Arkansas Blog

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Seems like the zoo proposal makes more sense because of proximity. Track second.
The rest of the proposals, especially UAMS?
You ARE kidding, right? Has anyone there ever heard of planning? Didn't they just finish a huge project? Wouldn't it have made more sense to build up -- more floors -- than a quarter mile or so away? Or have they just now looked around and realized there's no more room to expand?
Although it's not the same by any means, it sounds like the board or the head honcos have about as much sense as those for the two New Orleans hospitals that have decided they should merge and raze an entire, largely rebuilt, neighborhood for a new hospital.
Smart folks.

Honchos. Honchos.
You'd know it. Sitting here waiting for my comment to post and spotting a typo -- well, of course, it'll post immediately. Unlike earlier, when it took me four or five tries. Sigh.
Just a guess, but does Type Pad not work properly when you skip Preview and go directly to Post ? That's my impression, at least today. Who knows what it'll be tomorrow, or even later today . . .

Before endorsing the use of the field as "adequate grounds for an elephant breeding program, I would caution one to carefully review the details of how much space will actually be allotted to this influx of new elephants. Spending millions of dollars on expansion of elephant exhibits does NOTHING to promote real conservation efforts in the wild. The number one cause of death in captive zoo elephants is "foot rot", from years of standing on compacted soil and concrete, and both Mary and Ellen's medical records are proof of that. Over half of all captive elephants die before the age of 40, while life expectancies in the wild are longer despite poaching, drought and loss of habitat. The Little Rock zoo uses bull hooks, thick wooden sticks with sharp metal points, as a form of negative reinforcement and tradition dominance control. More progressive zoos use passive control and protected contact. Elephants breed poorly in captivity; still births are quite common, and the herpes virus kills many before the age of 4. If zoos would allot even half the money they spend on expanding exhibits to real conservation by funding anti-poaching patrols, buying habitat land and corridors, then perhaps there would be a real chance to bring elephant populations to healthy numbers. What percentage of the Zoo's budget is allocated to elephant conservation programs in their native lands, and what percentage goes to marketing and public relations? Baby elephants are often the number one money maker for zoos, who are under pressure from the American Zoological Association to crank out more of them. The "name the baby" contests and "birthday parties"... I can see it now. Most zoos trade and loan their young elephants with other zoos, which disrupts the natural and deep mother/infant bond... female elephants spend their entire lives with their mothers in the wild. Captive breeding programs should only be undertaken by zoos who have vast amounts of space, which this former ball field will not provide, after you factor in the land that will be alloted to the requisite gift shop, parking lots, cafes, bathrooms, and pretty landscaping. Forget the elephant breeding program.. let's play ball!

Is there enough seating capacity left for the crowds who will pay to watch the elephants breed? I thought all the box seats were sold for mementos after the park closed.

I'd prefer a new mall. Maybe a few car dealerships and a MEGA church. I bet all that would be doable in one big plot. They could use the elephant in the car commercials. They could lead bible tours and show how elephants were really the cause of all those "dinosaur" fossils. Throw in a bit about Jesus loving rich people and the mall just makes sense.

Sorry folks, I fell asleep at my desk and when I woke up Sarah Palin was our president.

(seriously, this posting thing still isn't worked out yet??? No other companies that do this kind of work?)

(I thought all the vintage discuses got filched out of the Volvo.)

Track, yes. Let it be a free extension of the Fitness Center. Make a place for the kiddies to play while Mom & Dad walk around in ovals--someplace safe from flying discuses or put shots. People like to count the miles they walk. And would it be asking too much to bring back the old dinosaur called the public drinking fountain? What is the world coming to, with the bottled water?

The vote is worthless.

There is not enough info for an informed oppinion.

How would people get from the current zoo across the street to the new part? Would there be a tunnel or a bridge?

In my oppinion an area of public land currently used in a park/entertainment venue should stay in a park/entertainment use. But I don't have a strong oppinion for or against a zoo expansion. It appears a poor use to use it as is for youth baseball since it would be a giant place for only 20 kids to use at a time. Maybe a ballpark with 3 or 4 diamonds would be a better use baseball wise but that would require dozing the existing park.

The City of Little Rock blew it when they wouldn't renovate it for the Travelers, thus losing what was consistently voted one of the best and most nostalgic minor league ballparks in the nation. (I know, to some nostalgic is just another word for old and useless.) It's too late now to save it. Raze it and let the zoo expand. Parking there for UAMS is ludicrous. Let them raze some more houses to their east.

I'm in Saturday's DemGaz saying something similar: give it to the zoo, but not for elephants. Can you imagine a quality arboretum/botanical garden, but with lemurs and other kinds of primates jumping around from tree to tree? I'd rather them do this with the Golf Course, but they aren't ready to close that yet.

Let's go in reverse order. Commercial development by UAMS - last by a mile. Give it to the zoo for elephants - last until UAMS came along. I've been a big zoo fan for decades but haven't been impressed with the performance the last several years, but they can sure jack up their Friends dues really well. Make it a park somehow, maybe with a walking track? Maybe. If it can't be saved for baseball use by someone somehow, then making it a park that can be used by people instead of elephants gets my vote. Might want to pay some attention to the growing demand across the country that elephants in a zoo is a rather 19th century viewpoint. LR does seem to be behind the curve on most new thinking.

The City of LR owns half of this. That means it's half public land. The city has no money to fix up the old field and stands, so it will snowball into ruin, costing more money than anyone expects if they later decide to make it a ballpark again.

According to Channel 11, the UA board has voted to pursue a purchase of the city's portion of Ray Winder. This purchase is for 'future expansion' and would serve as a parking lot until needed. UAMS has the money, and a parking lot would eliminate the sad feeling of watching a once proud icon decay into oblivion. LR had its chance to save the park and keep the minor league team, but the Admiral and Mr.Moneypower (not Bill Valentine) had a different plan for the minor league team in NLR.

I would suggest a parking deck, about 10 stories, to hold about 1000 vehicles . That way the zoo has plenty of parking, the War Memorial games have more parking, and UAMS has more parking. Nothing says cha-ching like a thousand parking spaces in an area that needs every single one of them.

A big plus for the sale, the city can use this one-time money to balance its budget. The city likes to use one-time money, just look at the budget over the last few years. Beware though, a special election for increasing the city sales tax looms ever closer. Director Hendrix's idea of a city income tax will never float, Mr. Moneypower & Co. will take care of that.

And another thing....Buddy and Mark need to get a game plan on how they are going to both get sales tax increases from the voters. Buddy might promise some more city turnback from the county's increase, but I think it will be nearly impossible for both LR and PuCo to get a sales tax increase in the next 3-5 years. Maybe one, but not both, the shrinking pie in PuCo means every muni will have to work extra hard to get more blood from us taxpayer turnips.

Thank you, Ruth Scroggin.

Not many want to hear it, but the story of captive elephants (not to mention other wild animals) in zoos and circuses over the past centuries is horrific, despite the apologists. (Google it.)

We've been through this zoo "debate" on this blog before. Nobody's mind is changed.

The BEST the Little Rock Zoo's two lonely isolated confined elephants (one of the most socially complex and intelligent animals on earth) can hope for in their last years is for somebody to raise the funds to ship them to the Hohenwald Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee (see clicky) where they can join their sisters in freedom for awhile before they die. Male elephants aren't so lucky.

But that ain't gonna happen.

Not when Arkansas can't even pass a law preventing animal cruelty.

The bullshit about the zoo being a "big" tourist attraction? To the tune of a few hundred thousand dollars annually?

Of COURSE children delight in seeing wild animals in person. They don't THINK about cages, confinement and cruelty.

Educational? Nonsense. Any child can learn more about elephants from 10 minutes online than staring at two lonely, depressed, imprisoned pachyderms for five minutes at a zoo.

If "tourist attraction" revenues for Arkansas are REALLY important, go for the Big Bucks! Legalize gambling and prostitution!

I mean, who the fuck visits Nevada for the ZOO?

IS there one?

No. Just 31 million tourists a year, spending beaucoup bucks.

Plus, there aren't any state taxes in Nevada either, puddy-tat.

"So what do you propose, Miss Smartass?" some yokel always asks.

Simple.

We have hospice care for our human loved ones . . . why not for our confined animals in their last years . . . like Hohenwald for elephants?

DON'T restock our zoo by buying, importing, imprisoning and maintaining more wild animals for the momentary passive "entertainment" of our children.

DON'T inaugurate a phony "elephant breeding" program that will require millions of already non-existent funds to operate and maintain.

Respect our existing zoo animals in their last years with humane and considerate deaths.

"But the Little Rock Zoo is so important for species preservation and research!" apologists shout.

No it isn't.

Not the Little Rock Zoo. Hell, it barely stays accredited. Maybe the San Diego Zoo has some value for species preservation and research, but certainly not Little Rock's tepidly and intermittently rehabbed WPA project from the 30s.

The important scientific research and work on species preservation today is done in the wild, not in captivity. It's immensely complex - taking into account cultural human and interspecies interactions like whale hunting, ivory hunting and pollution, etc.

The Little Rock Zoo, for all its tawdry roadside "tourist attraction" value is not and never will be of the least importance to global species preservation and research, in the short- or long-haul.

Use the land (and all that money) for a permanent "astrodome" installation of a youth-of-all-ages-friendly carnival with state-of-the-art rides PLUS a permanent installation and ongoing expansion and of the currently popular but "storefront" Museum of Discovery, if you want to draw parents and children. There'd still be plenty of room for indoor-outdoor tracks, pools or a water-park, and youth sports fields.

Or, your ultimate tourist magnet and REALLY big bucks for your bang, so to speak: "Rock On the Rock!" A national adult tourist destination conveniently located off I-630, featuring acres of 24 / 7 indoor casinos, table games, slots, pole dancers, recreational beverages, live music, name entertainers, concerts, dancing, karaoke lounges, restaurants . . . all surrounded by cheap motels and angry Baptist protest groups.

A steady stream of publicity and huge revenues for The Natural State!

What's not to love?

Hey Norma, what about the Riddle Elaphant and Wildlife Sanctuary here in Arkansas? Google it.

EXACTLY, Sandydunes.

Google the Riddle Elephant "Sanctuary" and find out why I, nor anybody else informed on this issue nationally, recommends it.

Maybe it's gotten better since the worldwide CLICKY report of 2004 . . . maybe it's better than nothing. Maybe not. But it's not and never will be Hohenwald . . . not by a long- and much-more-enlightened -shot.

I'm glad you at least know about the Riddle's enterprise, sandydunes.

Superficially, Riddle sounds good. (Except, aren't they STILL TRYING TO SELL THEIR ENTERPRISE?)

Riddles Googled -- not so much.

And please don't bother shooting the messenger because the message comes from PETA, among many others.

PETA, for all its sometimes in-your-face tactics, knows and reports more about the truth of animal cruelty and abuse than its critics can even FABRICATE in self-defense.

Oh, yeah. Forgot. The REASON the Riddles are trying to sell their elephant sanctuary enterprise (or have, for all I know) is their EXPOSURE online.

Of course they claim they cannot "afford" it anymore.

No shit. Not after their methods were revealed.

Hohenwald? In Tennessee? A REAL elephant sanctuary?

No "exposure" 'cause there's nothing to expose.

If there WERE, chipmunk, PETA woulda by now.

Trust Norma.

I think you raze it Max. Little Rock City Government has never wanted to be involed in sports.

That's why we have North Little Rock. Little Rock teams love to play in North Little Rock. Well lit fields, abundant parking and great facilities. There's no reason to play in Little Rock when you can cross the river and play baseball on a field that is three or four times better than what we have here in Little Rock.

The folk's across the river get it, we don't.

I do my best to follow the links and I DID google Riddle's. I am sure if I went a few pages deeper I could unbury the trash, but it doesn't jump out at you.

Nowhere did it mention either the season or the limit.

UAMS wants the property to facilitate their plan to build exits from 630 onto Jonesboro to improve access onto their campus.

A new "driveway" is key to helping them reduce the 46 million dollar annual deficit.

If you build it, we will pay for it.