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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 zoo more than half of the remaining acreage of Roeding Park when the expanded zoo parking lot in the heart of the park and new "grand entrance" proposed off of Golden State Boulevard are counted. The park's original 158.4 acres have long been reduced by the widening of Olive Ave, Belmont Ave and Golden State Boulevard decades ago, and the building of Highway 99 in the '60s. We challenge The Fresno Bee and new Mayor Ashley Swearingen to put a stop to the on-going misstatements that were still being made by zoo officials in 2007 and 2008 that the expanded zoo will not take up more than 25% of the current park.
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