Holy common sense, ZooMan!
One of the very affordable things leisure activities that viridis_ama and I enjoy is going to the local zoo. We discovered that the zoo-for-two annual passes (at $55) were almost the equivalent of stealing, so we'd been getting them for years.
In the last year or so the city as spun the zoo and park into an arms-length conservancy, which is one of the most logical things I've seen the city do in a long time. They are now free to make their own decisions and pick up their own funding. Even with the death of Debby and Waldo, our zoo is once again on track to be a world-class establishment.
Now, I understand that with upgrades there is most definitely a cost... and our zoo had faced a certain amount of budgetary neglect for decades as city council dithered on rapid transit, pot-holes, and various forms of foot-shootery. I have no problem with an increase in the price of our passes, but the very ham-fisted nature in how they were applied... that's another story altogether.
We received a letter from the zoo a while back stating that there were no longer zoo-for-two passes, and that we'd need to buy our passes individually. No problem.
The basic pass would now be $40 each (up from the $55 for the two of us). No problem.
We knew we were getting a steal of a deal in the first place.
The annual renewal anniversary of our passes had been replaced by a universal expiry, so every pass would now commence in April (I think it was). Our would expire toward the end of the year, but we were offered a special "bridge" pass for only 75% of the cost of the new whole-year membership. At least this is my recollection.
WHAT? We're going to pay that much for a small portion of year the year? Nope... no pro-rating, no nothing. A flat fee. Your pass could expire a couple months before the new deadline and you'd still pay the same amount.
So we did what any Winnipeger would do. We clenched our fists a little tighter on our cash and didn't renew. We knew that the would eventually get passes again, but we'd wait until the annual renewal motif rolled around.
This week-end while I was going through my books and getting all my bills paid off, I saw there was a letter from the Assiniboine Park Conservancy. Apparently they'd received a lot of feedback and would be reinstating the annual anniversary renewal instead of the set date. That is what we were looking for. We had contemplated a little letter-writing campaign, but it appears other folks took the quill from our complacent hands.
I'm glad that they changed their mind on the whole renewal motif, and I am very excited about the changes and upgrades the zoo is making. Also extremely stoke-worthy is the new collaboration between the Winnipeg Zoo and the San Diego Zoo; and for anybody that is in the know of zoos, San Diego is the bee's knees.
And yes, when they have the tundra buggy ready to drive through the new Journey to Churchill polar bear exhibit I will be standing in line!
In the last year or so the city as spun the zoo and park into an arms-length conservancy, which is one of the most logical things I've seen the city do in a long time. They are now free to make their own decisions and pick up their own funding. Even with the death of Debby and Waldo, our zoo is once again on track to be a world-class establishment.
Now, I understand that with upgrades there is most definitely a cost... and our zoo had faced a certain amount of budgetary neglect for decades as city council dithered on rapid transit, pot-holes, and various forms of foot-shootery. I have no problem with an increase in the price of our passes, but the very ham-fisted nature in how they were applied... that's another story altogether.
We received a letter from the zoo a while back stating that there were no longer zoo-for-two passes, and that we'd need to buy our passes individually. No problem.
The basic pass would now be $40 each (up from the $55 for the two of us). No problem.
We knew we were getting a steal of a deal in the first place.
The annual renewal anniversary of our passes had been replaced by a universal expiry, so every pass would now commence in April (I think it was). Our would expire toward the end of the year, but we were offered a special "bridge" pass for only 75% of the cost of the new whole-year membership. At least this is my recollection.
WHAT? We're going to pay that much for a small portion of year the year? Nope... no pro-rating, no nothing. A flat fee. Your pass could expire a couple months before the new deadline and you'd still pay the same amount.
So we did what any Winnipeger would do. We clenched our fists a little tighter on our cash and didn't renew. We knew that the would eventually get passes again, but we'd wait until the annual renewal motif rolled around.
This week-end while I was going through my books and getting all my bills paid off, I saw there was a letter from the Assiniboine Park Conservancy. Apparently they'd received a lot of feedback and would be reinstating the annual anniversary renewal instead of the set date. That is what we were looking for. We had contemplated a little letter-writing campaign, but it appears other folks took the quill from our complacent hands.
I'm glad that they changed their mind on the whole renewal motif, and I am very excited about the changes and upgrades the zoo is making. Also extremely stoke-worthy is the new collaboration between the Winnipeg Zoo and the San Diego Zoo; and for anybody that is in the know of zoos, San Diego is the bee's knees.
And yes, when they have the tundra buggy ready to drive through the new Journey to Churchill polar bear exhibit I will be standing in line!