Friday, April 23, 2010

why move the zoo?

Oy vey, sometimes our city seems so insane I just have to throw my hands up, or throw up. First on the list is the three-way land swap Cal Expo dealy. Normally I'm all for swaps and three-ways, hardy har har. But not in this case. And then there is the fucking bonkers crazy nuts idea to move the zoo to Sutter's Landing. There is a meeting about it on April 28th. Here are the details from the Boulevard Park Neighborhood Association:

Hello BPNA Members,
The city has been working on development plans for Sutter's Landing Park. They recently finished a feasibility study on moving the Sacramento Zoo to this site. If the Zoo were to move to this site, it would involve building new roads to accommodate a million Zoo visitors a year. The Master Plan and Zoo Feasibility Study can be found at http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/planning/new-growth/SuttersLanding.cfm .

A few important points:
• The Zoo Feasibility Study notes many problems with relocating to the site, and says that it would be cheaper to buy virgin land for the zoo than to use Sutter's Landing.
• The road access plans being discussed by the city. These would profoundly affect the entire area around Sutter's Landing, including residential neighborhoods.
• A survey of the Sacramento community showed that the public prefers passive recreational activities, like hiking, for the area.
• We have a zoo at Sutter's Landing park already--a "freedom zoo" (thanks, Robert Sewell) of animals in their natural habitat. This area and habitat could be restored, enhanced and loved as it is.

There will be two public meetings on Sutter's Landing Park plans that you can attend (http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/planning/new-growth/documents/SLZ_Flyer_042110.pdf):

• Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 6:00-7:30 p.m. , Hart Multipurpose Senior Center, Marshall Park, 915 27th Street, Sacramento
• Wednesday, May 5, 2010, Parks & Recreation Commission, 7:00 p.m., Oak Park Community Center, 3425 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Sacramento

These meetings are important. They are our chance to have a say in how we want this area used and/or developed. Please attend and share your thoughts.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really can't see the neighborhood going for this at all. I'm doing that thing where this seems so insane that I'm just assuming there's something I don't understand about it. It's SO random.

Also,

"Freedom Zoo"

-miller

Anonymous said...

I guess moving the zoo has always been part of the plan. It seems expensive and unnecessary.

I love a Freedom Zoo, I especially like seeing tweakers in their native environment. But really, I am for keeping the river as natural and wild as possible.
gbomb

Anonymous said...

They want to move the zoo, because there isn't really any room to expand at the current Landpark location. The Sac zoo really seems pretty dated with regards to most of their animal enclosures, and there is no way to expand most of them. While it might have seemed OK thirty years ago to keep three orangutans in like a 20' by 20' space, today it's looked at as pretty cruel. If they stay at Landpark, then it's pretty unlikely that many of the animals will get upgraded to roomy new digs. Sorry for rambling, but the zoo makes me kinda sad.

-biz

beckler said...

look, they gave that orangutan a box to hide under! what more does he want?

Anonymous said...

I love this part of the zoo proposal:

Parking provided: 2000 visitor spaces + 100 staff spaces

Acreage for parking: 21
Total acreage: 60

That's right, 1/3 of the land area would be devoted to parking vehicles! How's that "greenest city in America" idea working out?

Anonymous said...

2000 seems really high! Has there ever been 2000 people at the zoo?

-miller

Anonymous said...

There will be when we finally get a WORLD CLASS ZOO!

-biz

Count Mockula said...

I love Sutter's Landing as is. It's my kid's favorite place to take "nature walks." I admit the zoo could use some more space, but I don't love the idea of what it would do to that area.

WV: shabi -- 2,000 spaces? Not too shabi.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Freedom Zoo one of Mickey Hart's side projects?

-Dude

Thomas said...

Whats wrong with where its at or better yet why even have a zoo set them free

Anonymous said...

I like that plan. Be sure to attend the public meeting and suggest it.

-biz

wburg said...

One option being considered by the current zoo is having people ride the steam trains from Old Sac to Sutterville Road where they can walk to the zoo, then take the train back in the afternoon. That would be mighty fine, but of course it would mean that no developer would be able to buy (and by "buy" I mean "get for free from the city") a big chunk of Land Park and build some suburban loft living on it (no urban loft living allowed in land park.) It would also mean that developers looking to build more urban loft living on top of the old dump and the skate park etcetera wouldn't have a "world-class" amenity next door, so they'd probably have to put in a Dave & Buster's instead.

Anonymous said...

Put a new basketball arena where the zoo is now, then put the zoo where the arena is now.
Or at least put the zoo somewhere in the 'burbs where there's lots of space & freeway access. A zoo can go anywhere, but sutter's landing nature/river access/neighborhood can only be where it is now.

Anonymous said...

Move the zoo to the railyards, move the railyards to Cal Expo, put Cal Expo in Land Park where the zoo was, move Arco Arena to the K Street mall, move the mall to Sutter's Landing, and move Land Park to where Arco used to be. Bing, bang boom.

-miller

Anonymous said...

I don't know it a Forever 21 is exactly what I want for Sutter's Landing, but the rest of the idea is rock solid.

gbomb

Anonymous said...

OK, we'll move Forever 21 to where Gunther's is & move Gunther's to Sutters landing. These new tourist spots need an ice cream shop anyway.

-miller

Anonymous said...

Also, we need to move the 19th St Safeway to where the Alhambra one is & vice versa. Then we put Centro where the Monkey Bar is & the Monkey Bar where Centro is. Then we swap those 2 parks on C St that are like 4 blocks from each other & see if anyone notices.

-miller

Anonymous said...

What happened to the Togo's on Alhambra? did it get swapped with another one?

Anonymous said...

I think Ed just stopped going there so it closed.

-miller