Neighbors Chase Zoos Blues Away

After reading April and June cover stories in The Queens Courier about the Queens Zoos struggle to remain open despite city budget cuts, tenants in the Roger Williams Building in Kew Gardens decided to raise funds to keep the animal habitat in Flushing-Meadows-Corona Park.
"When we heard the Queens Zoo might close, we were very upset," said Ruth Capo, chairperson of the apartments house committee. To raise money, she and other committee members Sandy Gagliano, Rosemary Silverman, Barbara Hopkins, Kathy Polhill and Carolann Wright held a flea market in the park next to their building on June 14, which raked in $700 for the zoo. Capo said tenants donated various items for sale.
"Everyone pitched in," said Sandy Gagliano, pointing to one animal lover in particular, her three-year-old daughter, Gaby, who helped distribute fliers for the event.
"We would have raised more, but we had to run," said Gagliano, explaining that the swap meet was cut short due to a torrential downpour. The buildings board of directors, led by president Bill Wright, matched the funds, bringing the total zoo donation to $1,400.
"With help from people like you, we are able to move forward," said Queens Zoo executive director Robin Dalton, who received the donation at a July 28th ceremony.
As The Queens Courier spotlighted in its cover stories, up until the final weeks of budget negotiations between the City Council and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the future of the zoo was in limbo.
The zoo garners only 15% of its operating costs from its ticket sales and concessions. The majority of its funding comes from the city, which contracts the Wildlife Conservation Society to run the boroughs zoos. However, until the final days of the last fiscal year, the mayor had slated $5.8 million in cuts to the Brooklyn and Queens Zoo, which would have closed the two. In 11th-hour negotiations, Bloomberg and the city council found funding to keep the two zoos open, though their budget was slimmed by $1 million.
Dalton said that despite the budget restorations, his zoo was $500,000 short and had to do some painful belt-tightening, including laying off employees. The executive director said that the zoo is still accepting donations from private organizations, which will be combined with the Roger Williams contributions, and a plan for the funds will be determined. He also mentioned that plans for an exhibit to hold thick-billed parrots the only parrot indigenous to North America will begin construction later this week.
The apartments house committee hopes their example will inspire more generosity from other co-ops in Queens. "We thought if we start contributing then other groups would too," said Capo.
"Weve all gone to this zoo," said fellow house committee member Rosemary Silverman, who referred to the animal sanctuary as a Queens treasure. She, her children and her grandchildren have had the pleasure of experiencing the parks exotic animals, said Silverman.
Polhill, a kindergarten teacher for 13 years at PS 153 in Maspeth and also a house committee member, said her children always got excited for the zoo. "This is where they saw their first ducks," said Polhill.