Detroit zoo may close.

The zoo certainly needs some help and the city hasn't helped much in the past 5 years...not since they opened the polar bear exhibit. Of course anyone living in southeast Michigan knows the financial troubles of the city. They can barely keep the police and fire forces going, so it's understandable they don't have money to funnel into the parks, zoo and other cultural centers.

But the DZS and state CAN bring the zoo back, but only if the city council will give the okay, and the city council will not do that unless they get their chunk of change along with it. The council is not concerned with the zoo, or saving it. They are only concerned with what they can reap from it.

The racist comments from Collins are not unusual. I've heard such drivel leaking from the mouths of council members (and her specifically) many times. What she doesn't appear to realize is it is all those "white suburbanites" who regularly provide monetary support to the DZS and constitute the larger portion of admissions and memberships.

The sad fact is the city owns the land and the cards in this deal. It makes me wonder if there is something else going on in the background...some other possible use for the land they might have up their sleeves.

Jephry, I never said the city was a thug city. I said the mayor was. Nevertheless, I really hope the zoo is saved. Detroitblog.org has a couple of posts about the situation, and detroitfunk.com has some good images of the zoo.

I never said you did, I said that MForce2k called it that.

I'm saying a summary of how many suburbanites feel. I frequently visit Detroit for shows and concerts, and I have a couple friends that live down there. I loved the things that Dennis Archer tried to do with the city and I really believe that if he couldnt get the ball rolling no one can.

Kwame Kilpatrick brings new meaning to the definition of corruption. I will give him credit for the attraction he has brought to Detroit but I think he did it prematurely. Yes, the Super Bowl was a huge success and Yes, the new Ford Field and Comerica Parks are great, but he has his priorities out of order. You cannot bring new and beautiful facilities to a rundown city and expect it to work. He is working backwards. His new riverfront project and the above mentioned places have all come before ridding poverty and entire neighborhoods of burned down buildings. He is polarizing the city between very wealthy and very poor. He has no real plan and just keeps letting ATTRACTION get in the way of development. Just because we can bring in the media and show them around certain areas does not mean the city has cleaned up.

Looking at places like Chicago and Toronto make a lot of people want to hang their heads in shame because those people take pride in their city. They keep it clean and they keep it exciting. We just couldnt appear to care less.

But you have one big problem. You are an outsider looking in. You see the people of Detroit as thugs (which is sad), but they aren't. I could see you as a spoiled rich kid, but I'm not that ignorant and I don't think of everyone who lives in a suburb as that. Also, you probably shouldn't be speaking for people other than yourself.

As far as the process of making the city better, their strategy is to bring businesses in with the big beautiful attractions. It's really difficult to bring commerce in unless you can say, "Hey, this city is going somewhere." And because they have done that, business are starting to return to the city. It may not be working as fast as you would like, but it is working.

And you're whole thing about Toronto and Chicago... I mean honestly, at least compare Detroit to a city with a past somewhat similar to it. Detroit has gone through a lot of crap with the loss of a lot of jobs the businesses moving elsewhere. It is hard to attract those people back.

First off, I appreciate you looking past my 2 initial cents and not ripping me apart and calling me a "spoiled rich kid," like so many users would do.

I do not live in a particularly wealthy community. My mother grew up in the Highland Park and Detroit area, attended school in Detroit, and moved out when she was in her 20's. My dad was a Detroit police officer before moving to Oakland county, and I have friends that currently live down there. All I'll say about me personally is that I have a great appreciation for everything that happens in my life. I have been working since I was 14 (legally allowed) and paid every single dollar myself for the one and only car I have ever owned.

Like I said, I have friends that live in Detroit and I frequently drive downtown for shows and visits. I was going every week or two before going away to school (Michigan State University). Now I cant go as much, but when I'm home, I always find myself down there by the river for one reason or another.

My uncle owns his medical practice downtown and I often visit him or otherwise go down to see him as well. My general perception of the city is a lot of good people mixed in a bad city, but I have also, in the suburbs, been a victim of Detroit's crime. We recently had 2 people positively IDed from Detroit come to our house, run into our garage and steal our snow blower among other things. These are the ridiculous kinds of things that happen and make a lot of people just want nothing to do with the city, but I realize that these things happen everywhere and for countless reasons.

My major gripe with the city itself is that there are so many people who, as we've seen in this very conversation, shell out the race card and want to hold this city up a century ago instead of moving forward. The council, the people who are supposed to be at the forefront of making these peoples' lives better, are too busy bickering about this and that and little petty things no one will remember in a week from now.

I use Chicago and Toronto because Detroit WAS very close to them. Detroit WAS one of "those" nice cities people wanted to come to and Detroit has been the only one to sink as low as it has. We are seeing a positive rift going through now but nothing that is attracting any more large businesses or long-term investments, just eye candy and occassional tax breaks.

Yes, it's a generalization, but IN GENERAL, Kwame is letting so much **** go through that city and turning the other cheek that he is not the man to stop it. He is corrupt and he is as in touch with the undergoings of the city as anyone working the street corner at midnight. The difference is he is in a position to stop it and he's not. He is not stopping it. He is slashing public spending, he is slashing police and fire workers' salaries, and he is closing down fire stations, which is the last thing we need in a city surrounded by burned-out homes.

It's hard to take pride in a city when no one is leading the way. It's ridiculous the way that city is run and no one is changing it for the better. Looking at people like Archer and Hendrix, the only reason they weren't able to run away is because, and this is a well-documented public opinion, they "were too racially soft." I'm sorry but when a city calls their first decent leader in awhile too soft, what are they expecting to happen?

Up until this news story broke I was all about Detroit. I could not talk it up enough to people. I knew people going to the Super Bowl and I knew people coming into town that I would drive down there with to show around some Cobo exhibits or the sites that were in town for the football festivities, but now with this possible zoo closure and bickering about nonexistent race-cards, the floor has just fallen out of my opinion. I am just so tired of hearing this same stuff over and over from people in a position to do something and seeing them do nothing. *** Edited 2/22/2006 10:28:17 PM UTC by MForce2k***

Is Pittsburgh still nice downtown? I went 10 or so years ago and was shocked at how nice a city it was. The reputation (steel city) led me to anticipate a dump, yet I was pleasantly surprised. Of course a short drive to Kennywood always helps any city in my book! :-)

...anyhow, I always thought of Pittburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit as similar models!

P.S. Of course methinks the current state of the domestic auto industry will not help the immediate future. A different subject and approach...but certainly relavant to Detroit and local politics I would surmise!

P.P.S. Hey Jeff...did you ever think of making a zoo board? Maybe replace the Tycoon board with zoo stuff... Seems like people may actually like this animal stuff. No biggie....just a suggestion!

*** Edited 2/23/2006 12:44:27 AM UTC by Jeffrey R Smith***

Whoa, whoa buddy. You really didn't have to go on that rant because I wasn't calling you spoiled. Maybe you should starting reading a little closer. Here, let me quote myself so you can take the time and actually read before you start complaining about an insult that was never really an insult at all:

"I could see you as a spoiled rich kid, but I'm not that ignorant and I don't think of everyone who lives in a suburb as that."

I said I could call you spoiled, which is something that people would make a generalization of, but I don't make generalizations. "Could" doesn't mean that I actually think that of you. But just like it pissed you off that someone "could" call you spoiled, I got pissed off at you calling the people of Detroit thugs.

That being said, what is with you and the race card? If you are going by what I said thinking that I am using it then you really need to read a lot closer. I just think it is really messed up that you see the people of Detroit, as a whole, as thugs. I'm not calling it racism, I just think it is ignorance. And I am sorry if someone from Detroit stole your snow blower, but if you move to a suburb of New York, or your beloved Chicago, I bet that a crime done against you was from a person in the city. Detroit is a major city with a large concentration of people and because of that, most things done will be out of it.

Like I said, you can think what you want about Kwame. Hell, I sure as hell didn't vote for him. But don't talk about the people of Detroit like they are all one in the same. You call them a thug and you call me a thug. Thugs don't go to college kiddoo. Thugs die, and I'm still alive. Go Bucks, Beat Michigan. *** Edited 2/23/2006 4:46:18 AM UTC by Jephry***

Jephry.. please reread my first paragraph or two. It completely spells out the idea that I respect you for NOT calling me that when most people would just to cut a debate short. I gave you a lot of credit in my post, and just because it was long doesn't mean that I didn't give credit or civility to you.

It's documented that city union MUST buy equipment from certain companies and MUSt buy labor from certain companies because those companies have established themselves as "respresentative of a majority race." It's not my deal with the race card, it's the cities. The entire city revolved around the fact that it is 85% African-American. I am all for moving past that and hiring people who will do the better job for the least pay but the city contracts hang up that kind of progress and mandates who can hire who for what jobs. My argument is that the city is holding itself up in the mid-1900s because of stuff like that.

I was not calling you a thug, and probably could have chosen a better word, but when I see so many people already IN Detroit and not caring about their city, it's hard to be outside of it and care.

Whenever someone bring up the race card, things start to go downhill. That's pretty much been proven and time and time again.

About downtown Pittsburgh, I was there last summer and it was gorgeous- what a great city! Clean, scenic, lots of great architecture- I was beyond impressed!

Is Detroit really that screwed up that they would possibly close a zoo?

The largest metropolis in Michigan doesn't have corporate or well to do citizen support to fund this place? I find that hard to believe. Zoos are not for profit institutions to promote conservation and educate the public.

If a city of this size would even entertain the idea of shuttering a zoo, the people that live and work in this city have far greater issues in life.

If the Chicago area can support two world class zoos, and one of them still has free admission, then there is no excuse for this in Detroit.