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"The Master Plan is a blueprint to our future and the Strategic Plan will get us there" said Jim Rapp, Director of the Salisbury Zoo.
Our Mission is to be a "quality of life facility." OK, to who? The animals or the people visiting the Zoo? If it's the animals, your plan ain't working!
We want to maintain a FREE community education/communication recreation resource. We're having problems with fundraising and we need to work on that better. 1/3 of the Zoo is in a flood plane zone and that creates numerous problems. WRONG! The Salisbury Zoo is not 1/3 in a flood plane zone Jim Rapp, it's 100% in a flood plane zone! I've personally seen the documents showing of such and Hadley produced those documents many, many months ago, so you're lying!
Because Jim Rapp refuses to do what all Directors of any other Zoo in America is responsible for, (raising funds) they are requesting once again two choices. One, a full time Development Director, OR a fundraising company consulting firm to raise funds. What they didn't tell the Council was that an outside firm will demand 35 to 40% of anything and everything they raise! This was stated by Jim Rapp and Ron Alessi as a fact in one of their Zoo Commission Meetings I attended with other witnesses as well.
The Master Plan they are talking about will cost around $36,000,000.00 in today's money. This means they would have to raise some $60,000,000.00 from the citizens and businesses to end up with the $36,000,000.00 to fund the entire project. 40% of what they raise will be blown on this outsource company. Please don't forget what it's going to cost to maintain such a facility once it's built too.
Now you tell me folks, does the Zoo need to be relocated, or what? If you're going to spend this kind of money on a 12 acre Zoo with next to no parking, well, you're nuts! Oh, did I mention they want to keep it a FREE Zoo? And this guy Ron Alessi wants to be the County Executive????? It's no wonder he's walked away from paying the people he owes. I think you guys Strategically Mastered a Plan all right!
Oh, one more thing Rapp mentioned. Although they already have a Marketing person Mary Seamen, she's real busy running the Gift Shop and they need to hire another Marketing Manager as well. XXXOOO