Houston's Shitty Mayor picks fight with Zoo, tells them they're too expensive, didn't know he had access to 17,000 comped tickets.
Posted by
Qale (aka Qale)
Jun 24 '24, 17:48
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Mayor John Whitmire is upset about what he thinks are exorbitant costs to visit the city’s historic zoo and is vowing to do all he can to drive down costs for consumers.
He’s challenging zoo officials to cut costs at the attraction, while renewing questions about salaries for top administrators at the zoo.
“I don’t need spin or excuses from the zoo,” Whitmire said of the attraction, where tickets for a family of four can easily exceed $100. “It has become too expensive.”
Zoo officials, for their part, said the attraction is affordable and that few visitors pay the full admission price. A spokesperson also noted that the mayor received 500 free tickets to give residents this past January and that none of them have been redeemed. The zoo gives 17,000 single-day tickets to the mayor and City Council members to hand out as they wish.
“We're a cherished destination for Houston's diverse communities who visit our zoo to see our incredible animals and award-winning ecosystem habitat,” said Jackie Wallace, spokesperson for the Houston Zoo.
As the mayor ramped up his criticism, Wallace announced that the zoo would be doubling its free day ticket allotment from 10,000 to 20,000 tickets for its July 2, Aug. 6 and Sept. 10 free days. Tickets will be available 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The mayor, who took office in January, said he’s been concerned about zoo costs for years, since serving in the Texas Senate.
Whitmire said he did not know he had access to the tickets the zoo said were distributed. He later clarified his statement, saying they were given to his community outreach office and handed out to agencies like the YMCA and churches.
Mary Benton, the mayor’s spokesperson, said the office has given away 150 tickets.
Regardless of having free tickets, Whitmire doubled down on his affordability concerns.
“The zoo’s questionable hand out to city officials does not address the fundamental question,” Whitmire said.
The 55-acre Houston Zoo, located in Hermann Park, has been a community staple for more than 100 years. It’s home to more than 6,000 animals and 900 species, and draws 2 million visitors each year. It is the second most visited zoo in the country, behind the San Diego Zoo.
Houstonians pay more for full-priced general admission tickets to see animals like African lions, tigers and black bears at their local zoo than most Texans do at zoos in the state’s other major cities.
If a family of four booked full-priced general admission tickets this past Thursday for a Saturday trip, they would have paid $63 to $139 to get in the zoo. Unlike some other zoos, the Houston attraction allows outside food and drinks as long as it isn’t alcohol or in a glass container.
That same family of four would have paid between $28 to $108 for a weekend day at the Dallas Zoo and between $38 to $76 at the Austin Zoo.
Wallace challenged Whitmire’s assertion that the zoo is too expensive. She said only 34% of the zoo’s 2.1 million patrons in 2023 paid full price for admission.
The zoo uses dynamic pricing, so a family of four visiting the Houston Zoo would see different ticket prices depending on the day and the time they wanted to enter the park. That price fluctuates based on children’s ages.
Wallace said tickets are cheaper the further out you book, especially if you’re booking on a less popular zoo entry day.
While some customers pay full price, there are also many free or cheap ways to visit. Zoo members don’t pay full price, Wallace said, and college students, those coming in on school field trips, and those coming on any one of the zoo’s free days enter the park at no cost. Wallace said those with Lone Star Cards can get $9 children and adult tickets.
Despite the number of zoo patrons not paying full price, Whitmire said the zoo needs to be more affordable.
“It’s a public asset and they have outpriced many Houstonians,” he said.
While Whitmire takes issue with ticket prices, he also takes issue with how much the zoo’s administration is paid.
Houston Zoo CEO Lee Ehmke made more than $605,700 in 2022, according to a salary study provided by the zoo. The mayor makes $236,000 a year; the highest paid City of Houston worker is City Attorney Arturo Michel, who makes $318,000 a year.
Wallace said Ehmke’s pay is in line with leaders of other similarly sized zoos, and that his pay was in line with what other leaders are making at nonprofit attractions. Houston’s highest paid arts official is Fine Arts Museum CEO Gary Tinterow, who made more than $1.5 million in 2022, according to the same salary study.
The city has some say over ticket prices, mostly in the form of its contract with the zoo.
The zoo’s contract with the city limits how much the zoo can increase ticket prices in a given year, with a cap at 10%. Last year, the zoo could have charged $43 under the contract but only charged $33, Wallace said.
The mayor has some power in changing ticket prices through board appointments.
The City of Houston has seven members who sit on the 36-member Houston Zoo Inc. board, who are nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council, according to Scout Odegaard, the mayor’s senior adviser for boards and committees. Wallace said the 36 board members decide ticket prices with guidance from zoo employees.
The city also provides the zoo an annual subsidy. In 2023, that $10.5 million taxpayer subsidy covered 17% of the zoo’s operating budget, Wallace said. She added that it was critical to the quality and accessibility of the zoo.
If the city were to cut the subsidy, "it would significantly limit our ability to continue to provide free and low-cost access,” Wallace wrote in an email.
Whitmire said he supports having a great zoo and knows operations are expensive. He plans to review the city’s zoo subsidy, and said he would be taking the ticket and salary factors into consideration when it came time to make appointments for the city’s representatives to the zoo’s Board of Directors.
The mayor said that when he served in the Legislature, he raised zoo affordability issues to past zoo directors, but got nowhere. He has plans to speak to the current director soon.
“Maybe better results as mayor,” Whitmire said.
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