Puzzler wrote:

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Is it me or for the past few years DD has been criticizing Genesis Wildlife Center and the care taker.  I remember a lot of negative posts when the tiger died, letters to the editor of the Times stating the zoo is deplorable, and DD goons claiming what a terrible waste of tax money (I think I even recall a Shadow cartoon of a Monkey smoking saying something about being on Death Row).

Well now the Mayor wants to close down the facility and guess what DD is up in arms.  Joe is up there taking pictures and saying how happy the animals are. There is even the rumor he is going to file a lawsuit to keep the place open.

Tough crowd to please over there at DD! 

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(I started working on this post yesterday morning before we had anything up about GWC.)

 Hmmmm ... the Zoo at Nay Aug ... well the first thing that everyone has to remember is that this is not a zoo.  This is a sanctuary ... oh there are all kinds of conspiracy theories out there ... The kids across the hall are trying to lay the blame at the feet of Chris Doherty, for the thought of closing the "zoo" ... it seems to me that it was less than a year ago that the kids across the hall were asking for this very thing to happen, after the death of beloved tiger Reba.  How soon they forget what they asked the Mayor to do.  Is it only me who remembers this???DD poster Nobody called for the closing of the "Zoo" on May 23, 2008.  Now with the zoo not olny being brought to focus by DD ... it has also been the subject of criticism on the City Data Forum ... where you guessed it ... Daniel Hubbard is a regular poster. 

Nobody Posts: 863 Date: May 23 11:56 AM, 2008

It's simple politics. The sheep see the mayor in front of construction machinery and hear a sad story about sophie the critter with the boo boo and get all warm and fuzzy about how the mayor is moving the city ahead and taking care of the animals. We allegedly can't afford to pay our cops and firemen and we won't even begin to discuss the abortion of a clerical contract but Doherty wants to spend your money, federal, state and local to build and support a zoo. Fast forward a few years. The new zoo review (For those of you who think it's a "Wildlife rescue," ask yourself, what's the difference- we pay to feed the animals, we donate to see the animals) has been open a year or two and is stuffed with animals. Doherty's gone, money's short and the operators are appearing at council, looking for the promised operating cash. Imagine the terrible press when they realize we just don't have the money to fund them. Imagine the film at eleven, with animals being removed from cages and sent around the country. Imagine the outrage and indignity the operators will claim. Citizens around the city will verbally pound the then-current administration for their "cold hearted approach" to the "poor animals." All because Doherty wanted a cute picture and press in an election year. It won't be the new administration's fault but they'll get the blame because there wasn't any money for a zoo in the '80s, there isn't any money for a zoo ($50,000 is nothing compared to the operating costs of a revamped zoo) and there won't be any money in the future. And the best part (for Doherty) is he'll be out of office. Can't blame me, he'll say- It ran fine when I was there! I took care of the animals (using money better suited to help run the allegedly "distressed" city) whenever they asked! Could it be that our priorities should include fair contracts for city workers, paving roads, repairing or replacing bridges before they fall and encouraging home ownership and occupancy by those owners with grants and assistance to buy and repair city-owned homes? Or should we be dumping money into a cause that will only cause heartache, pain and discord in the future? According to Doherty's philosophy, the money has to come from somewhere! I say it doesn't have to come from us. Close the Zoo. Again. One man's photo-op isn't worth the pain to the animals, the operators or the public. It's time to stop using the animals as a political stepping stone, just as it's time to stop using the public safety workers for the same reason. __________________ "When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." -Pastor Martin Niemöller http://nobodyscorner.blogspot.com

Granma Posts: 473 Date: Jan 25 2:50 AM, 2008

We need an other zoo like we need an other four years of Doherty. Many people in this town don't even care about domestic animals. Just take a walk through the shelter. See the useless reasons why the animals were turned in. Doherty has really gone low now, using aniamls to make him look like the nice guy he isn't. We need much more in this city than to bring more animals in to suffer. We don't need the zoo we have now. We don't have the money to properly care for these aniamls. We don't have the people that know enough about their care. To see an animal in a cage day after day is sickning. If people want their children to see zoo animals let them get some bus trips to the Phila. zoo throughout the summer. There the children will see the aniamls in places where the aniamls are at least living a good life. Not stuck in a two by four cage. The city doesn't have enough money to pay our Police And Fire People. So they say. Where are they going to get money for people to take care of animals? If Doherty can find money for a new zoo, why doesn't he start with putting some of that money towards a spay~ neuter program with the shelter. Educate the people on domestic animal life. If he is so high spirited about aniamls. I wonder when he is ever going to realize we do not live at Nay Aug Park. We are not here to provide entertainment from our park to people that do not live in our area. What we need is to pay the people that have the most important jobs in the city , to be paid a decent living. That is our Police and Fire Depts. Doherty complains about the health insurance cost. What is the cost for the insurance for a zoo? And when he says donations. Donations might ,and I say MIGHT build his wonders at the park but then who pays for the upkeep? When will this person we call a Mayor ever learn the difference between need and want? We all want nice things. What we NEED in this city is more important. __________________ A government for all the people, not just "Those who matter."

Joe Pilchesky Posts: 4588 Date: Jan 24 8:50 AM, 2008

New Zoo to anchor Doherty's reputation recovery effort There are recovery plans all over the place in this political sewer we know as Scranton.  Where there are sewers, sewer rats are bountiful, and none are fatter than master rat thief Chris Doherty, queer rat Bob Mellow and the Lynett rat pigs, George and Bill.  Much attention is now focused on a political recovery plan for Chris Doherty's painfully dismal and incompetent first six years of complete and utter failure.  They are turning to the taxpayers to completely fund this attempted political recovery plan, of course. They wouldn't have it any other way.  Scranton taxpayers will take another hit to fund another white elephant - a new zoo. (The last one was that abismal pool house.) Do we need one?  Of course, not.  The zoo we have can house animals just fine if it had some operating and maintenance money. The Doherty modus operandi has been to financially starve the zoo, to make it look desperate and then come to its rescue. I'm sorry, I meant our rescue, that'll be the subliminal message. He did that with the SS Complex, ignoring it into dilapidation so that legislators could refer to it as a rough and tumble piece of property that the U of S can make look beautiful once again, and pass legislation to sell it. That's what happened. It was all one big scam that they almost got away with. Enter the first act. Letters to the Editor. Today we have two writers, one from Eunice Alexander from West Chester, Pa., and one all the way from Staten Island, N. Y., by Christina I. Demas.  Two days ago there was also an editorial on the zoo, so the recovery wheels are turning.  Are we to believe that Eunice and Christina just happened to be in Scranton in the middle of January with temps hovering around 15 degrees and decided to go to the frozen park?  Of course, we are.  Ironically, they both saw a need for a new zoo at the same time, even though neither one of them got into the zoo. More incredibly ironic, they both thought a mid-Winter letter to the editor is in 'their' best interests. Neither one of them probably ever wrote a letter to the editor of their own paper, if either of these two writers even exist. The writing style of Eunice is glaringly identical to the writing style of the Times-Trib Our Opinion author (sloppy play Gib). Eunice wrote, "Let's make it happen."  Sorry, Eunice, you're not a taxpayer in Scranton and you can't "Let's", so "Let's" mind our own business in West Chester, should you exist.   The Kanjorski Bridge may not be a bridge to nowhere after all.

Nobody Posts: 863 Date: May 8 5:43 PM, 2008

Where did the $175,000 grant money go for the zoo? (All bills posted here) My heartfelt sympathy goes out to the operators of the Nay Aug Zoo on the loss of their tiger. You made the best of a bad situation and you should feel proud you were able to give the animal the life it had. Having said that, I think it's time to close the zoo, for the second time. The city of Scranton did something wise when it closed the zoo several years ago. We, the taxpayers, do not have the resources to support the zoo. We do not have adequate housing for the animals. We do not have a need for this entity. The animals are being used for Doherty's gain. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid for reports that have yet to see the light of day. Millions of dollars in public funding await the results of this huge paper boondoggle. As with most of Doherty's grand schemes, little attention is paid to the later and all is paid to the now. Animals need food, bedding and veterinary care. Buildings need maintenance and when animals depend on care, volunteer labor is not enough, so salaries have to be paid. A zoo isn't like the Davis Trail or the train. If a section of the trail washes out, it's ignored. The train was left to sit out in the weather for a year. You can't forget to feed the animals or leave them out in the rain and snow. No matter how much interference Fanucci, Gatelli or Patsy run, the animals will have to be cared for and that's money we don't have that will have to come from someplace. I wonder where? Where will that money come from in a city where 23% of our population lives below the poverty line? How can we justify the outlay of funding for a Zoo when people go hungry in the city? How can we justify a zoo when we can't bring in decent paying jobs? How can we justify a zoo when we can't pay our emergency services personnel enough to keep them from leaving? How can we justify a zoo when we make seniors choose between their houses going to tax sale after userious fees and necessities like food and medicine? Simply put, it's time to end this farce. It's time to stop giving the volunteers hope that a zoo we can't afford will be a reality, because even if it is built, there is simply no funding to support it. Every "emergency" appropriation is a tease of more to come, when, in reality, the well is drying up by the minute. Finally, it is a zoo. Call it what you like but the media called it right yesterday when they said the Nay Aug Park Zoo tiger died. My fellow nobodys, the zoo died when it closed the last time. This is a politician using the volunteers and the buildings for his political gain, keeping their hope on life support, all the while knowing the paitient has no chance. To have a zoo means to have 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week staff, vet, maintenance and security. According to Doherty, we can't pay our cops and firemen to protect our homes. How would we maintain and protect a zoo? The best that can happen for this tiger's memory is that he be the last one to have lived there. Doing the right thing doesn't make it any easier but it will make things better. (topic title edited) -- Edited by Joanne Pilchesky at 14:31, 2008-07-28 -- Edited by Joe Pilchesky at 00:28, 2008-08-01 __________________ "When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." -Pastor Martin Niemöller http://nobodyscorner.blogspot.com

Another Intelligent Thinker Posts: 138 Date: Jul 24 5:59 PM, 2008

If the city cannot afford to operate a zoo, it should abandon the pretense and convert the zoo area into open space to augment the rest of the restored park. Well  now that Doherty has collected on his negligent care taking of the Hanlon's Grove tent, he'll have the money to do just that. Thanks George and Ed for planting that seed in the minds of the taxpayers.

The majority of the postings on DD are from people who feel they need to blame someone else for everything that is wrong in the city. Its always someone else's fault. No one ever wants to take the bull by horns, take responsibility and action.  Some are greedy and others are out to see their name in the paper or face on TV. They use Chris Doherty as the scapegoat for every single thing that is wrong. How much easier is it to take a picture or hurry up and run home and post something on a website than it would be to actually inact change. Example:

The old woman on St Anns Street who had problems with her apartment. Instead of lending his carpenter skills, it was easier to criticize the mayor from the computer.  In the end the woman got nothing out of it.

Now here we have the wildlife center. Back when the original tiger died and Ms Miller acquired two new tigers, the DD and Doomer speakers were all up in arms over this. How can this mayor let this happen, the zoo should be shut down, $50,000 and millions spent on Nay Aug while our brave firemen and police haven't got a raise... I wanted to see for myself what the commotion was so I did research on the wildlife center and took a ride to see for myself. What I found was an old zoo filled with animals that had come to the center because of problems caused by humans. They did not have the same facilities as did the San Diego Zoo, but from what I could gather from talking to the workers and Ms Miller, those animals had the same care and attention that animals in some of the best zoos have. I made contributions to center, not because I was impressed and awed by the facilities but because I believed that the workers' hearts were in the right place. Its very rare in this busy society today to actually see someone first hand actually do something not for personal or fiancial gain but instead because they believe in the cause.