Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Columbus Zoo News - 2014

TZFan said:
Wonder whether next spring will see the arrival of Raj, Penny, Amy or Bernadette. You need to have the whole group. I love when zoo's pick a theme for their babies names. My favourite was a littler of Warthogs in Toronto named Ham, Bacon, Sasuage and Porkchop. Those kinds of things are always fun.
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"Porkchop" the warthog should have been name "Spam".
 
Oh that would have been perfect. Of course my favourite warthog name that I have heard of was Sir Pigglesworth... Might have been Lord Pigglesworth. But either way I loved it.
 
I do not know much about the situation out there. But from reading the proposal the last few days it seems like a really odd setup. The zoo is supported by property taxes from a different county than the zoo is actually located in.
 
No doubt that bad Ohio politics contributed to the defeat of this levy.At this point moving forward we hope that Columbus abandons the downtown Aquarium/Rainforest facility in favor of focusing on continuing on maintaining and improving the existing zoo.It had been previously stated that the downtown project could happen even without the passing of the levy but we don't think the zoo ever felt it would fail.Interesting to what route they go in.

Team Tapir223
 
Arizona Docent said:
I do not know much about the situation out there. But from reading the proposal the last few days it seems like a really odd setup. The zoo is supported by property taxes from a different county than the zoo is actually located in.
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Current State laws in Ohio prohibit a multi-county levy proposal.

Team Tapir223
 
TigerValley98 said:
It appears the zoo levy will most likely lose. It will lose big. I hope that it will change as the evening goes on, but I do not think it will. See election results at the link:

Election 2014 | The Columbus Dispatch
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Isn't it grand ….. bad speak on the part of some Neo-Cons on point 6 on the ballot (even financed by a lobby group from outer State) and tactics termed by the Election Commission as unsavory to the point of deliberately defrauding the facts, while not being punished - wins. I thought people in Ohio knew better than that ..
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Isn't it grand ….. bad speak on the part of some Neo-Cons on point 6 on the ballot (even financed by a lobby group from outer State) and tactics termed by the Election Commission as unsavory to the point of deliberately defrauding the facts, while not being punished - wins. I thought people in Ohio knew better than that ..
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LMFAO :rolleyes: Your obviously not from Ohio ! Majority of Central Ohioans in Franklyn County who have always supported the zoo were taken by the misinformation that these groups spread throughout the area.By the time the zoo got wind of what was going on the damage was already done.Hopefully a revamped version a this levy can get on the November ballot and win.

Team Tapir223
 
I'm a big fan of zoos obviously and a libertarian if taxes are going to be levied it should be at the lowest form of government possible (municipal or county). But the fact remains Ohio is in the top quarter of every tax ranking when it comes to tax freedom, state and local tax burden, property taxes, and other comparative measures. I can see why voters rejected it. Even "misinformation" would not equal a 40 percent spread especially for a popular zoo like Columbus.
 
TeamTapir223 said:
LMFAO :rolleyes: Your obviously not from Ohio ! Majority of Central Ohioans in Franklyn County who have always supported the zoo were taken by the misinformation that these groups spread throughout the area.By the time the zoo got wind of what was going on the damage was already done.Hopefully a revamped version a this levy can get on the November ballot and win.

Team Tapir223
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Sure I ain't from Ohio, but that does not mean I cannot hold an informed opinion. As it stands I would have liked the Ohioans to have taken a decision on the zoo ballot without taking on board / being swayed by ill "misinformation". I would have thought that Ohioans could and would well be able to judge whether this levy was good value for money or an over-priced out of their league one on its own merits. All I was saying …. (in all fairness)!!!

I wonder how the zoo will now move forward without any levy. Or does the old levy stay in place (I would not think so)?
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Isn't it grand ….. bad speak on the part of some Neo-Cons on point 6 on the ballot (even financed by a lobby group from outer State) and tactics termed by the Election Commission as unsavory to the point of deliberately defrauding the facts, while not being punished - wins. I thought people in Ohio knew better than that ..
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I think it is safe to say that a ballot issue concerning the zoo's financing in May (when we do not usually have elections) would not be the priority for many citizens. Only 16.5% (Ohio voter turnout lower than 4 years ago) of eligible voters bothered to vote. Not surprising under these circumstances.
So in the end, the levy opponents were more motivated to vote than the supporters.
This issue may not be dead.
 
Zooplantman said:
I think it is safe to say that a ballot issue concerning the zoo's financing in May (when we do not usually have elections) would not be the priority for many citizens. Only 16.5% (Ohio voter turnout lower than 4 years ago) of eligible voters bothered to vote. Not surprising under these circumstances.
So in the end, the levy opponents were more motivated to vote than the supporters.
This issue may not be dead.
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Excellent Point !

Team Tapir223
 
I - inadvertently - thought that US citizens and those of Ohio would feel compelled to make more use / usage of their voting rights since awareness of a Constitution and civil / judicial rights is so much the greater than in Europe. How wrong I have been.

It seems the negative campaign outside a Presidential / Congress or Federal State election has only driven those triggered by an out-of-state set up campaign to specifically vote down this item on the ballot. It further seems that those thankfully not swayed by such negative / ill-informed arguments could not even be bothered to vote.

Alas, we (Europeans) - poor ... Atlas ... - seem to suffer a similar devaluation of democratic rights and our modus operandi in Europe, where ever larger crowds do not bother to vote ..., even at national elections!

Hope you get some recourse later on to repair something for Columbus (an institution along with Cleveland, Ohio that can be ranked among US's prime zoos).
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Sure I ain't from Ohio, but that does not mean I cannot hold an informed opinion. As it stands I would have liked the Ohioans to have taken a decision on the zoo ballot without taking on board / being swayed by ill "misinformation". I would have thought that Ohioans could and would well be able to judge whether this levy was good value for money or an over-priced out of their league one on its own merits. All I was saying …. (in all fairness)!!!

I wonder how the zoo will now move forward without any levy. Or does the old levy stay in place (I would not think so)?
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By the Kifura Bwana we were taking a shot at Ohio on this not you.We agree with everything you have stated regarding this matter.We are fairly confident a new version of this levy will be ready to hit the ballot come next November.

TeamTapir223
 
A keeper friend of mine here in Cleveland recently received a behind the scenes tour of the new African Savannah at the Columbus Zoo.She described the new exhibit as outstanding,massive and to quote her "Keepers are going to have their hands full"with the amount of animals.Just to name of few numbers that she recalled 11 giraffes,6 zebras and 50 guinea fowl plus many more various species of hoofstock.

Team Tapir223
 
Annnddddd the final two species for Heart of Africa will be the warthog and the aardvark - a species that has yet to be mentioned in any information released about the project up until this point.
 
Kudu21 said:
Annnddddd the final two species for Heart of Africa will be the warthog and the aardvark - a species that has yet to be mentioned in any information released about the project up until this point.
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Excellent choice on the Aarvark ! One of my favorite animals growing up as a kid and certainly no longer exhibited in many zoos.Warthogs not bad either :)

Team Tapir223
 
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