Zoo

UPDATE: The City of Sioux Falls & the Zoo want to move the dead animal museum to the dump

l3wis August 18, 2023 14Comments

UPDATE: During Coffee with the Councilors this morning (Starr and Barranco were in attendance) a taxidermist and someone representing West Sioux offered to take the collection at their expense. The councilors seemed open to the idea. I mentioned liability issues but Barranco felt a waiver could be written. I joked with the group that the Zoo should get a VPN and sell them on the black market, they could raise all kinds of money for butterflies and lions 🙂

I support letting them take the collection, but like most things with the city, it will get very messy, very fast.

Well you have to give them credit for using fancy word games;

During the coming weeks, the Sioux Falls City Council must approve the surplus and disposition of the Delbridge collection, according to the release. The city and zoo will also work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to safely disposition the mounts in the collection. It’s expected to take several months.

In other words they are taking them to the city dump and DISPOSING them! They are not getting REARRANGED! Now remember, if there is any asbestos in them, don’t drag it across town in some leaf bags and a late model Chevy like some other ‘LLCs’ did. But no worries if you get caught, you can get out of the fine with a couple of TIFs and Parking Ramps to boot . . . I mean a settlement check.

“This difficult decision was reached after extensive discussion, research, testing and consultations about best practices to manage aged taxidermy with experts at other reputable museums,” the release read.

I am willing to take their word for it that they have no other option but to dispose of them, but I would be curious what kind of research they did trying to find an institution that would take them and restore them? I told a city councilor they need to request the consultation reports.

Art SF City Council Sioux Falls Zoo

UPDATE: Sioux Falls City Council Consent Agenda includes expenditures for the Zoo and Indian Mound retaining wall

l3wis March 7, 2023 4Comments

Sometimes you have to peruse the city council’s consent agenda a few times before you catch stuff (Item #6).

Sub-Item #14, Great Plains Zoo Master Plan; Agreement for professional services, CLR Design, $80K (as pointed out to me, non-profit’s subsidized by the city usually pay for their own master plans, at least the Washington Pavilion Management Company has in the past for theirs. What is even more troubling about asking city coffers to pay for this is the new the partnership the Zoo has with the Butterfly house. Is the city gearing up to becoming a bigger owner in the Zoo’s capital? I’m all for long range masterplans, but instead of a study on penguins and butterflies maybe the city council needs to have a masterplan for the long term growth of the city.)

Sub-Item #22, Indian Mound Retaining Wall Rehabilitation – Bank Stabilization – Evaluation and Preliminary Design; Agreement for professional services, Infrastructure Design Group, Inc., $52K

UPDATE: This is a different retaining wall closer to the bike trail by the Country Club.

Denny Sanford Premier Center Levitt Pavilion Multi-cultural center SF City Council Sioux Falls Washington Pavilion Zoo

With Non-Profit Mergers you wonder what they have in the bank

l3wis October 6, 2022 6Comments

This week was busy with another non-profit merger;

The Butterfly House & Aquarium has raised $4.2 million toward its capital campaign to expand aquarium exhibits, which can be applied toward the project, Otto-Pepper said.

Of course the Butterfly House is merging with the Zoo and it seems they have raised a lot of money.

LSS is also merging with the Multi-Cultural center, which I fully support, and probably is long past due.

But you have to wonder what is going on with their bank accounts.

As you know, the Levitt has yet to release numbers from their 2021 season even as their 2022 season has been finished for over a month.

The Denny Sanford Premier center is up for contract renewal and they are taking in millions in profits and commissions.

According to the Pavilion’s annual report in 2021 they had over $5 million in the bank. This is after basically skipping a year due to Covid. You also have to remember that we not only give the Pavilion a yearly operational subsidy but we give millions each year fixing the building due to the poor construction of the facility to begin with (windows, roofs, etc.)

Maybe it is time the city council takes a hard look at how much we are subsidizing these facilities taking into consideration how much is in their bank accounts. Do we really need to subsidize the Pavilion, the Zoo, the Denty and other facilities when they may have millions in their bank accounts. I don’t think so.

Patrick Starr SF City Council Sioux Falls Zoo

UPDATE: Sioux Falls Zoo announces FREE admission on one of the coldest days of the year!

l3wis December 30, 2021 2Comments

UPDATE: I guess there were 192 visitors on Monday with 19 of them with memberships. I believe 2 years ago when they offered a FREE day there was around 14,000 visitors. They need to do a FREE day once a month on a Saturday or Sunday.

While Councilor Pat Starr has been after the ZOO to offer FREE admission at least a couple of days of the year, like they did 2 years ago (you know since we subsidize them with our tax dollars and they will soon be asking to merge with another private non-profit) they decided to do it with very little notice or media coverage on a Monday after Christmas. They made the announcement only 24 hours in advance on Sunday, December 26 on theirÂ FB PageÂ the FREE admission lasted all day on Monday from 10 AM-4:30 PM. Not sure who all got the press release, but theÂ ArgusÂ made the announcement at 11 AM on Monday andÂ KELO AMÂ made the announcement at 12:30 PM on Monday.

While I will agree that even if it was cold, many of the animals are used to the cold weather and would have been out and active. Would not have Sunday been a better day with family in town and people off of work? And what about announcing it at least 5-10 days in advance? I guess I will have to give the Zoo credit for one thing, they at least keep their doors open all year unlike Great Bear that will close at the drop of the hat and not open until winter is half way over (what is up with this place? Who closes a winter sports facility because of the cold? Dumb.) I wonder if our new $4 million dollar ice ribbon will be closed for cold weather? 🙁

Hopefully Councilor Starr will inquire what the FREE attendance numbers were on Monday. My guess is about 17-23.

Mayor TenHaken SF City Council Sioux Falls Zoo

The Zoo & Butterfly House are considering a merger

l3wis December 1, 2021 11Comments

When I saw this press conference yesterday I was confused about this possible merger, Thanks to SF Bizzo for some clarification;

The Butterfly House & Aquarium and Great Plains Zoo & Delbridge Museum of Natural History might be joining forces.

The boards of both organizations have approved entering formal discussions to determine whether it makes sense to combine.

A joint exploration committee will be working with a consultant to determine whether to recommend the organizations combine. The process was endorsed by Mayor Paul TenHaken, who held a joint announcement with the organizations today at City Hall.

The mayor can endorse this all he wants, but it is the city council that will have final approval. A city councilor told me today that they were not informed about this consideration until last week. However, I do think it is worth exploring and would be a good match. But I do have some questions.

What is the financial strength of the Butterfly House? Are they just struggling so they saw this as an opportunity for a tax payer bailout? What is the financial strength of the Zoo? How about exploring another option like merging and becoming a private non-profit all together and have the Zoo lease land from the city and let taxpayers off the hook?

I have heard since they terminated Ms. Whalen things haven’t been going as well (though the employees may be happier). Why is it that the first option is the taxpayers bailing both of them out? Why create this monster and take on more Capital Improvement Debt? Also, like the Pavilion and Events Center, while we all subsidize the venues with our 2^ndÂ and 3^rdÂ pennies, we still have to pay to walk through the doors. What percentage of people who pay taxes in Sioux Falls can afford to pay admission at the zoo or even go there? Should we be subsidizing the place?

While this needs a lot more studying, I suggest the City Council get involved and have the consultant look at them merging and become a Private Non-Profit. It’s time we start spending tax dollars on infrastructure instead of bears and butterflies.

UPDATE: The City of Sioux Falls & the Zoo want to move the dead animal museum to the dump

UPDATE: Sioux Falls City Council Consent Agenda includes expenditures for the Zoo and Indian Mound retaining wall

With Non-Profit Mergers you wonder what they have in the bank

UPDATE: Sioux Falls Zoo announces FREE admission on one of the coldest days of the year!

The Zoo & Butterfly House are considering a merger

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Merry Christmas!