06-05-2025
Zoo New York advocates urge city to include funding for facility in upcoming budget
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways
May 5—WATERTOWN — Last year, Zoo New York supporters successfully lobbied the city to keep the facility at Thompson Park open.
On Monday night, about a dozen volunteers, members and fans of the zoo were back in front of City Council members to convince them to keep the zoo open, urging them to include funding in the city's proposed $59.1 million budget.
When he released the spending plan last month, City Manager Eric F. Wagenaar left out any money to support the zoo.
About 50 people packed the third-floor council chambers on Monday night for a public hearing on the financial plan, many of them urging council members to include financial support again this year. Some of them wore bright pink, red and yellow T-shirts with the words "I Love the Zoo" on the front.
Volunteer Leanne Frazee told council members that the zoo is too important for the community to lose. When she greets people at Zoo New York, Frazee always asks why they visit and where they are from.
Many of the visitors are young Fort Drum families who tell her the zoo is one of the few places that they can enjoy in Watertown with their children.
Just on Monday, Frazee spoke with a little girl riding in a wagon and wearing a birthday tiara. When the girl's mother finished paying admission to the zoo, Frazee learned that the family spent $125 for a family membership, rather than buying some toys for her birthday.
"It's my favorite story of the week," Frazee said.
Out of the nearly 20 people who spoke at the budget hearing, all but four spent their time at the podium talking up the zoo.
The other four people cautioned council members that they face an 18.8% proposed tax rate increase and that they have to make some difficult decisions before they pass the budget early next month.
City resident Frank Battista, who has attended budget hearings for years, said council members can't fund the zoo and the Thompson Park Golf Course because they will be a "long-term drain" on the city.
"They're not going to be popular decisions, but they are decisions you have to make," he said.
City resident Robert Avallone said council members will have to find $100,000 to reduce the proposed budget by 1%. That means that they'll have to cut $1.8 million to keep taxes at the same level as the current budget, he stressed.
As the zoo was ready to close its doors for good last year, council agreed to appropriate $275,000 to keep it going after the community came forward to express how much the zoo meant to them.
The Thompson Park Conservancy, the volunteer board that operates the zoo, says that it needs a $375,000 financial commitment from the city to keep its momentum going. The board also is requesting $375,000 from Jefferson County this year. So far, zoo board members have not heard whether the county will make the commitment.
Mark D. Irwin, the zoo's interim executive director, acknowledges that maybe council members are waiting to see what the county will do.
He reminded council members that 98% of the people who responded to a Jefferson Community College survey want the zoo to stay open. If it's not funded, it will be expensive to close and find homes for the animals.
"We'll be left with nothing to show for it," Irwin said.
Alfred L. Gianfagna remembered when then-Mayor T. Urling Walker got him and a group of people to come together 35 years ago to form the zoo. In those early days, there was no admission fee and no fence.
It's the only zoo in the state, the country and the universe that is dedicated to animals native to New York state, Gianfagna said.
"Did you wake up this morning thinking you could change the universe?" he asked.
Mayor Sarah V.C. Pierce and three of her colleagues did not respond to the funding request on Monday night. Only Councilman Cliff G. Olney did, saying that he was impressed by the supporters' passion for the zoo.
