On June 29, 2011, The Fresno Bee stated on its editorial page that "The zoo is scheduled to expand into 20 acres of the park" when the editorial board of The Bee knows full well that the project actually includes 21 acres for the zoo, 2 acres for Playland/Storyland and many additional acres for a greatly expanded Parking Lot, widened Park Boulevard and new entrance toll-gate all within Roeding Park to serve the commercial activities.
On August 18, 2004, during the "Yes on Measure Z" campaign, then Pelco President David McDonald was quoted in The Fresno Bee as saying, "The intent of Measure Z is not to grow the zoo, but rather revitalize and restore the zoo."
Yet, if you click on the link above, you can plainly see the zoo's expansion plan on the wall behind Dave as he presents it to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors a month before this statement.
The Bee also stated, on their editorial page on August 18, 2004 that "the zoo could increase slightly under some plans - 10 to 20 acres - but significant encroachment on Roeding Park is not being proposed by Measure Z."
In a September 1, 2004 letter to Roeding family members, former Mayor Alan Autry wrote, "The intent of Measure Z is to restore the zoo, not to substantially grow the zoo. One current estimate is that the zoo would only grow by about 10 acres to a total of approximately 28 acres."
Here's the truth, folks: The new Master Plan about to be adopted by the City of Fresno will give the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Playland and Storyland more than half of the remaining acreage of Roeding Park when the expanded parking lot in the heart of the park, new Park Boulevard and new toll booth entrance proposed off of Golden State Boulevard are counted. The Park's original 158.4 acres of open space will be reduced to 76 acres.
We challenge The Fresno Bee and current Mayor Ashley Swearengin to put a stop to the on-going deceptive language in public statements still being made by City and zoo officials (see below) today implying that the expanded zoo, park boulevard and new parking lots required for the zoo will not take up more than 39 acres of what's left of Roeding Park's green space. Using that logic, the acreages reported for all of Fresno's shopping centers shouldn't count their parking lots! How dumb do they think we are?
Even the Zoo Director continues to state publicly that "100 acres in the park remain open green space" under the Master Plans when he knows full well that the real number is 76 acres because 24 will be primarily paved parking lots needed to serve the expanded zoo. Perhaps they are planning to paint the asphalt green?