Having worked in the aquarium industry I personally experienced an internal progression from "yay we're keeping dolphins in tanks where I can play with them" to "wow I agree with activists this is just wrong, I can't do this."

I agree that more press coverage is needed. The rapid turnover of executives I guess is them quickly seeing there was no way to be successful.  Who wants to sign up to be captain of a sinking ship?  

On my last visit to the zoo, my niece and I were terrorized by a duck flying into a monkey enclosure initiating a violent and relentless hunt by the monkeys to try and catch and kill the duck; the majestic tiger was completely bored out of his mind and doing very sad repetitive  behaviors common in caged animals.  I didn't leave with a lot of enthusiasm to return soon.

The city needs to really survey the population and decide if a zoo is the best public use of this spectacular parcel.