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In today’s Pioneer Press, DFL Senator Ellen Anderson opines on the value of St. Paul's bonding request for $11 million for the Como Zoo and Conservatory (responding to the Minnesota Free Market Institute’s Craig Westover Pioneer Press column “Pet projects should compete head to head with roads, bridges”). Writes Anderson --
There are some local projects that belong in the bonding bill because they have significant statewide impact and leverage a great deal of private money.
One of these is the city of St. Paul's request for $11 million for Minnesota's only free zoo, the Como Zoo and Conservatory. Since the Como Zoo was constructed in the 1930s, it has been a statewide resource. Almost 2 million people, most of them from outside St. Paul, visit the zoo every year. St. Paul has always been proud to receive these visitors and, because of this, the city has identified the zoo as its top priority in its bonding request this year.
The state of Minnesota and other governmental entities have a long tradition of investing in the Como Zoo, dating back to Work Progress Administration projects in the 1930s and '40s. By granting the Como Zoo's request, the state will help the zoo improve its gorilla and polar bear exhibits and build larger outdoor spaces and viewing areas.
These investments will help ensure the health and vitality of the zoo's animals while allowing for more training and educational programs. The Como Zoo and Conservatory Society has also been conducting a local fundraising campaign that has raised more than $19 million in the past nine years, and the group is prepared to raise and invest additional funding to build on the state's investment.
The Como Zoo is a wonderful example of why all "local" projects cannot be dismissed as "presents for the folks back home." Some can have significant regional and statewide impact.
Westover responds –
“The case Sen. Anderson makes for Como Park funding is the transparency my column intended to illicit. State Resources are state resources, and Sen. Anderson is making her case for the Como Zoo improvements to its gorilla and polar bear exhibits. Her case should be judged next to specific road and bridge projects. It should also compete with University ofMinnesota bonding requests.
“In the Star Tribune, U of M president Robert Bruinincks lamented that the U’s percentage of the governor’s bonding recommendation dropped and blamed it on road a bridge funding. The U isn’t entitled to a percentage of the bonding bill – its projects should also compete on necessity and statewide value with specific roads and bridge projects and Como Zoo – and transit. State resources are state resources.
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