How many ways are there for the City Hall bureaucrats to make people angry at government? Down at Fresno City Hall, the one on P Street, they're just looking for ways to get into your pocketbooks, even when it doesn't even make sense. Now they are ripping off county residents who voted to increase their sales taxes to pay for the Chaffee Zoo. Check out this story in today's Bee about the issue.
This is a zoo, by the way, that City Hall let deteriorate, and then asked for a taxpayer bailout. And this is the thanks that Mayor Alan Autry's team gave county taxpayers: We're going to mess with you until you can't see straight.
Someone needs to wake our absentee mayor up from his lameduck slumber, and tell him the people he's left in charge are doing really dumb things while he's sucking down lattes at his favorite north Fresno Starbuck's. The latest City Hall bungling surrounds the effort to make non-city residents pay more to use our parks than city residents.
While this simple-minded approach may seem to make sense on the surface, the more you get into it, the dumber the policy is. First, the city has no way of determining who every county resident is when asking them to pay more to get into Roeding Park. Second, a kindergartener couldn't have devised a more ham-fisted way of refunding the extra money they have to pay to get into the park and then the zoo.
The City Council should stop this terrible policy in its tracks. Mayoral candidates Henry T. Perea and Ashley Swearengin should be railing against this stupidity.
Here are a couple of crucial paragraphs from today's story by Bee reporter Marc Benjamin:
Fresno's plan to charge nonresidents an extra $2 to enter popular city parks has rattled the cages at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.Roeding Park -- the zoo's home -- is one of the places targeted for the higher fee, and zoo officials think that could undermine countywide support for the zoo.
City officials say they may have a point. They now plan to give zoo patrons a break, but even the proposed compromise leaves some zoo officials with concerns.
The city charges $3 for any car entering Roeding, the Regional Sports Complex or Woodward Park. Starting Tuesday, non-Fresno residents will have to pay $5. If the compromise set for discussion during a special City Council meeting Tuesday is approved, the increase at Roeding would be delayed.
Also under the compromise, zoo visitors who live outside of Fresno would still be able to get into Roeding for $3 if they show a membership card. If they're not members, they could get the additional $2 reimbursed at the zoo entrance, and the city would reimburse the zoo.
City Manager Andy Souza went into his bureaucratic speak when explaining the mess to The Bee. He admitted the problem of county residents helping to pay for zoo improvements, and added that it was a "nuance" that City Hall didn't think about when putting to gether plans for the $2 increase for Roeding Park.
Tip to taxpayers: When a government bureaucrat talks about "nuance," hang onto your wallet.
The amazing thing is that when the change in the Master Fee Schedule (of which this non-resident surcharge was a part) was considered by the Fresno City Council on April 1st and again on April 15th, not a single member spoke out in opposition to this fee.
And there will be the "Breathing Volume Tax" "A" cup ladies will pay the least, and up the line. My 36 DDD size will make me pay a lot more; plus an assessment for being a potential environmental hazard.
Fresno bureaucratic French must be a different language than French. That Fresno County residents are helping to pay for the Zoo improvement, but shall have to pay more to get into the park, is not a "nuance" but a factor, a component of the whole. But certainly not a nuance.
I always get a kick out of the pro-shop at Riverside golf course, (big Muni) demanding an extra 2 bucks for Clovis golfers...
Mr. Reed is totally wrong in his statement. When this proposed fee was brought to the Council I spoke aggressively against it and voted no on the changes to the master fee schedule because of this ridiculous extra fee. Mr. Reed, get your facts straight before you make these incorrect accusations.
I stand corrected. The meeting minutes reflect that Councilmembers Duncan and Dages did speak in opposition to the non-resident fee for entry into the parks.
This is a result of the county island issues that have plagued us for decades. Certain ballot measures do better when the county islands are included.
If some of ya'll would get out of town every once in a while, you'd know that many city/counties have different fees for residents/non-residents. This doesn't stop people from visiting them, in fact they often have nicer facilities.
The only thing that confuses this issue is that county island residents paid for a sales tax for the zoo and the city is considering a resident/non-resident fee...boring.
There are better ways to raise revenue for parks than checking the ID of everyone who enters one to see if you can snag them for an extra $2.
It's not just the zoo that'll be harmed - it's Rotary Playland/Storyland, the Shinzen Garden, Woodward Shakespeare Festival, etc.
Providing discounts to city residents who participate in actual recreational programs, maybe. Charging "outsiders" more just to visit one of our "Regional" parks? C'mon.
Let's not put "locals only" gates around the city.
My daughter still has a measure Z elephant on her wall. Was voting for that a waste? We live outside the city and no Mr. Souza, we don't pay Fresno city property taxes, but we still pay property taxes. It also costs us a lot more in gas to get to the zoo and the parks. Then to get in, $2.00 extra per person doesn't seem like much until you roll in a family of 5 with each kid bringing a friend. Now it becomes less attractive to go in the first place.
If the city wants to increase revenues at these attractions, make them more of an attraction.
In all honesty, the Chaffee Zoo is a nice zoo for a city like Fresno. Most cities the size of Fresno don't have one. The zoo's problem is that it has a small population to draw from. Most of us have seen it before. It's not the sort of thing a family does once a month because every month would be the same. Once everyone has seen it, then what? If it were up to me, I'd find ways to make it more eventful more often. Fresh things to keep the turn styles turning. Maybe it's just me but I don't think I'd be stacking up reasons to keep people away.
we need more traffic roundabouts installed like they have on chestnut by save mart center and riverpark , to keep yraffic moving the less the cars , need to stop the cleaner the air will become .
We could have toll roundabouts for out-of-town folk.
The roundabouts I have seen in Paris and Vienna were a necessity for many streets pouring into one place in a star pattern, but Fresno is well served with 4-corner intersections.
How about raising the price of food, shows, and rides by a 20 cents across the board at the park?
Or lay off some people or get rid of some animals that costs money to maintain.
What would a private enterprise do? Or does this make too much sence?
Private enterprise would probably close the place, lay off all the workers, sell the assets, then give upper management a big bonus.
I feel that too much of our public domain had been turned over to private enterprise, without them showing any improvements for the public good?
I am uneasy! Aren't the animals the alpha and omega of a zoo?