Seattle Press on Line - Trojan Horses at the Zoo

Trojan Horses at the Zoo

By Patricia Stambor

Dec 13, 2000 -- A circus at the zoo? You heard it straight from the horse's mouth. A recent Seattle Times article that sounds more like a Zoo Society press release (amazing what people get away with in the absence of labor unions) reports that next year an antique carousel will "make its debut at the Woodland Park Zoo." Will this be followed by train rides to see the new baby elephant, or bungee-jumping for an exotic bird's-eye view of the monkeys? Probably not, but you know what they say: Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. Beware of Greeks--or wooden ponies--bearing gifts you never asked for.

At first glance a carousel in the zoo's north meadow doesn't seem so harmful. Linda and Tom Allen, a well-meaning couple who have "long sought an antique carousel for the city," purchased this one for $1 million. Now they need a place to put it. They donated it to the Zoo Society and "opted" for the site at the Woodland Park Zoo.

The Zoo Society graciously accepted. Obviously, there could be plenty of revenue-generating horsepower behind those wooden ponies. All the Zoo Society has to do is raise $1.5 million for a structure to house the carousel, and then it can theoretically start reaping the profits and buy humane housing for the real animals.

Not surprisingly, the Times' front-page, typically non-news article cited no critics. The untold reason the Woodland Park location was chosen is because it's the cheapest available site for a 50-foot-diameter joy ride. Building space is hard to come by in Seattle, and parks have historically been used for projects with questionable public benefit.

Last year, lobbyists aggressively pushed legislation through that enabled the zoo and aquarium to be managed by private, non-profit organizations. Many applauded these efforts, but skeptics cautiously warned that this would make it all the more easy for private special interests to prevail over the public good.

Now the zoo is to be run like a business, and it appears that a CEO and a select, well-heeled board of directors are the new trustees and stewards of our public land. The jury is still out on whether they will successfully serve the broader public interest. For now, they have decided that a revenue-generating carousel is a good use of public park land. The horse's muzzle is under the tent flap. What's next?

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