AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: Wyatt Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle (CA), Tuesday, January 8, 2008

San Francisco leaders are considering changes to the 15-year-old agreement that turned over control of the city's zoo to a nonprofit group, effectively relinquishing the city's direct oversight of an institution that at the time faced the loss of its accreditation because of conditions that one report described as "literally disgraceful."

Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the Recreation and Park Commission on Monday to hold a special public hearing into last month's attack by one of the zoo's tigers, which killed one visitor and injured two others. The hearing, Newsom said, would review the management agreement between the city and the San Francisco Zoological Society to "further investigate how this incident could have happened and how we can prevent future incidents."

Posted by Info Center at 2:02 PM in Horror Stories | Zoos | Permalink
Tags: California

Source: Lisa M. Collins, The Detroit News (MI), March 2, 2006

Following a week of heated public debate over the future of the Detroit Zoo, the Detroit City Council on Wednesday approved a deal to hand over management of the 75-year-old facility to the Detroit Zoological Society -- laying to rest public concerns that the zoo may close. Now the zoo must work to find other sources of funding to help pay for its $20 million a year average expenses. The zoo is one of Metro Detroit's most popular attractions, with about 1 million visitors a year, including about 20 percent from Detroit and 25 percent from Oakland County. ..... Detroit will give the zoo $10 million in capital improvement dollars and spend $900,000 for security and insurance as part of the deal adopted Wednesday.

Posted by Info Center at 3:12 PM in Zoos | Permalink