56,000 Petitions Collected To Save Aquarium Funds

From the Brooklyn Eagle:

BROOKLYN — Twenty-six businesses and 76 community groups sent letters in support of the restoration of funding for the New York Aquarium in Coney Island, the Bronx Zoo and all Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) members.

In Brooklyn, this also includes the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, although not the Prospect Park Zoo, which is funded from a different source under the state budget.

These organizations are vital to their communities as they provide jobs and business for local merchants.

More than 56,000 petitions were collected in support of these vital city institutions. Petitioners have flooded the city government to help prevent a 42 percent or $3.9 million cut. These cuts would threaten jobs at cultural institutions around the city and would have a devastating effect to the 114-year-old New York Aquarium in Coney Island, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Bronx Zoo.

“We appreciate each and every petition, letter, and e-mail sent to City Hall on behalf of all the cultural organizations and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium,” said WCS Executive Vice President of Public Affairs John Calvelli. WCS is the parent body for both institutions as well as the Queens and Central Park zoos.

If you believe the aquarium and New York City’s other cultural institutions are worth saving, sign the petition.