don't take sea lions home - they don't make good pets

[reddread]

5. and vice versa

the local operators made a hero out of a little girl who purportedly wrote a letter to the editor seeking support and funding for the zoo. In the aftermath an initiative was launched and passed called A to Z (Arts to Zoo) as a sales tax, I believe, perhaps a tenth of a percent. In the aftermath of that initiative's success a lawsuit or similar objections killed it due to some lack of clarity as to funds disbursement, iirc. In the aftermath of that decision, Measure Z was launched, with what I consider suspicious support from local conservatives at various levels. In the wake of yet another Measure Z passage, the largest, oldest downtown park, Roeding Park, a gift from the Roeding family with specific requirements for protecting the trees and precious greenspace in urbanic west Fresno has been remodeled, with lavish elaborations upon the Chaffee Zoo. The kind you make with cement.
Sea Lion Cove, "Stingray" Bay, and hopefully much more comfortable quarters for previous cramped mammals like Elephants, Hippos, Orangutans, Big Cats, etc etc.

But what the result appears to be is a brutally inconsiderate encroachment upon a severely rare resource, with considerable local use, disregarded in favor of upscale zoo visitors and now a FIVE DOLLAR entrance fee to the Park itself.
A park with ONLY ONE available shelter in rain.
A park that offers a mirror reflection of the nice facilities at Woodward Park uptown.
The sort of critters that love a seament pond are fairly fond of local politicians, too.