My 8 year-old son wins the day on this one. He loves tigers (enough so that he braved the taunts of his classmates and his brother to root for Detroit in the World Series -- I was proud of him. But I digress). So he's been lobbying me to vote Yes to help the animals. I have personal experience of how the zoo is a good recreational and educational resource -- we had family memberships and went many times when our kids were little. The zoo looks like it could use some help. They say they need to renew the animal care facilities. The cost ($1/month for each residential parcel) is reasonable.
On the other side, concerned neighbors and some environmentalists (the California Native Plant Society, for example) believe that passing this parcel tax will help the zoo do an extensive expansion elsewhere in Knowland Park. I don't know enough about that proposed expansion to know whether I'd think it is awful. I'm sure that passing this tax might make that more financially feasible for the zoo; it is true that the expenditure plan is broad and can apparently be changed easily.
But zoo expansion into Knowland Park is not what's on the ballot -- there's a different decision-making process for that, going through Oakland City Council. The ballot question is whether I'll pay $1/month to support zoo operations. I will: Yes on A1.
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I think the zoo is counting on the appeal to 8 year olds of charismatic megafauna, and on their parents and others of voting age not having time to sort out the details of this measure.
It's true the measure does not directly address the expansion - and from everything I've seen and heard, that's because the more that people know about the expansion, the more alarming it seems. The zoo simply doesn't want to discuss the expansion; their mantra seems to be "if you care about animals, vote for A1".
There's a lot of information about both the expansion and A1 at http://www.saveknowland.org/ and the CNPS conservation blog at ebcnps.wordpress.com. The CNPS / Save Knowland folks strike me as much more open and trustworthy than anyone I've heard from the zoo. I'd rather spend my dollar a month preserving the native bobcat and mountain lion habitat we still have rather than expand the cage space up into the park.
I decided to vote against A1. Adding expansion plans that threaten native plants is not a good idea. A more tightly focussed measure would probably get my approval.
p.s. The word "Save" turns me off. It has an alarmist tone to it. It's not enough to make me vote for or against something I think makes sense, but it is a strike against it. In this case I voted against A1, in spite of the Save Knowland Park label.
Thanks John & Phil for your feedback. I've gotten other blowback by email, more than on any other issue in this election, largely on the expansion. So I am rethinking my vote.
My leaning remains the same: I support what is on the ballot ($ for zoo operations). And the thing that seems to motivate the opposition (potential zoo expansion) seems like it is dealt with in different planning/political venues.
To make a comparison -- I oppose several expansions that BART does, but I supported revenue measures to support their general operations, because I know how hard it is for them to come by that money.
The difference, it seems to me, is that BART is a public agency, while the zoo is a private nonprofit that somehow has the ability to ask voters to levy taxes. Hmm.
I guess I don't see why defeating this measure will have a marked impact on the zoo's ability to do its expansion. And why the opponents of expansion would have a much harder time stopping it if the measure passes.
Open to being educated ....
The zoo doesn't want to frame the discussion of this measure around the expansion because they know that would be a lot less warm and fuzzy than "A1 for the animals".
But the measure doesn't say they're going to spend it on zoo operations - if you look at section 2.30.010(H), "expanding" and "construction of new facilities" are clearly allowed.
This information doesn't get out easily because the zoo has a lot more resources at their disposal to blitz people with the message they want us to hear - I've gotten dozens of mailings and robocalls from them; in fact, as I was writing this post I got a call - when I asked whether the money was going to be used to expand into Knowland Park, I was told "I don't know anything about the measure; I'm not from your area".
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