Bugg Stories vol. 3

his brain is being in the middle in nashville nearly two hundred acres of rolling grassy hills and forest lie almost undisturbed for the bison krueger otters and egos that live there only occasional roar from abroad when jett breaks the serenity this green space so unknown slow road is a developer's dream and that's exactly what the original owners feared most elites and margaret croft wanted grass near the name of their home place to remain green be a setting for the study of nature but a decade after their deaths the future of the land is again in limbo the city is looking to the national zoo to be the savior mayor phil bredesen is pitching a controversial plan that would move the zoo from its current site in gm can eat the grass me or is it a workable plan and with the cross sisters be pleased they can't make a line

our entire nineteen sixty four interview leaves no doubt police and margaret croft love the farm where they grew up and that year with growing property tax bills and know where's the sisters realize the natural beauty of the land was in danger and so was their house one of the oldest in nashville so rather than have the whole place turned into some divisions they deeded grass near to the cumberland science museum asking only that the museum operated educational program in nature on the land dr

louis it a lamb democrats were finally opened in nineteen ninety just a few years after both sisters have passed away the museum was in trouble financially and soon crashed there was two planned exhibits lay dormant attendance declined and an endowment was siphoned off to pay operational cost in january nineteen eighty five card on science museum decided to close the park for you my very first involvement here was grassley a wildlife park and just before i moved here i just started getting involved with all these kinds of things it's you know really discovering nature and wildlife and all that and it was just i am personally i'm like a child when it comes to that so you know when the first one apart for shutdown and everything you know that was just all taken away judy allen volunteered at a wildlife park and couldn't

bear saying that shutdown she and husband robert galvanized other volunteers and supporters to form the friends and grass near when the cumberland science museum decided to walk away from the park by digging atlanta metro friends won the contract to operate grass near the only competing bid came from the nashville zoo mayor phil bredesen i think the decision to go with a friend's address for the year the first time around it was a kind of a hard overhead decision is to have a lot more financial stability financial depth but the people with front aggression or had worked so hard to try to keep the thing together that works or a proposal and you know you can tell they're the underdog in a way that you really have a financial stability but they really really wanted to give a try i thought that what they wanted was a little closer to what the cumberland examine vision for the sight driven life to them and so the thought was was given a chance to to try and make it happen the timing couldn't have been worse the park been closed almost a year

which scared potential corporate sponsors and the three hundred thousand dollars raised by the brain's grid in that parade quickly when friends in for the mayor had couldn't meet its payroll bredesen quickly turned to the national zoo but he didn't ask him to run the park he as chairman for a scene for a cozy to me at the zoo to grass near the two shook hands and lawyers are now negotiating the finer points of the agreement is bright eyes since it opened in nineteen ninety there's been much jazz made about the fact that the national zoo is not in metro nashville but twenty miles away critics also complain that the six million dollars spent to develop the zoo was far too little to make it a success through an aggressive marketing campaign and clever use of its rule setting though the zoo has succeeded in attracting three hundred thousand visitors a year but do officials say that isn't enough director rick schwartz we think that we have pete our attention around three hundred thousand just slowly over three hundred thousand

comics already this year because of a temper and animation is arresting zip but after that i mean three hundred thousand visitors and we think it's because in the distance away from nashville we go on the quarter to nearly all time obviously raising fines and we do surveys and there's so many people who haven't been out here because of the distance whether it's perceived distance was what i feel i think it's a great easy drive and we've always claim that are nevertheless we're not reaching any more visitors than three hundred thousand visitors and i think because her and she and county we have had difficulty getting some what i would refer to as big farms from the national community and i don't know that nashville itself has adopted us as there is due but what the cross sisters approve of elephants and white tiger is joining the otters in kruger already on their land some say yes others say no because it blinds i think it's not

what we wanted and i think they're not thinking about that john ridley forbes founded the children's museum and helped convince the cross sisters that their land would be preserved by feeding it to the museum they would use that the idea is that in a matter of days and i know they know what a convoy as they do but if the only way to save grass mirrors to have the zoo moved there across sisters would have approved that's what john keeley says for six years kealy has written the grass near rollercoaster as executive director he's worked for the cumberland science museum natural parks friends a grass near and now again metro still as he listens to the red wolves howling and a siren and watches the pelicans paddle across a small pond he struck by the reason he came here there's something about those are very are precious is in this irving farmer that this cannot believe arabic american elm leaves places here in the mill

emotional and so respectful and all those two sisters they're the most available only with fractures the sulfur commercial velvet i think it is kind of ironic if you listen to some of the old tape interviews of them there were adamant that the dunagan about pro government because it would turn into a golf course women will roll out of the metro property but it turned out to be a good day and keely says he came to grasp year because of its potential potential was never realized you know he his resume since he still believes that does it can do well like grass near the terms of soul article parks in terms of designing a master planning at the right way inequality were ever with the americans in an aquarium association an end and a genius or a delicate balance between preserving the natural green space here and the critters a curly live here and know develop every square inch of the other ninety seven point five acres and do it in the

right way although having said that it can be the most unique institution in the country if not the world it can do for nashville tennessee aquarium degenerate out firmly believe that with that in mind mayor bredesen attached a number of stipulations to the agreement first and foremost the zuma seek accreditation from the american zoo and aquarium association in the meantime for the plan to proceed both the board and the nashville zoo in the metro council must give their blessings mayor bryson hopes to have the agreement to the council by august even with approval the final hurdle we'll be learning it will cost an estimated eight million dollars to move the zoo to nashville and the mayor and says that the bulk of the money be raised privately some officials at a million dollar figure maybe low and if the money's not raised they're staying in gm got a little place grass near state in jeopardy once again for wpln i need a blog it's

been