Vancouver Courier 01 December 2006

Aquarium expansion makes waves with readers

To the editor:

Re: "Show us a bit more money De Genova tells aquarium" and "COPE accused of sellout," Nov. 29.

On Monday night, when I should have been studying for exams, I sat through a gruelling parks board meeting regarding the aquarium expansion. I attended the parks board meeting so that my opinion could be heard, and, it was. However, what I said at that meeting didn't matter-what did matter were the results of a clearly skewed survey that represented far less than 0.5 per cent of Vancouver's population. A survey in which the surveyors were paid by the Vancouver Aquarium-anyone can produce favourable results for $300,000.

The parks board has failed us. They have made a decision not based on any ethical democratic process, the values of society or the best use of park green space; they have made a decision based on money.

When deciding what valuable green space should be allocated to, the ethics and opinions of the community not only now-but in the future, need to be considered. The aquarium already puts a sour taste in the mouths of many people, and as society evolves, that number will only increase. The profit-driven exploitation of animals is becoming more and more socially unacceptable. As this trend towards compassion continues, aquarium business will dwindle, and we'll have wasted millions of dollars and several acres of green space on something that society opposes.

We have entered into a 20-year agreement for something that society likely opposes now, and most certainly will in the future.

I am an ashamed Vancouverite.

Ashley Fruno,

Vancouver