The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Commentary

With the pressure of a multi-billion dollar budget deficit weighing her down, it's easy to see how Gov. M. Jodi Rell could get a little jumpy, pulling her fiscal six-shooter on every possible "bloat."

But the trigger-happy rescissionist has just committed some friendly fire. While there are admittedly worthy costs to be cut during this crisis, the already-scant budget of the Beardsley Zoological Gardens in Bridgeport doesn't deserve a spot in the line for Rell's budgetary guillotine.

The Beardsley Zoo is one-of-a-kind, in Connecticut at least. It's the only zoo in the state - and its annual allotment from the state government is already just a pathetic $380,000. Surely some blokes down in Fairfield County got Christmas bonuses bigger than the amount the wealthiest state in the nation pays for its only zoo.

Beardsley is also an essential piece of Connecticut's history. The zoo was an addition to the beautiful 52-acre Bridgeport Park, designed in 1884 by Frederick Olmsted - the designer of NYC's Central Park and the veritable founder of landscape architecture. Bridgeport's favorite son, P.T. Barnum, used the park to exercise his circus animals, and some of the zoo's first animals were donated by the Barnum & Bailey Circus.

But enough sentiments. The zoo is not only a unique part of Connecticut, but a beautiful, calming attraction in a city that needs all the beauty, calm and attractions it can get. The Nutmeg state already does a downright shameful job of attempting to integrate its poorest urban areas into the state's wealthy framework. $380,000 for a zoo and park that attracts 250,000 a year to the city of Bridgeport isn't too much to ask.

The Zoological Gardens' annual budget is only $3.2 million, and it stays afloat thanks to the support of over 90 active volunteers who pitch in over 5,000 hours each year.

"We've always run a lean operation," notes Gregg Dancho, the zoo director.

The choice Rell faces is between a poorly-funded zoo and the strong possibility of no zoo at all. If the zoo's budget is cut, it's likely it will have to close, and you can be certain it would cost the state far more than $388,000 to re-open the Gardens once that happens.

Not that the state probably would re-open the zoo, were it actually shuttered. Take the Pleasure Beach peninsula, the former home of a Bridgeport beachside community that has lain entirely derelict since the only access bridge was burned down in 1996, and was never rebuilt.

Rell needs to cut costs during this recession, obviously. But just as housing bubbles always pop, good times always come again. It would be a real shame to have an abandoned zoo lying around when the Nutmeg economy inevitably comes roaring back. If Rell approves the closing of the zoo in a moment of panic, all the state of Connecticut will regret it, now and forever.

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