<p>For those bemoaning the lack of things to do with children, maybe the Humboldt kids digest will help:<br> <br><a href="http://www.101things.com/mags/view_mag.php?ID=30&pgnum=1&large">http://www.101things.com/mags/view_mag.php?ID=30&pgnum=1&large</a>=</p>
<p>-byron<br><br></p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 2:32 AM, William Van Hefner <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:vantek@humboldtonline.com">vantek@humboldtonline.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">All,<br><br>First of all, I have nothing against the zoo. I also have a three year old<br>soon-to-be-stepson and a 7 yo daughter, so I am well aware of this area's<br>
lack of activities for small children. I make often use of The Duck Pond<br>at Sequoia Park, though it was obviously a lot nicer when there were<br>actually ducks there.<br><br>I am not saying that the zoo should receive NO funding of our tax dollars.<br>
What bothers me more than anything at the moment is that not only do I (as<br>a Eureka taxpayer) have to shoulder nearly the entire burden of paying for<br>the zoo, but now I am being asked to pay admission, to see a zoo that owes<br>
it's very survival to my city tax dollars. Why should I have to pay as<br>much as someone from Arcata, when NONE of their tax dollars are supporting<br>it? It's the double taxation that really bothers me. What's next? Charging<br>
me to walk on the city sidewalk, taking my kids to play in the city's<br>parks, a toll-road to Woodley Island, going to the beach?<br><br>As long as everyone has to pay the same, I would rather just give the zoo<br>to the city of Arcata, cut my tax bill by 10% and spend the extra $1 each<br>
trip on gas to drive there. It would save me enough money on taxes to take<br>my kids to the movies a few times each year.<br><br>I used to go to the zoo all the time. I haven't been there since they<br>started charging admission though. For the same amount of money, I can<br>
take my kids to the bounce-o-rama, which they seem to enjoy more, and<br>ironically GENERATES tax revenue for the city, not the other way around. I<br>fully support the current fundraising efforts for the zoo. I wish them the<br>
best of luck with the upcoming event.<br><br><br>--<br>William Van Hefner - President<br>Vantek Communications, Inc.<br>e-mail: <a href="mailto:editor@humboldtonline.com">editor@humboldtonline.com</a><br><a href="http://www/" target="_blank">http://www</a>,<a href="http://humboldtonline.com/" target="_blank">humboldtonline.com</a><br>
<br><br>On Thu, May 14, 2009 5:08 pm, Patrick Moon wrote:<br>> Wow...where to begin...<br>> First, if you can ignore all the blatant examples of "human dominion<br>> over animals" that are in our everyday lives, then it's a very wise<br>
> decision to not go to this one. Does my comment or yours really add<br>> anything to the discussion of a local fund raising event?<br>><br>> Second, I think the same goes for grumping over the cost to Eureka. You<br>
> don't think anyone knows about the zoo, I have the opposite view. Do you<br>> think it could be your circle of people are not interested in low cost<br>> engaging activities for kids? On that note though, if my circle of people<br>
> come from other cities (and some of them do) could that be bringing<br>> dollars into Eureka? You mention that it used to be a much larger portion<br>> of the cities resources (money) and is now much less. Good bit of<br>
> knowledge there but then you say that it is stupid that you have to pay to<br>> get into the zoo when "...1/10th of my tax money going to pay for<br>> something..." how do you not see causality in that?<br>
><br>> Personally I can totally see a case being made for Eureka to no longer<br>> shoulder all of the burden.<br>><br>> Patrick Moon<br>><br>><br>> P.S. I guess I am shooting my argument in the foot...but those 2 emails<br>
> increase my desire to go to the event and support the zoo... so there's<br>> that.<br>><br>><br>> M Welch wrote:<br>><br>>> I've been to the Eureka zoo three times in my 37 years in Humboldt<br>
>> County, the last time about 4 years ago (I guess I forget, or I hope<br>>> things have changed). To me, the animals seem miserable.<br>>><br>>> As much as I love both good, local beer and Kulica, I'd be hard-pressed<br>
>> to support such an ugly display of human dominion over animals.<br>>><br>> William wrote:<br>><br>><br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>List mailing list<br><a href="mailto:List@redwoodtech.org">List@redwoodtech.org</a><br>
<a href="http://redwoodtech.org/mailman/listinfo/list_redwoodtech.org" target="_blank">http://redwoodtech.org/mailman/listinfo/list_redwoodtech.org</a><br></blockquote></div><br>