Transterrestrial Musings  


Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay

Space
Alan Boyle (MSNBC)
Space Politics (Jeff Foust)
Space Transport News (Clark Lindsey)
NASA Watch
NASA Space Flight
Hobby Space
A Voyage To Arcturus (Jay Manifold)
Dispatches From The Final Frontier (Michael Belfiore)
Personal Spaceflight (Jeff Foust)
Mars Blog
The Flame Trench (Florida Today)
Space Cynic
Rocket Forge (Michael Mealing)
COTS Watch (Michael Mealing)
Curmudgeon's Corner (Mark Whittington)
Selenian Boondocks
Tales of the Heliosphere
Out Of The Cradle
Space For Commerce (Brian Dunbar)
True Anomaly
Kevin Parkin
The Speculist (Phil Bowermaster)
Spacecraft (Chris Hall)
Space Pragmatism (Dan Schrimpsher)
Eternal Golden Braid (Fred Kiesche)
Carried Away (Dan Schmelzer)
Laughing Wolf (C. Blake Powers)
Chair Force Engineer (Air Force Procurement)
Spacearium
Saturn Follies
JesusPhreaks (Scott Bell)
Journoblogs
The Ombudsgod
Cut On The Bias (Susanna Cornett)
Joanne Jacobs


Site designed by


Powered by
Movable Type
Biting Commentary about Infinity, and Beyond!

« Can We Call Them Traitors? | Main | Appeasing Tyrants »

The Slide Down The Hill Continues

So much for childhood memories--Detroit might be closing its zoo. And of course, it's because of the evil racists:

Council member Barbara-Rose Collins said the state’s deadline for the city to sign over zoo operations to the Zoological society boiled down to disrespect. Many council members felt they were being bullied into handing over zoo operations without an agreement they were comfortable with.

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."

She said she will not sign off on an operating agreement until it protects Detroit’s interests and the state should not try to force them with a funding deadline.

"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," said Collins.

No, it has nothing to do with the fact that the people who run Detroit, whether white, black or purple, have run it into the ground.

Posted by Rand Simberg at February 21, 2006 10:55 AM
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.transterrestrial.com/mt-diagnostics.cgi/5002

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference this post from Transterrestrial Musings.
Comments

I'm a native Detroiter, although I live just outside the city limits now.

As to zoos: I've come to the conclusion that it's stupid to keep animals in cages, or fake savannas just so people can see them. It's even stupider to go to great lengths with artificial insemination methods, etc., to preserve these animals. I also think that in many zoos it is cruel to keep the animals.

As to zoos: The whole city of Detroit is one. Perhaps Councilman Barbara Rose-Collins is qualified to run the city, but she's been there a long time as the city has gotten deeper and deeper into debt, as the street lights go out and out, as the transportation system gets broken and more broken. Michigan schools are not under city governance, so the destruction of the Detroit school system cannopt be blamed on city administrator. But whoever ruined it, along with the city and zoo, doesn't deserve any respect.

Posted by Bernard W Joseph at February 21, 2006 12:15 PM

Some zoos are very humane and serve a very useful purpose of education and enjoyment. The Sanoran Dessert Museum outside Tucson, Arizona is the best zoo I've ever seen. The Monterey Aquarium is also top notch (though technically not a zoo.)

On the other hand, Utah's Hogle Zoo (my "local" zoo) is vile and should have been shut down years ago.

Posted by Joe at February 21, 2006 01:50 PM

Education, enjoyment and preserving species against the day they can be reintroduced into their habitat.

Left on their own - for example - the African elephant might become exctinct. We can afford to keep these critters in captivity until Africa is a more hospitable place for them.

Posted by Brian at February 21, 2006 03:03 PM

The Detroit zoo!

I had completely forgotten about that.

I remember being there a number of times. As I recall it was a pretty neat place....'course I was just a kid.

If it's anything like Detroit when I last visited several years ago, I shudder to think what it must be like now.

Posted by Michael at February 21, 2006 03:36 PM

it should be illegal to keep primates in zoos. big cats too. that shits just depressing.

Posted by at February 21, 2006 03:43 PM

I was there about five years ago, and it seemed like a decent zoo then.

Posted by Rand Simberg at February 21, 2006 03:48 PM

Hopefully, the Detroit Zoo won't close. The noise around Detroit about this issue is loud! The zoo is well run and popular. The proposed solution is a good one, too bad the city council rejected it.

Unfortunately, there are a number of people on the Detroit Council who blame everything on someone else - usually of another skin color - and who cannot take responsibility for anything. Until we get some good leadership there, the city will continue to decline.

Posted by Mike at February 21, 2006 06:52 PM

Councilwoman Collins is very accurate about having a racists attitude.

Posted by Leland at February 22, 2006 07:20 AM

The Fort Worth Zoo has a awesome multi-million dollar facility for their Gorillas. Large play area outside. Indoor air-conditioned pavilion with a simulated rock faced water fall. Plexiglass that runs from floor to ceiling so one can literally stand right next to a gorilla.

Posted by Josh Reiter at February 22, 2006 10:49 AM

I hate be this way, but doesn't the city council of Detroit have anything better to do?

This is by all accounts a city where the inhabitants riot when there sports teams lose. Or win. Or tie.

The last year for which I could find records, 2002, Detroit had the second highest murder rate in the country. 41.8 per 100,000, D.C. was first 45.9 per 100,000.

We know Michigans economy is down because it used to rely on the Big 3 Auto Makers. The City Councils agenda, Jobs are down, Crime is up, lets worry about good homes for the rare Central American speckled p3cker possum.

UM UM, thats good politics.

Maybe the Council should vote for municipal bonds to build a Gladiatoial Arena. Use the animals IN the arena, and the teams can kill each other, eliminating the need for the fans to do so.

Close the zoo, kill and skin the animals, sell the pelts, cook the meat, feed the hungry, save the tax dollars being spent.

I am by no means a supporter of big gub'ment. But if the choice is between feeding and housing people or feeding and housing "food", call me silly, I vote for the people.

Do like Brando did in The Intern. Sell tickets to rich people to the Exotic Game Dinner. Use the proceeds to feed the poor.

Posted by Steve at February 22, 2006 12:49 PM


Post a comment
Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments: