Just trying to find a place to park

I know, I know, it's been quite a while since I last posted on this blog. It's not my fault, really. I've been circling the parking lot at the zoo trying to find a sliver of a spot to put my car! Since I arrived at the zoo, one of my projects has been to shepherd plans for a new parking lot through the maze of government entities required to get anything done in the name of progress. A year later and I'm still playing shepherd. And as you can tell from the photo above, additional parking is sorely needed at Elmwood Park Zoo. If you have a friend who has a friend who knows someone who has a friend in local, county or state government, do me a favor and just innocently ask about parking at the zoo. Who knows, once we get this thing built I may just have more time to write!

Time for an update

While I find it believe March was the last time I wrote on this blog, I kinda can as well. I posted the name change right after leaving Digital First Media and my role as senior editor over the Philadelphia cluster of newspapers. And then...wham! It's been a crazy few months and I don't see it letting up any time soon. I've had a small consulting firm chugging along for the past four years and then I landed a very special client. The Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown is becoming a premier destination for all of southeastern Pennsylvania, and I couldn't be more excited to be working with the talented staff in helping spread the word about all the great things going on there and all about the great things to come! Most recently was the "Beast of a Feat," the zoo's annual fundraiser, and coming up on August 4 is the annual Wine Safari. Big picture... the $5 million Trail of the Jaguar opened in May, and there are plans on the books for several more huge exhibits. My biggest challenge right now is getting all of the paperwork for a new parking lot pushed through the various governmental bodies that want to have a hand in making sure we know what we're doing. Once the new parking lot is in place, we're going to be drawing in thousands more visitors than we did just last year, when attendance reached more than a half million. So things are going great here. If you want to stop by for a visit just shoot me an email at cuttingboardco@gmail.com. Thanks for watching!

Name change seems appropriate

Changing the name of the blog just seemed like the right thing to do after I left Digital First Media and The Times Herald. This space will remain pretty much the same, though. I'll give you my thoughts on why things are the way they are, and I'll also make sure to continue to ask some of the tough questions. The name change is today's topic though. For those of you who don't know, my departure from the world of journalism came about after a few years of dabbling in the consulting world and eventually landing a pretty sweet gig with Elmwood Park Zoo. I've known the director for years and we've always talked about me coming to the zoo and the timing was right for it to finally happen. So, back to the new name of the blog, which includes the name of my consulting company, CuttingBoard. We put it all on the cuttingboard is a slogan we've used for the business, and I thought it might just work here since the concept is pretty much the same. Put as much as you want, on any topic, on the cuttingboard and slice it and dice it until you come up with at least some answers and hopefully some solutions. If you have a particular topic you want to throw out, please do. Until next time...