About three years before I took over, Marlin had started a Friends of the Zoo organization called the Lincoln Park Zoological Society. And here were a group of people that were committed to help the Chicago Park District, which owned and operated the Lincoln Park Zoo, to raise a few dollars and help run the zoo. So I was immersed in that, became aware of working with a support group and learning how to make the district bureaucracy work for me. One of the things I made a point to do was once or twice a week, I’d hop in the car and go down to headquarters and interact with some of the other department heads and their staffs because I was totally reliant on that support that they had to give me. If I needed a tree trimmed, I had to work with the landscape people to get the tree trimmed. If I needed the toilets fixed, I had to learn to work with the plumbers to come out and fix the toilet. And I made it a point to, since Marlin had, had the opposite kind of situation, where he was almost removed from the operation with his television work. I made it a point to let people know that I was a team player.
