Mayor Mentions No Changes In Management Structure - Unpacking Director's Resignation Media Attention Pt Two

Heading into the closing hours of the weekend, and once again I'm attempting to tackle finishing posts in draft.  Other than sharing stuff about the Animals, I don't want to blog anymore.  These posts in draft are a weight.  The post topics that swirl in my mind are a weight.  They are all long overdue for posting, for documenting.  Their hovering in limbo cause me anxiety.  I need to be done, but I press on, because I feel an obligation to document every last bit of residue regarding the former Director's path of destruction, and how it might possibly affect Our Zoo's future.  

Much may be a repeat of what I've said before, but I try to make every post stand alone, and particularly lately as most, like this one, are sent to City Officials.  Often written, specifically for that reason.  

July 1st, the day the media reported the former Director's retirement, news sources also quoted the Mayor.

"Lurie, in a statement Tuesday, said that “under new, stable leadership, the San Francisco Zoo has the opportunity to reach new heights.  I want to thank Tanya Peterson for her service to the Zoo and our City.  I look forward to working with the Board and the new leadership to improve our Zoo and fulfill the rare and exciting opportunity to bring Pandas to our City.”

For the purpose of this post, I want to focus on the Mayor's words regarding "leadership".  I'll attack the Panda situation in following posts.

Words from the Mayor sound like the only change will be in a new Director/CEO.  What about the malfunctions of the Zoological Society Board and the RecPark in this whole mess of the last seventeen years ?

What happens if changes, or at the very least the defining of these entities roles doesn't happen?  Will there be instances of mismanagement that are again ignored by the Board and RecPark, the City Department tasked with oversight?  Will there still be domination by suits over Animal Care professionals and other staff that have no voice, but yet have more knowledge?

Our Zoo is off to a fresh start, with the addition of a COO (Chief Operating Officer), Cassandra Costello, who is currently also Co-CEO (Chief Executive Officer/Director), along with the previously installed CFO (Chief Financial Officer), Jeff Pace.  Since she was hired before the forced resignation of the former Director, I will assume she will stay on after a new Director is hired.  Once that happens I hope she partners with someone on Animal Staff, considering she, like the former Director, have no experience in managing an Animal Care Facility.  That by no means devalues her, I have long thought it completely necessary for Our Zoo to have a top level "manager", another factor that the former Director did not possess.  It seemingly would prevent a dictatorship.  Another reason why I put forth the idea of a Cooperative style management, made-up of a team.  I think having formed this Co-CEO team is a start, and if someone from Animal Care was added to the team that would not only be ideal, but an asset.  It may even prove to be a winning combination, and negate the need for a new Director, at least for a period of time to see how effective that team could be.  Saving that huge salary would be a bonus and could go towards overdue Animal Needs.

That all said, it has been a thought of mine whether the Board will let her do her job, or find fault, even be resistant, to changes she might want to make, because their support for the former Director was overridden by the Mayor.  This is another reason why it's important that a restructure, and definition of roles within complete management (Board and RecPark), should take place.

I hope the Mayor will stay true to his words and be involved with Our Zoo through this transitional time.  I hope he educates himself on where the pyramid of power broke down.  Indeed, the former Director is to blame, but so are those who enabled her by ignoring their responsibilities.  Those people include the RecPark General Manager and Commissioners, and the Zoo Board Members, some supporters still seated.  I think it's important to document this as leaving extended management entities status quo, seems like continued negligence.  This is the time to get it right.  It may be the last chance Our Zoo has to thrive and survive into the future.

The Zoological Society Board proved to be biased in their blind support of the former Director.  Members have taken no active action to gain any knowledge about the Zoo, other than what the former Director told them.  The Zoo cannot have a Board who doesn't know anything about the facility it governs, that is not managing.  That is not caring.  They treat the Zoo like their private club, keeping their roster biased, even installing Docents on the Board in seats meant for Community Members.  Their officer election meeting is supposed to be open to all Zoo Members, yet is closed to those who have raised questions.

The RecPark acts like the Zoo is not even a part of their Department.  Three Commissioners sit on the Joint Zoo Committee, and have been useless in oversight, and dismissive of Keeper Staff when they have tried to bring attention to issues.  I have taken massive aim at them for their continued negligence in responsibility to the Bison Paddock.  They refused to include the Zoo in their Perimeter Fence project, saying they can pay for it themselves, even though they installed over a mile of fencing around the Botanical Garden, a department facility also privately managed, just like the Zoo.  They have never mentioned the Zoo's upcoming events in their newsletter.  They can't even put a Zoo pole flag near Bison.  

The Board and certainly the RecPark, especially after Commissioner Mazzola's bewilderment of the state of the Zoo, and offense at being questioned for RecPark's negligence, need to recognize their part in the state of Our Zoo.  These people need to uphold their responsibility to Our Zoo.

I had planned to reiterate a synopsis of my Restructuring Management post from last October, but it's just too much to tackle.  I'll link it at the end.  It's a decent read for anyone who cares to think about ways to make things better.  It details my opinion, ideas, thoughts, about what a healthier Management could look like.  I took time to really think about the structure, with fairness in mind.  Since I've learned some things in the ten months since I put those ideas out there, I may have another go at it.  It's still a solid frame, but can also be a fluid outline, that might benefit some tweaking.  Not that I have any say in the matter, but like other ideas I publish, at least I'm thinking about things and how to make them better for Our Animals and Our Zoo.

I have not read through it since I published it, but have thought about the structure.  I know I had something similar outlined, but for the sake of this post and for what, in my opinion is probably the most necessary component of a restructure, I'm going to put forth something.  In my opinion, at least two VPs on the Animal Care Staff, and at least one Senior Keeper (not Curator, but representative of the Keeper Staff), should be part of the Board, and be at least one of the three Board Members who sit on the Joint Zoo Committee panel.  While that is completely doable in the snap of a finger, under the current structure, not one Zoo Staffer is on the Board.  This means they have no say in what happens in the Zoo's Animal Care Dept, even though they, not Zoological Society suits, are boots on the ground in Our Zoo, an Animal Care Facility.  There is something very wrong with that.

Furthermore, if no Animal Care Staffer is allowed to sit on the Board, then they should at the very least have a seat on the Joint Zoo panel.  There must be a better balance in a situation that involves Lives, as Our Zoo does.  It cannot be such an unbalance of power, especially when the power side is an uneducated entity.   Case and point, the Animal Welfare Commission Report, that was initiated by two Joint Zoo members, who sought the opinions of four Animal Activists, all who are proponents of seeing all Zoos close.  The outcome was a nit pick list of issues that would require 100s of million dollars to attend to, and that's if every issue was even justified.  Point is, Animal Welfare representatives who sit on the Joint Zoo Committee, are so uneducated in Zoo's, that they exclusively sought out Activists, instead of including Zoo Staff.  And then, submitted it to the Zoo and Board, as some kind of bible.  I found it outrageous and irresponsible.

I tried to keep from rambling, but as we enter the era of new beginnings, many of my recent and subsequent posts could serve as the last documentations on all the past wrongs, fails, and frankly bullshit, from the last seventeen years.  Hopefully some of it brings Awareness and Enlightenment to those who can make the changes Our Zoo desperately needs.

NOW is the Time for Change. 

Change for the Betterment of Our Zoo.

Related Posts:

*The Change That's Needed To Save Our Zoo - Part Two - Restructuring Management

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-change-thats-needed-to-save-our-zoo_19.html

*The Change That's Needed To Save Our Zoo - Part One - Current Management

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-change-thats-needed-to-save-our-zoo.html

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Blogger's Statement

"Personal Opinions and Facts presented publicly are Not against the law or any rules. ... Censorship and Retaliation Actions in an attempt at Suppression are frowned upon by Healthy Societies."

For Full Statement see this post:

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-zoo-status.html

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I used to use (search) labels, but too often forget.  I started noting "Hot Topic" in title, but fell lax on that.  Now I'm just going to add labels, keywords, etc., here at the bottom with hashtags.  Does it help in searches, who knows.

#SanFrancisco , #SanFranciscoZoo , #Zoos #SanFranciscoZoologicalSociety , #SanFranciscoZooDirectorTanyaPeterson , #SanFranciscoRecreationAndParksDept , #SanFranciscoMayorLondonBreed ,

#SanFranciscoMayorDanielLurie

#AssociationOfZoosAndAquariums , #AZA , #SpeciesSurvivalPlan , #SSP , #Animals , #Wildlife , #Nature , #AnimalWelfare , #AnimalCruelty , #AndeanBear , #KomodoDragon , #Chimpanzees ,  #PatasMonkey , #Fossa , #Orangutans , #Barriers , #PerimeterFence, #Pandas #Bison