The San Francisco call., 1897-08-15

heaVV expense, and that there Is no guar
antee that the City will improve 1t after II
is bought. They also claim that the at
traction would be quite as remote from
lhe Mission as Golden Gate Park is, and
or this reason they do not want large
park. Tae advocates Of the zoo claim that
the people who oppose 1t constitute
very small proportion OF the MISSION
residents, and they are ADVOCATING
scheme which will not benefit any BODY
but few people living In the immediate
neigh bornood of the proposed PIAZZA.
The project of esta blishlng Zoologlcsl
garden al the Mission has been earnestly
agitated for number of months past and
it has met with the general approval OF the
daily rapers and nearly all ot1he weeklies.
In the latter part of May petition was
filed with the Board of Supervisors asking
them to purchase tract OF land suitable
for geological garden. Inc matter was
referred to the Street Com mlttee ana on
the 10Th of June the advocates of the zoo
as we'll as those interested In the cemetery
Ilock appeared before the Street Com nit
tee and laid their respective claims before
the members of the com mIttee. BY unanl-
nous vote the committee reported in
favor of purchasing large tract suitable
for zoo ,ical Garden. Their report was
unanimously indorsed by the Board OF
Supervisors and on the 1st of July the
clerk of the board advertised for offers OF
land for this purpose. On July II the OF
fers were presented in open meeting be-
fore the full board. The proposals were
as follows.
Tract OF land, consisting of ninety-ive acres,
known as Bay View Tract, bounded by Kali
road avenue and the Paul Tract on the west,
by the Wheeler Tract on the south, by the
bay on the east and by Thirty-second avenue
(south) on the north; offered by the Bay
View Land Company; $4o, ,OOo
n EEa a 81
ing the dividing line OF San Francisco and
San Mateo counties, fronting on Amazon av-
enue, near the Mission road; offered by the
Croker Estate Company; $233oOo
St. Mary's College property, consisting of fifty
SIX acres OF land on Mission streei, between
Channel street and Crescent avenue; offered
by a. T. Green d Co.; $260,000
Tract OF land Immediately east OF st. Mary's
College property, consisting OF 55l1 acres.
running through rom Silver avenue to
Crescent; offered by Bovee, Toy & sonntag;
$l75, 600.
Tract OF land at Thirtieth ana Diamond Streets
containing 80 8 acres; offered by Baldwin
& Howell; $3625O
Tract consisting OF > acres. ad jacent to the
above tract, upon which two yeery option
Is given the cltv, offered also by Baldwin Il
Howell, $25, 900.
1887 acres, bounded by Eighteenth and
Twentieth, Dolores and hurch streets,
offered by n. Schlessinger $500 600.
A portion of the property belonging to Adolph
SuTo, consisting OF $50 acres lying between
CoCbett road and Sunnyside avenue, if ex-
tended; offered by Charles w. Pope; $685.
600.
The following persons have also been
interviewed upon the subject and a num-
Der of them set forth the merits OF the ir
respective tracts:
One OF the most active advocates OF a
large park and zoo Is William NJ. Bunker,
the proprietor of the Daily Report. Mr..
Bunker when interviewed upon the SUBJ
ject expressed himself as follows:
THE Mission needs park and ought TO
have one, and the City needs a zoo and
ought 10 have one.
The zoo should be at the Mission, be-
cause the Mission has paid very large pro-
portion of the City taxes and yet received
no municipal recognition. The land for the
zoo should be bought now, when real
estate Is low, and should be paid for in
this years appropriation. Any attempt
to raise the money by issuing bonds would
fail, because no matter what site is
selected and what price is 10 be paid
people who cannot see direct benefit to
themselves will work against it. Once es-
tablished, however, the charms Of a zoo
will be apparent and its popularity con-
vinclnt.
movement for a zoo favor no zoo that
cannot be paid for by posIerity. The idea
is good enough if it were feasible, but in
this case it means a fatal delay. In The
first place, in the light OF past experience,
we may readily assume that it will take
years 10 get the City to vote for a bond
issue. In the second place, if We voted to
issue bonds for the purpose of buying
park and zoo tract, there would be a fresh
fight over Location that would kill the en-
terprise. In the third place, the prices of
lands would have risen to such an extent
that we would have to pay an immense
sum for some tract that is now well within
our reach. The Supervisors should bear
these facts in mind and not allow them
selves to be bullIed or bIackguarded into
ignoring the demand for a zoo. They
should pay no heed to silurians and those
who are against everything and for moth
ing. Enterprises of the zoo class, in fact
any enterprise involving an attempt to
vote money for public Improvements, is
invariably termed job or steal by its
enemies.
1T is a significant fact that people who
are against q large park and zoo are urg-
ing the Supervisors to buy, the blocks OF
land that have been used as burial
ground and for which the extravsgant
price OF $780, 900 is asked. am not in
favor OF any particular site. l do not
speak for any particular site. l simply
say the City should buy the best site and
get it as cheaply as possible. but let il be
sure that it is buying the best site-the
site that shall have been shown to be the
hest adapted to park and zoo purposes.
The main object is to get zoo and 10
get 1t for the Mission district. II we were
to place a zoo in Golden Gate Park, as
some have suggested, we would not be do
ing anything for the Mission and we
would not be doing the best thing for the
City. We need a zoo as an adde d attrac-
uon, and in order 10 get the greatest ma
terlal benefit from this attraction We must
place it in locality entirely apart from
Golden Gate Park. The park is ar attrac-
ton of itself. What we need is an added
attraction.
III were not satisfied that zoo was a
necessity, If | were not satisfied that we
could easily and cheaply get a zoo, If L
were not satisfied that after we had the
zoo 1t would be the recipient of many
valuable gifts and would be the pet anu
pride of the people and potent attraction
for visitors, | would not advocate 1t as /
have done and shall continue to do.'
The CUM-TREE" TRACT.
Advantages of This Tract Clearly
Set Forth-Some Interesting
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