straight into the zoo.
(Also, a lot of my coworkers would eagerly answer to the descriptor of moms from the suburbs, and a big part of our job involves doing home assessments all around Boston, mostly in Dorchester since that's where our center is. I'm not sure what you're getting at in terms of suburban moms not driving down Blue Hill Ave, but I can point you to plenty who drive up and down it several times a day.)
The zoo is underfunded, sure, but what exactly else are you trying to say?
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Regardless..
I was there yesterday and there were at least five groups from the suburbs (mostly YMCA day camps), so whether or not they had to go down Blue Hill Av, they made it there. While it's not San Diego or Omaha, it's really a great little zoo. The exhibits were nice and their staff knowledgeable and friendly...
I don't think Lanny Budd has ever been to the Zoo
If he'd ever been there, he'd know that perhaps the majority of the people at the zoo on any given day don't live in Boston. It's packed with suburbanites and people from other parts of the country (and other countries) visiting Boston. I know this because we go at least twice a month. Yeah, down 203. It's clearly a popular zoo not only with people from the neighborhood and other parts of Boston, but from the suburbs and tourists as well. It's a great zoo, spacious and fun to walk around. It looks plenty world-class to me.
As for what he's trying to say, clearly he's trying to say there are lots of negroes around there, so it's not really for white people, and therefore should be left to die.
[Citation needed]
Yeah, maybe I'm just a racist cracker. And maybe we need some facts instead of reactive anecdotes. What percentage of the NEA and the MFA budget comes from the state? What percentage of members of the NEA and the MFA also have memberships to the FPZ?
If the suburbanites are all good with going to the zoo, why is it always in financial trouble?
If suburbanites are cool with Mattapan/Roxbury/Blue Hill Avenue, why is my daily commute up and down BHA always a breeze, even when the Expressway is jammed up solid?
Uhhhhh...
Blue Hill Ave isn't a logical route for avoiding 93. If you get on BHA instead of 93 around Milton, you zoom right up it, except then you're right in the center of the city and it's going to take you an hour to get a mile in any direction (like to take the roads under 93 and cut through Charlestown, or to head over to Storrow via the area near Northeastern to head west). The area around Melnea Cass/BMC/Columbus Ave/Mission Hill/Huntington is always packed during rush hour. This is actually the part of town to avoid by going further south (JP/Brookline) or further east (I've got a great route from when I go from Dorchester to Somerville after work involving Morrissey, Southie, Fort Point, Charlestown, getting there in about 20 minutes without using 93).
And really, while I hear suburbanites every day with their stupid racist ideas about where and why they're going to get shot if they do XY or Z, I really don't hear a lot in the way of people avoiding a fast-moving main street for such reasons. They avoid it because it doesn't go anywhere that's helpful for the commutes of most people who don't live close to it. I live pretty close to Blue Hill Ave, and it's not the fastest route for me to go very many places. Even when I start my day in Mattapan near American Legion Highway, I get there quicker if I do Forest Hills Street to 203 than if I take Blue Hill Ave and stop at all the lights.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
I like the theory
Nobody else seems to think that BHA is a great way to commute from Milton first thing in the morning, therefore... nobody from the suburbs goes to the zoo.
As for what kind of cracker you are, I'm guessing whole wheat.
No way, more like...
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
National Lampoon did it better
TJIC recalls the famous National Lampoon cover:
FPZ wouldn't do the killing
The animals would fall under the care of the Commonwealth if the zoo closes, and then the state would have to decide what to do with the animals.
Public executions?
Berto isn't buying it, either, says zoo managers have learned well from their counterparts at the MBTA:
Someday scare tactics will backfire
Grabauskas will be arguing passionately before legislators: "No, really, if the nays have it, our accountants are prepared to detonate 12 buses full of nuns! ... Wait! They're loaded up out front right now! Nuns! ... Stop! Please, I beg of you! This is the only option if we don't get more money! I swear!"
Apparently they already have
Here you have a group of mostly intelligent people believing in money fairies.
Hey, Franklin Zoo: just put Little Joe under your pillow tonight, and you'll have 2.5 million there tomorrow!
Budget Posturing 101
We've been here before, on this blog and elsewhere:
When faced with a dire budget situation, come out firing with the worst-case scenario.
Your goal is to cause fear, alarm, and outrage.
If you manage to press the right buttons, it influences legislators and others.
Unfortunately, fear and alarm are very real right now. This state budget situation is disastrous. Not California cataclysmic, but very very bad nonetheless.
Cut the fat at the zoo
There's a LOT of people on the payroll there doing nothing.
Give us money or we'll kill this dog
I'm stunned at the fact that the zoos get over half of their funding from the state. Do you have any idea how many worthy non-profits get barely anything from the state? Its nice that the Zoos can enjoy the luxury of $2+ Million in government assistance. That alone would be enough to practically run more than few valuable arts organizations. I can't say I'd ordinarily support cutting arts/cultural spending but this might be an exception. The Zoo should be able to raise these funds on their own without threatening to kill the animals in one of the crassest, most revolting political stunts I can recall.
Time to shut the zoos - no, it's not
Meghan looks beyond the zoo people's "unethical PR tactic" of threatening to kill animals and explains why the Franklin Park and Stoneham zoos should be shut:
But Mike the Mad Biologist writes shutting the zoos in a region known for its biotech industry is just stupid:
Will all the animals have to
Will all the animals have to face a cruel fate? No of course not? The problem is other zoo's have their own problems with money as well. Where are we going to ship all of these animals?
Also it seems like the state has tried, more then once before, to cut the zoo's off of the public dole. The problem is they always do it the same way. HEY were gonna cut 75 percent of the budget! Why not try cutting it a million at a time? Why must it either be all or nothing?
Heres the catch, the zoo has been in financial hot waters even during the boom years. Saying that they can live with a 50 percent + cut in budget and survive with private donations and increased gate intake is insane. If it were that easy then I say shame on Deval Patrick and Mitt Romney for that matter for not seeing this magical solution sooner. Of course, we will just raise gate fees to 75 dollars for adults and 50 for kids and then just go out and raise 2 million dollars from some rich socialites who have not been robbed by Bernie Maddoff.
Has anyone else noticed that Governor Patrick has been making lots of cuts that he must know will be overturned by the state house? My guess is he pulls this BS and then hopes that when he runs for reelection and the state is still in chaos he can say "I tried to fix things but they would not let me" so he wins by not having the zoo shut down AND he wins by getting credit for the attempted cut. Keep in mind this only works if we are not actually forced to do things like shut the zoo down and kill all the animals... imagine the campaign ad for that blunder?