Tag: Memphis Zoo parking

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News News Blog News Feature

Memphis Zoo’s Main Lot Gets “Transformative” Repaving This Week

Credit: Memphis Zoo

The Memphis Zoo parking lot is about to ”undergo a transformative makeover” with a paving project but officials said it is not related to new overall parking agreement between the zoo and the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC).   

The zoo’s massive main lot will be repaved in a project that ”aims to enhance your parking experience and provide a more convenient and aesthetically pleasing environment.”

Work on the project begins Thursday and the lot is expected to re-open to parking on Sunday. Parking plans for Saturday include possible parking on the Overton Park Greensward.

Some new spaces were to be created on the lot after re-striping, according to the agreement between the zoo and OPC signed last year. However, no new parking spots will be added in the repaving project, according to zoo spokeswoman Rebecca Winchester, who noted that it is “just a repaving project.” 

Here’s a day-by-day breakdown of the project and what zoo guests can expect: 

Thursday

Guests will be directed to park in the Galloway lot. If the Galloway lot reaches capacity, we will utilize Rows B-H of the main parking lot for additional parking space.

Friday

Guests will be directed to park in the Galloway lot. Should the Galloway lot become full, we will utilize Rows I-M of the main parking lot for additional parking.

Saturday

Parking for guests will be arranged in the following order: Galloway lot, Greensward, and the main parking lot.

While the milling process may cause temporary unevenness in the main lot, rest assured that it will be safe for parking. Memphis Zoo Team members will be available to assist with parking.

Sunday 

Full use of the main parking lot.

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News News Blog

City’s Zoo Parking Plan Gets A ‘Nope, Nope, Nope’

The city’s concept for the Memphis Zoo’s expanded parking plan got a big thumbs down from park advocacy groups Thursday, reviews that can be summed up in three words: “Nope, nope, nope.”

Get Off Our Lawn filed an open records request for the proposal (so did the Memphis Flyer to no avail) and the group published it on Facebook Thursday.

Here’s the PDF of the plan:

[pdf-1]
“Approximately two acres of public parkland would be paved and converted to private use,” said the group’s Facebook post. “Nope, nope, nope.”

An equally stinging review of the plan was published by GOOL’s parent group, Citizens to Protect Overton Park (CPOP).

“We oppose this land grab,” read a Facebook post from CPOP. “There’s no good reason to sacrifice two acres of irreplaceable public parkland for a handful of private parking spaces.”

But the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC) and the city of Memphis urged patience in the process and explained that the plan published Thursday was a concept, and is by no means final.

Here’s OPC’s statement in full:

“We wanted to briefly talk about the parking project document that’s making the rounds on social media this afternoon.

This draft represents the City engineer’s first revision to the plan that was proposed at the July 19 City Council meeting. No action is meant to be taken based on this concept, and it will likely go through multiple rounds of revisions before construction documents are created.

In both the original July 19 draft and this July 27 draft, the ridgeline of the proposed berm separating the Greensward from the Zoo parking lot remains in the same place.

In the July 27 version, some of the additional Zoo parking spaces have been distributed closer to that ridgeline. This was done to visualize one option for accommodating the Council amendment that called for all spaces to be 10’ x 20′.

After reviewing this draft with the city engineer last month, Overton Park Conservancy asked for some changes to the document. Out of concern for the health of mature magnolias on the Greensward, we asked that the spaces added around those trees be redistributed. We also discussed the appearance that the section of Overton Park Avenue adjacent to the park will be opened to vehicular traffic, and it’s our understanding that it will not be.

The city is preparing to issue a request for proposals for a design firm to create the plan that will actually be implemented. We expect to see the next round of revisions during that process, which will also solicit input from the public. We’re eager to begin that phase and work together to resolve this long-standing issue.”

Here’s the city of Memphis statement:

“A draft map of parking plans at Overton Park is circulating social media, but we want to make sure you have the context for it.

It’s important to note that this map, which was obtained in a public records request, is just a concept that will be subject to more revision before construction. We are preparing to start the process to hire a design firm that will create the final plan.

We’ll work to keep you informed in the coming months as we seek public input and as this plan is implemented. In fact, we were already planning a meeting internally next week to get the ball rolling on communications and outreach plans.

We owe you a timeline on implementation, and we’ll check back in when we have it.”

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

The Winds of War

“Nice little trees you got there. Be too bad if something were to happen to them.” — Nicky “Big Panda” Flacco, Memphis Zoo press secretary

After years of simmering unrest, tension has been racheted to a fever pitch in Memphis’ Midtown district, specifically in the long-troubled region known as Overton Park. The natural areas of the park are controlled by the Overton Park Conservancy, but the park is also home to the Levitt Shell, the Memphis College of Art, the Brooks Museum of Art, and the Memphis Zoo.

In recent years, the Zoo has been flexing its muscle, annexing portions of the OPC-controlled zone known as the Greensward for overflow parking, and doubling down by charging money to its customers to park there. The OPC has filed several complaints with local authorities against the Zoo’s actions, and has gone so far as to put picket lines of volunteers at its border to stop the invasion of foreign vehicles. This has led to minor skirmishes: cars bumping protestors, angry complaints to local police, etc.

There had been an uneasy peace in recent weeks, but in the waning days of the Wharton administration, the Zoo obtained a letter from city council attorney Allan “Wood Chips” Wade that it claims gives it the right to annex the Greensward for parking. Then, without warning, the Zoo removed 27 trees that had been planted near the Zoo border in 2012 by the OPC.

A local faction supporting OPC called Get Off Our Lawn (GOOL) reacted vociferously, staging a plant-in, complete with a marching band, signs, and flags. Emotions were at a boiling point. There was open talk of war.

Then things really got out of hand …

Secret Zoo documents obtained by GOOL leaders were released showing that the Zoo had designs on annexing Rainbow Lake for a proposed “AutoZone Crocodiles of the Nile” exhibit, and also had plans to take over portions of the Old Forest for an interactive “Jack Links Messin’ With Sasquatch” diorama.

The Zoo responded by saying it had uncovered evidence that GOOL operatives had infiltrated its Northwest Passage exhibit via the Lick Creek aqueduct and planted kudzu, privet, and poison oak. GOOL denied the charge but did not rule out the possibility of future guerrilla planting raids. “We have thousands of seedlings,” said a GOOL spokesperson. “We would hate to have to use them, but the Zoo may force our hand.”

Then, on Monday, 87-year-old golfer Myron “Stroky” Teitlebaum was taken hostage by the Zoo after he bladed a 7-iron across the “Geezer Strip” into Zoo property and tried to retrieve his ball. An anonymous GOOL spokesperson told a WMC Action News 5 reporter that “getting a few meerkats out of there wouldn’t be that difficult,” and that such an action might be necessary in order to arrange a prisoner exchange. “Stroky is not in good health,” she added. “He needs his fiber pills.”

The Zoo then announced that it would begin a program called “Free Tank Parking Tuesdays” on the Greensward, and that it had made a deal with Sunrise Pontiac GMC to open a dealership on the land now occupied by the Overton Bark dog area.

“We get a million visitors a year,” said Zoo president Chuck “You and the Horse You Rode In On” Brady. “We’ll do whatever we have to do to keep them happy, if you get my drift.”

Alertly sensing that there just might possibly be a problem in Overton Park, the new Strickland administration announced that Secretary of State John Kerry would arrive in Memphis this week to try to bring all parties to the table for peace talks.

That’s where things stand as of this writing. We can only hope that cooler heads will prevail and that lasting peace can somehow be achieved in this turbulent region. Our children’s futures depend on it.

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Opinion Viewpoint

A Zoo Solution?

CREDIT: overtonpark.org

overtonpark.org

Overton Park Greensward

Unpopular admission of the day: I’m kind of a cynic about saving the Overton Park Greensward. The Greensward is the parcel of land that sits adjacent to the Memphis Zoo in Overton Park, which has been frequently repurposed as an overflow parking lot on heavy traffic days at the Zoo. It’s hard to miss the green yard signs, visible everywhere within the Parkways, that implore us to “SAVE THE GREENSWARD!”

It’s not that I’m an advocate of people parking their cars in a place that should be rightly used for hacky sack, pop-up aerobics, and dog-and-frisbee stuff.

Parking is undoubtedly a bad use of Overton Park, which was designed as a space for repose at the turn of the century, part of a national movement for more peaceful urban surrounds. Considerate people should leave their minivans elsewhere and put in the pedestrian time it takes to enjoy the Teton Trek or the Hippo Camp. (Side note: the Zoo should have called this the HippoCampus because, come on, hilarious!) Overton Park may not be the most stunning of American vistas, but it is ours, and we love it, and it would be great if people didn’t park their vehicles there.

My generalized apathy about the fate of the Greensward is that the campaign feels frivolous, compared to some of the other objectionable stuff we have going on in this city. I’d be happier in a world where “SAVE THE GREENSWARD!” signs were, if not replaced, at least accompanied by little beseechments to “TEST THOSE RAPE KITS ALREADY!” or “STOP MESSING AROUND WITH PUBLIC EDUCATION!”

I’ve resolved, though, that the only way to save ourselves the trouble of having to think about the Greensward is to actually save the Greensward. Thankfully there is an easy way to do this, and do it cheaply.

Here’s the pitch: Younger Memphians, myself included, may not recall a time when people accessed the Zoo from the eastern side of Overton Park, back before there was that dumb plan to put I-40 through Overton Park. (Credit where credit it due to those not-in-my-backyard crusaders.) This was in the 1970s, when the area that now houses the end of Sam Cooper Boulevard was a neighborhood. People either walked through the park or down N. Parkway, where there used to be a Zoo entrance on a part of the property that now houses an employee parking lot.

Though there are still a few residential streets between Summer and Sam Cooper, this is no longer a viable parking plan. You’d be better off parking in the Evergreen neighborhood or spending time waiting in the cluster of cars that blocks up McClean on low-ozone-warning summer mornings. But the area around the eastern side of the park is about to change: At the beginning of November, the Tennessee Department of Transportation put the eight acres of unused land that sits on either side of the East Parkway/Sam Cooper intersection up for sale. The largest of the lots is just under five acres; the smallest is just over half an acre. No date has been set for the sale, yet, but local media have reported that Loeb Properties has expressed serious interest in acquiring the parcels.

To whomever it may concern: That land, or at least, some of it, should be turned into parking for the Zoo. You could fit 750 parking spots on that five-acre lot. The Zoo could run a shuttle — or a trolley or a beer bike or whatever — in between E. Parkway and its main entrance, allowing visitors to see beautiful wooded areas of the park. George Kessler, the park’s designer, who kept company with landscape architecture giants such as Frederick Law Olmsted, would be proud. We would all be relieved.

During chillier seasons, when zebras and humans do not seek each other’s company, the land could be used in other ways. We should get imaginative. Maybe take Crosstown Arts’ lead and create a cheaply-rentable outdoor space for cook-outs and concerts. Or host roller hockey events and food truck meet-ups or town-hall-style meetings. There are ways that this could be fun, environmentally conscious, and turn a profit.

We need a parking lot. We want more great public spaces. What we don’t require is condos. Please. No more condos.

Eileen Townsend is a writer for Memphis magazine and The Memphis Flyer.