Interview 21409 – Caption Index: 230
And so I said, why can’t we play together?… Read More
And so I said, why can’t we play together?… Read More
And I said, so, we’re done with this, “We ain’t talking to each other.” We’re done with, the Zoo Society’s gonna talk to the city, the city’s gonna talk to the Zoo Society, I’m gonna talk to both of you guys. We’re all gonna talk to each other. We’re gonna… Read More
Can we play nice?… Read More
They help raise money for the zoo, which the city supports from the bottom, right?… Read More
And then all I am is the spark on the top of the candles. Read More
I’m the spark that gets all this stuff together, right?… Read More
And I demanded one, and they gave it to me. Shock. They gave it to me. So the Zoo Society was so alienated that I said, well, that’s not gonna work. We can’t do that. And so I made a pledge that every time I got in the car to… Read More
And I had this silly thing I called “the cake model.” Stupid, I know, but it worked. So I had this cake model. And so they had a big old chalkboard up there. And so I drew on the chalkboard, I drew a cake, and I said, now here’s the… Read More
There’s the cake, and the zoo society is the icing and the candles. So they let us do all the little fun stuff, like build new exhibits, and they help raise money for that. And they help us with our education programs. They help us with this, and that, and… Read More
You try, in the first six months, the only thing you could do in the first six months, and I wasn’t completely good at this, but the only thing you do in the first six months is walk around, talk to people, and learn the lay of land. Don’t do… Read More
So one of the things I negotiated, when I took the job at Pittsburgh, with the city was I wanted a mobile phone. Now, mobile phones were about this big at that time, they looked like a handheld radio, there were huge, and there were seven of them in the… Read More
Seven of them at the time in the whole city administration, whole city government, right?… Read More
Oh, that was funny. Read More
So I get there in 1990, right?… Read More
Hot off the press, new director, all fired up, all excited. And the zoo society and the zoo did not get along. They did not speak. They did not speak to each other, like once or twice a year. And the executive director of the Zoo Society office was in… Read More
And he said, well, they’ll give you the money and you’ll give it to us. I said, I will not do that. I absolutely will not do that. I’ll give them the money back. I had the check already. I said, well, I’ll give them back. I’ll give the money… Read More
I’m not gonna tell them that I’m gonna spend this money on this and have you take the money away. Well, it actually passed city council, thank God. They weren’t all of that frame of mind, we’ll just say, but city council was a hoot. Talk about a learning experience,… Read More
Well, but talking about that, what was your relationship with the Zoo Society and how did it change over the years?… Read More
And this one council member wanted to take that money. No, no, no, we don’t wanna spend that money on that. We wanna spend this money on this, not at the zoo, and this, this is more important. And I’m like, but you don’t understand, this money is designated for… Read More
And he’s like, well, why not?… Read More