$60 million Zoo upgrades

[Missionite]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet...this is huge news for our deteriorating zoo.

An aquarium, sky-ride, bear exhibit, new entrance, renovated tropical building, new children's area and polar bears? WOW!!! And even the possibility of a new "predator canyon" exhibit in the Australia section in the future? I'm excited about this. I haven't been inside the zoo in five years or so. This would definitely bring me back. WOW!!!

Matt

[quote]Board approves zoo upgrades

By MATT CAMPBELL

The Kansas City Star


The Kansas City Zoo would invest $60 million over the next six years to make visitors happier under a draft plan endorsed Wednesday by the zoo board.

Half of that money was approved by voters in April's bond election. The rest would come from fund raising.

The objectives would be to create easier movement within the zoo and more interesting things to see. Visitors who are more comfortable tend to spend more money, said Gary Lee of CLRdesign Inc., a Philadelphia company hired to draft a new master plan for the zoo.

Highlights would include a new zoo entrance with possibly a bear and mountain goat exhibit just inside, a gondola ride to the African section and more intimate experiences with animals.

The plan also envisions a saltwater aquarium of 80,000-100,000 square feet that would someday be located near the IMAX Theater, although Lee acknowledged that was partly to stake the zoo's claim to a project often discussed for other locations.

“If we're going to have an aquarium in Kansas City, it ought to be at the zoo,â€

[StL_Dan]

AWESOME. The KC Zoo has so much potential. I'm glad to see plans and funding are in place to make it a destination.

[scooterj]

This is great! So many good things are happening all at once.

The aquarium would bring me to the zoo a few times a year, even by myself.

[trailerkid]

I just didn't get around to posting this, but thanks for pointing this out...it's MAJOR news for KC tourism. Unfortunately, the Star buried the story on page B4 of the Metro section next to a story about a woman who's suing to stop her husband from having their son circumcised.

I'm excited...but I hope Wistoff knows his stuff. A major hurdle is public perception. People could build the Great Pyramids there and people would still say the KC Zoo sucks. I have a friend who's only lived in KC a few years and she loves the zoo, but everyone from KC seems to complain to high heaven. What they're planning sounds very progressive for the facility...I just hope we don't get animals up in visitors faces just for the sake of having them "close" to the visitors. We need a zoo not a prison.

[Missionite]

The aquarium would bring me to the zoo a few times a year, even by myself.

Yep. That's the thing that stood out in my mind too as the thing that will definitely draw me back. I love aquariums and it will be really good for the city to have one. It will also bring something different to the zoo...water life. There are quite a few cities across the country smaller than ours that even have an aquarium. It's good to see we're planning for one too.

Matt

[cdschofield]

I'm excited...but I hope Wistoff knows his stuff. A major hurdle is public perception. People could build the Great Pyramids there and people would still say the KC Zoo sucks. I have a friend who's only lived in KC a few years and she loves the zoo, but everyone from KC seems to complain to high heaven. What they're planning sounds very progressive for the facility...I just hope we don't get animals up in visitors faces just for the sake of having them "close" to the visitors. We need a zoo not a prison.

I've never understood the KC Zoo sucks thing myself. My favorite parts of the zoo is the Australian and African areas which everyone seems to bitch and moan about. Maybe because you have to walk since the areas are acres in size is the problem. I love the fact that in the Australian area that you just walk among the herds of Kangaroos or that in the African area the lions lay under a shade tree on a knoll overlooking the prairie with herds of different kinds of deer grazing. Instead of just being animal exhibits the areas give you an immersion in the culture and region the animals come from. I'm usually disappointed in the fact that most of the facilities in these areas are not used to their full potential but hopefully they will use some of the money to improve on this.

I hope they continue with the large, continent theme areas instead of going back to the cramped animal exhibits.

[chrizow]

hopefully they'll use these funds to open some more Dippin' Dots kiosks.

while i am walking past all the closed, boarded-up exhibits, i get a little hot. luckily there are about 20 Dippin' Dots stands to cool me off!!!

[QueSi2Opie]

while i am walking past all the closed, boarded-up exhibits, i get a little hot. luckily there are about 20 Dippin' Dots stands to cool me off!!!

Check out the zoo next time you're in KC, Chris. The boarded up exhibits are now in full use. Example: The old bird cages that were east of the zoo's original building are now cleaned up, painted, trimmed, and fully stocked with some cool birds. The old zoo store that was next to them has been demolished and is now a nice resting area. I was shocked by all the changes from jus' last Fall.

They still need to find a good use for the original Ape House though.

[trailerkid]

More bad news for KCMO haters...

The Board of Parks and Rec Commissioners have approved the new master plan for the KC Zoo. Zoo Director Randy Wisthoff said the zoo had reached its attendance goal for the end of July (303,000) with another weekend to go. The KC Zoo is also over budget on revenue and under budget on expenditures.

Oh yeah...and now you can rent Segways.

[tat2kc]

I saw the segways in today's paper. very cool.

[chrizow]

i hate to be the bitter cynic here, but the Zoo is a HUUUUUGE disappointment. the Zoo is OK, but it is much more befitting of a 5th-rate city. it should be the Lubbock Zoo or something. with all these millions going into it, i would at LEAST hope for St. Louis Zoo quality. and the St. Louis Zoo is FREE, as compared to the $7 i have to pay to get into the Lubbock/KC Zoo.

i am a huge KC supporter and try to look at the bright side of most things in KC, but i give our Zoo a kansasfarmboy-style THUMBS DOWN. even my ex from Cleveland, OH said our zoo was shitty compared to theirs, which is apparently not too great either.

so, true to KC-hater form, i will say it: i will believe it when i see it.

[Gorlock]

I'm fairly new at posting. So here goes.

St. Louis has an area wide tax for its zoo. This includes St Louis County.
Only KCMO residents pay taxes for the Kansas City Zoo.

Less revenue usually means less attractions.

IMO, there should be a tax on all municipalites in area to have a better zoo than we already have.

KCMO shouldn't be the only ones to pay taxes for an area-wide attraction.

[dangerboy]

I'm fairly new at posting. So here goes.

St. Louis has an area wide tax for its zoo. This includes St Louis County.
Only KCMO residents pay taxes for the Kansas City Zoo.

Less revenue usually means less attractions.

IMO, there should be a tax on all municipalites in area to have a better zoo than we already have.

KCMO shouldn't be the only ones to pay taxes for an area-wide attraction.

Amen to that. Bistate would provide some regional funding for the arts, but I'm not sure if the Zoo would qualify.

But even St. Louis' Zoo-Museum tax isn't perfect. That revenue is stagnating as suburban sprawl has moved on to St. Charles County and the Illinois suburbs. So far I don't think those other counties have been receptive to joinging the Zoo-Museum tax district.

[Highlander]

I was just at the zoo last week while visiting from the UK. I do not think the KC Zoo is all that bad. It is a bit of a disappointment with respect to the number of animals that are represented and some key species are missing (what kind of a zoo doesn't have Tigers and Bears??) but what they do, they do well. The Africa section is superb. You can imagine yourself on the steppes of Kenya when viewing the Cheetahs with the antelope, zebras and giraffes grazing in the background. The African jungle section across the swinging bridge is also well done. There is, however, some room for improvement in this section as the density of animals starts to thin out past the Hippos leaving a long walk with nothing to do on the remaining portion of the circuit. The area around the Wild Dogs and Baboons was woefully lacking of exhibits and a couple of exhibits between the Chimp viewing area and the main Africa trail would really be helpful. I do not mind the walking....in fact, I prefer it that way but the density of animals needs to be greater in some critical areas.

The Australian exhibit is also well done but could use a few more exhibits too. Alot of Australian species simply go unrepresented and the number of birds in the aviary while we were there must have been at an all time low.

Between Australia and Africa there is huge room for improvement and significant underutilized space. The elaborate entrance, for example, has no animals at all. The old apehouse is unused and that entire porton of the zoo has a certain abandoned quality to it. One other issue, while the old Cat Walk is greatly improved (I am glad they moved the cats out of those relatively small containers), the new Orangatan exhibit is really uninspired...what happened there?

I really like the "continent" theme but I also understand the limitations and look forward to seeing the improvements in the future. Return of the bears will be a major step forward and the aquarium will be a great addition (the zoo needs more exhibits where you can escape too on a hot day). I am a little cool to the idea of gondolas though....if they are meant as people movers then are far more efficient ways and depending where they are, they could really detract from the experience. One of things that make the Africa section so special is that you can actually imagine yourself there. That would not be the case with a gondola running across the Savanna.

Anybody know where the Aquarium would be located? Where are they putting the Polar Bears?

[trailerkid]

Big write-up on the KC Zoo in today's Star...

KC's new zoo plan roars with ambition
It calls for more animals and a lot more money
By MATT CAMPBELL
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City voters recently agreed to pump $30 million into the city's zoo, so what's all this talk of spending $60 million?

It's part of an ambitious plan to make the best of the zoo's sprawling acreage, to make visitors happier and to keep the zoo moving forward.

A new master plan for the zoo approved last week by the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners is based on the idea that public money will breed private investment — and possibly more public money through a sales tax initiative in 2007.

“There are a lot of dreams in there,â€

[JerseyGuy]

An article about KC Zoo Director Randy Wisthoff:

http://www.kansascitymagazine.com/featu ... cfm?ID=137

[dangerboy]

Next time you are enjoying the zoo, take a look around to appreciate what the taxpayers of KCMO have provided for time and time again by taxing themselves to continue improving the zoo.

[QueSi2Opie]

even my ex from Cleveland, OH said our zoo was shitty compared to theirs, which is apparently not too great either.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is awesome! The second best in Ohio...even better than Jack Hannah's Columbus Zoo.