Interview 22891 – Caption Index: 377
So he was able to do that. It was very individual. Politics sometimes get in the way and sometimes they help. Read More
So he was able to do that. It was very individual. Politics sometimes get in the way and sometimes they help. Read More
Oh, the way I approached it, not my involvement. No because our part was pretty much all on raising the big funds for. Africa in the new part of the zoo. We hadn’t got to the next level where it would be different. You know, then you build some of… Read More
‘Cause you were a park. Entity. Read More
I did not. We would use, well the director of parks. Would go on some of them. And it all depended who you use on how their relationship was politically with the city, the park district. It was kind of touchy on some things, so you would know who to… Read More
Or not?… Read More
Did politics ever, were you ever able to raise funds using the political process?… Read More
Oh yeah. We had… Not in itself, we had the Bielfeldt Foundation which is… They were both U of I grads where I had gone to school. Had made their money in commodities and whatever. Started their own foundation. But the nicest normal people I have ever met on a… Read More
And so I didn’t know how much it was gonna be or whatever, so we had set up the little thing and, you know, put these plants up, had a nice little thing, had the plans of what the zoo was gonna be, they got up there and made their… Read More
Did you have a reason?… Read More
During this time, were there any surprise donations?… Read More
I know I’m gonna be able to do this with this person, with this company. ‘Cause I have a strategy for selling, as you said, selling the zoo. Again, we would sit down, I worked, we were lucky enough to have somebody from Caterpillar Tractor, is or was Peoria. And… Read More
We did some events at the country club. Again, on a different level, and the people that were there, we would have them come for cocktails and there’d be a presentation either by one of the co-chairs or with me too. If they had any specific questions about what they… Read More
Did you have a strategy for getting the funds for a specific project or generally, or were you just working with other people?… Read More
Did I have a staff?… Read More
And you didn’t have your own… Did you have a…… Read More
So did that answer?… Read More
You talked about… Saying that, you’ve been credited with expanding the zoo. Read More
What are you willing to put in?… Read More
It depends, and up until 2005 they had their own employ, the Zoo Society. And I think that’s what they decided. They just didn’t want to worry about all that. So since I was moving into it, they left me in that kinda halfway in between position. So I did… Read More
For the zoo?… Read More