So, two comments took me to task yesterday for my post about the Anton/Robertson claims about donors who have stepped forward for the Stanley Park petting zoo and the Bloedel Conservatory, but have allegedly been refused.
The always vulgar and imbalanced John Hinckley (sound familiar, civic watchers?) won’t get any play on this website…maybe he should try the likes of other sites that emanate from crazy town (and provide a soundtrack about the journey to go along with it). But cw brought forth the name Josef Wosk of the philanthropic Wosk family, as one individual who has offered $100,000 over four years, a detail that I was aware of but failed to put in the post.
So, point taken.
But let’s take a second to go over the math and the timelines.
First, according to Ian Robertson’s comments in the above-linked article, “the conservatory and farmyard have an annual revenue shortfall of $400,000 — $240,000 by the conservatory and $160,000 by the farmyard.” In addition, the conservatory needs a $2 million roof repair because of years of neglect under successive NPA administrations
Secondly, the conservatory will have only be closed on March 1, 2010. As well, the petting zoo will not be closed until homes can be found for the animals, which is not going to be an immediate process.
So there you go. Thus far, Robertson has stepped forward with an offer for $25,000/year for four years. Now he needs to find an additional $375,000 annually to make up the revenue shortfalls for the two attractions. Oh yeah, and then there’s the roof.
He claims in the Vancouver Sun that “another anonymous patron has pledged a sizeable donation.” Fantastic. It looks like you are well on your way to riding in on your white horse and saving the day.
But like I said before, it’s time to put up, or shut up.
So, I am going to end this post exactly like I did yesterday’s:



