Beef at the Zoo

Squabbling at the Oregon Zoo is generally confined to the monkeys flinging feces at one another. But amid a gloomy financial situation, the zoo finds itself fighting Portland's regional government over a suggestion for picking up more revenue: paid parking.

Thanks to the tag team of a regional economic slump and growing utility costs, the zoo is on track to lose about $950,000 this fiscal year. In response, Metro--the elected tri-county authority that runs the zoo--demanded that the zoo close the budget gap next year and find new ways to make money. One idea is to charge for parking, a move Metro councilor Rex Burkholder estimates could add up to $500,000 to the zoo's annual revenue.

Burkholder, who represents the Metro district that encompasses most of Portland, says zoo management refuses to consider this option.

"I've asked nicely about this for three years," says Burkholder. "I've tried to be patient, but there's a principle here. As Metro, we shouldn't be subsidizing car use. We should be encouraging light-rail use."

Burkholder says that when the zoo arranged to have a MAX light-rail stop built at its gates six years ago, management agreed to help pay for it by charging for parking. But zoo officials decided against paid parking at the last minute, and the zoo's share of the MAX debt is now being paid off through increased admission fees. Burkholder adds that an extra half-million in an annual $24 million budget would help maintain several jobs and services scheduled to be cut.

"We're laying people off this year, and a few hundred thousand dollars would make a huge difference," he says. "But they won't consider it unless we force them to."

Zoo director Tony Vecchio claims there's a very good reason why he doesn't want to charge for parking, though: He thinks attendance will plummet.

"My job is to get people to come to the zoo, but the people at Metro have other priorities," Vecchio says. "When we said we were going to institute paid parking in 1998, we were deluged with hate mail, angry phone calls and letters from people saying they'd cancel their membership or never come the zoo again."

Vecchio has instead asked Metro to approve an admission-fee increase of 50 cents to make up the budget gap. The zoo is currently scheduled to lay off nine employees and close an insect exhibit next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

WWeek 2015