Comments

1
It's a regressive sales tax.

A regressive sales tax to provide more funding to one of the best funded zoos in the country. A zoo which has a documented history of participating in a sketchy grey market trade of exotic animals.

The elephants are no longer at the zoo because they are dead. They were sold off while suffering from disease and died shortly after being moved.

So paint the elephant folks as kooks or say "somebody think of the children!" but why not just increase admission for the zoo to cover a private organization's programs?

I normally vote yes on tax increases for things like this, but I'll be voting no, and I'm not a crazy person. This money should go directly to our underfunded schools instead of a private zoo. We have kids who can't even afford school lunch, teachers buying things like furniture, etc.
2
Seattle's greatest cultural contribution to the planet can be seen for free at all downtown parks, corners, doorways, and alleys. No sales tax needed.
3
Elephants never forget, Rich.

However, I did enjoy the phrase "trembling concern trolls."
4
@1. "The elephants are no longer at the zoo because they are dead. They were sold off while suffering from disease and died shortly after being moved."

ONE of the transferred elephants, Chai, is dead. The other, Bamboo, is still alive and well in OKC. Neither left Seattle ill. Chai's illness arose while she was in OKC and she died from complications of a badly deformed tooth which resulted in weight loss (because she could not eat well). A blood infection, also attributed to the tooth, is what ultimately killed her but her malnourished state was a contributing factor. None of this is secret information and took all of 20 seconds on the googles to find out.
5
This is a classic "throw out the baby with the bathwater" argument. WPZ is one of literally scores, hundreds even, of non-profit arts, culture, science, and heritage organizations that would benefit from Prop 1, most of which aren't even in Seattle, but rather are based in every part of King County. It's the equivalent of saying the entire third grade class shouldn't get a cookie, because one kid once had to take a time-out.
6
"TREMBLING CONCERN TROLLS" ? i understand you disagree with their shortsighted position, but is the name calling moving the ball down the field, so to speak?
7
After reading this opinion piece, I have to conclude that getting on the Stranger's writing team is about like becoming a licensed real estate agent: There's no barrier to entry.
8
I so agree, Marius!
9

Wow! Did someone steal your trike? Why do you feel the need to trash well intended opinions? I can’t say I read your column every week, but I find your rage at individuals disturbing, along with your nasty criticism of words spoken that you have obviously taken out of context.
I first met Alyne Fortgang when she was leading a peaceful vigil at the Woodland Park Zoo entrance for Watoto, one of the former elephant residents at WPZ who died in their care. I have followed the WPZ plight since then, along with many animal issues in our state. I, too, spoke at the Seattle County Council Meeting concerning “Access for All”, not as a representative of FOWPZE, but as a co-founder of Humane Voters of Washington PAC. I am not opposed to Access for All in totality, but because of how it is written and the organizations it includes. Woodland Park Zoo should be removed from the recipients of this tax. Zoos in general (WPZ included) are not appropriate education facilities, as you said yourself, “…Don't get me wrong. We must adjust our moral compass to include the concerns of non-human animals. What's better for them tends to be better for us. And let's face it: zoos are weird. They may even be inhumane”. Well guess what… it is ALWAYS time for our moral compass to dictate our actions! Why continue to give our precious tax dollars to an organization that displays animals in tiny, unatural areas, then tries to convince children that they are learning how animals live in the wild? Just because this tax allows funding for low-income families, doesn’t mean it should pass in this form. I assume you know that when a bill is introduced in state and federal legislature it rarely, if ever, is passed the first year. It has to be reworked, often several times, before it passes. This is what needs to be done with Prop. 1! Just because it will be on our ballot and it helps low-income residents, doesn’t mean its ready for total acceptance. Take it back to the drawing board and truly make this about culture and science, and yes, arts. Remove Woodland Park Zoo from the beneficiaries of this tax and I will support it.
10
Jayzus Cristo in mud-slinging heaven why are you so pointedly angry at people that have a genuine concern for other creatures? The elephant people are making a great point that including a private zoo as an "arts organization" is just wrong for this tax measure. If the zoo needs more money, then let a tax measure to support it stand on its own and let the people vote on that. To tuck the zoo into an arts and culture for the masses measure to give tax dollars to a $33M/year organization with a CEO with a $400k/year paycheck (I looked it up on the interwebs!) *that isn't an arts or culture organization* seems like something appropriate to raise attention to and vocally grouse about. I support the Elephant Ladies! They were right about how bad the transfer of the zoo's elephants to Oklahoma would be for those sad creatures (e.g. one of them is dead now), and they're right about this measure, despite your malicious snark.
11
What a nasty, inaccurate little piece. I thought we could depend on "The Stranger" for better journalism than this snarky diatribe. WPZ is not an arts, science nor cultural program. It is a money-making entertainment business which spouts a lot of blather about education and conservation (their contribution to conservation is minimal). Of course they "give something back" by dragging school children through the exhibits of pathetic, unnatural, imprisoned and unwilling animals.

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