Everyone is welcomed (well, almost everyone) to the Oakland Zoo for its Earth Day,April 14. The theme this year is “Action for Animals”. Local environmental organizations have been invited for a fee of $30 to set up a table and bring informational materials about what they do to protect the environment. It is suggested that groups may want to bring materials to conduct letter-writing campaigns to further their cause. The event is described on the zoo’s website:
Tag Archives | Oakland Zoo
Earth Day at the Oakland Zoo: New and Improved Greenwashing?
FollowOne huge hunk of Swiss Cheese: the “environmental report” for the Zoo’s “conservation” theme park
The Zoo's crowded parking lot
During the multiple public hearings leading up to City Council approval of the Zoo’s “conservation” theme park in June, 2011, we heard a lot of talk about the environmental review document for the proposed development. Waving around a City-prepared report that comprised hundreds of pages, some development enthusiasts claimed that the environmental impacts of the project had been subjected to an unusually thorough level of scrutiny. Well, don’t buy it. The problem is that in environmental review, it is quality—not quantity—that really matters. This report is one huge hunk of Swiss cheese: riddled with holes big enough to drive an elephant through.
Oakland debt will be raised with zoo’s new multi-million dollar aerial gondola
The Oakland Zoo expansion plan being pursued by zoo management with the approval of the Oakland City Council includes a big and expensive aerial gondola.
You might ask, with the new City Administrator, Deanna Santana, noting in her December budget letter that the City doesn’t have money to replace aging fire pump and ladder trucks, or pay off the debt from past City projects, or keep the City infrastructure safe,…why would Oakland choose to go further into debt to help buy and maintain the expensive cars, wires, power equipment, and massive columns for a big new zoo gondola.
Oakland Cheats the Environment Again at Knowland Park
Coastal scrub and Alameda whipsnake habitat cut this past week in Knowland Park.
Crews were out this past week cutting trees and shrubs in 15-foot swaths on either side of the fire roads leading into the park, creating habitat loss and the further invasion of weeds like french broom, poison hemlock, and thistles. (The accompanying photo shows native coastal scrub. The remaining yellow-flowering shrub on the left is french broom.) Assistant Fire Marshal Leroy Griffin stated that the work was necessary to maintain emergency access for fire engines.
Oakland Planning Commission votes in favor of Zoo expansion
The Friends of Knowland Park, as part of the Knowland Park Coalition, filed an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of the Zoo’s amended master plan and allowing no EIR to be filed.
A hearing on the appeal before the City Council is scheduled for June 21, at 6:30 PM.
Click here to see the agenda…
Click here to see the Clerk’s summary and attachments…
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