BONDS FOR ZOO, FISH? COUNCIL ADDS NEW BALLOT MEASURES.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Bond issues totaling $94.1 million for renovating the city zoo and building an Exposition Park aquarium won Los Angeles City Council approval Wednesday despite charges they were being tacked on at the last minute to a long-planned, $178 million library measure.

For the average $162,000 Los Angeles home, the library bond would add $7.06 per year to the property tax bill, the zoo bond would add $1.89 and the aquarium bond would add $1.84 - a total of $10.79 a year for 20 years.

``All three of them are about children,'' said Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, in urging support for the bond measures.

Ignoring complaints it was acting with irresponsible haste, the council directed the City Attorney's Office to draft the resolutions necessary for the council to give final approval by July 31 to put the three measures on the November ballot. Support of a two-thirds majority of voters is needed for passage.

Another proposed November ballot measure - imposing a special tax to raise $740 million for sidewalk repairs - is scheduled for a council vote later this month.

The council ordered more study of police and fire bond measures totaling more than $1.3 billion, saying those proposals are not ready for the November ballot.

Council members Laura Chick and Mike Feuer cast the only votes against the aquarium and zoo measures, saying they were not carefully planned and examined and would be difficult to sell to the public.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Mayor Richard Riordan offered similar criticism.

``The last-minute addition of the zoo and Exposition Park - that's ridiculous,'' said Joel Fox, president of the taxpayer group.

``How do the council members know what they are voting on when they just received the Exposition Park proposal yesterday? They can't. It's irresponsible to put that on the ballot.''

Riordan opposed the zoo and aquarium bonds on grounds that they have not gone through a review process to show that they are top priorities, that the cost estimates are firm, that there is a consensus of support and that there is a system of accountability to make sure the projects are delivered as promised.

``The mayor is not going to support anything until all of those elements are satisfied, and for the zoo and Exposition Park those elements have not been satisfied,'' said mayoral spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez.

Possible veto

Riordan is not ruling out a possible veto of the zoo and aquarium bond measures to keep them off the ballot, but she noted the council has a month to satisfy the mayor's concerns.

Supporters of the aquarium plan - a $46.5 million bond measure to expand the California Science Center in Exposition Park and provide other improvements - cited attendance figures at the new center, which has been visited by nearly 1.5 million people since it opened in February.

``Those are the people speaking and telling us this is a priority,'' Miscikowski said.

The bond measure includes $30 million of the $60 million cost of building a new Pacific Environmental Science Learning Center, featuring an aquarium and other exhibits. The rest of the money might come from state, federal and private funds, although the matching dollars have not been secured.

That bond measure also includes money for improving the rose garden, swim stadium and a recreation center in Exposition Park.

The council also gave initial support Wednesday to asking voters to approve $47.6 million in bonds to upgrade the zoo, including construction of a new reptile house, sea lion exhibit and a new South American Rainforest exhibit.

The only unanimous council vote was for a $178.3 million library bond measure to replace or renovate 28 libraries - including 12 in the San Fernando Valley - and build four new libraries.

Votes against measure

Chick and Feuer voted against the zoo and aquarium measures, noting both proposals were submitted within the past few days and have not been through the normal process of review by council committees.

``Those had been, by far, the least scrutinized matters,'' Feuer said. ``They came up at the last possible moment.''

Chick added: ``We need to go back to the working table.

``We need to make sure that when we go to the public, not only are we making a legitimate case for the need, but that we can look the public in the eye and say every penny is going to be spent well and wisely.''

Feuer said the importance of the projects hasn't been demonstrated.

``If we are going to have bond measures pass in this city, we're going to have to be able to communicate some key things to the electorate,'' Feuer said, ``(including) that the items before them are top civic priorities (and) that they have been thoroughly reviewed and refined.''

Other council members, including Rudy Svorinich Jr., also expressed unease about getting the written report on the zoo and aquarium proposals for the first time at Wednesday's meeting.

Councilman Richard Alarcon also said the city will have to do a good job of winning the trust of voters to get the two-thirds vote needed for passage of the bond measures.

That will be hard given the city's failure to deliver all of the police facilities promised in a 1989 bond measure, Alarcon said, adding that the failure ``whittled away at the confidence of the voters.''

Councilman Joel Wachs, who got an amendment banning money from being used at Exposition Park to benefit a pro football team that might locate in the Coliseum, and others predicted voters would look favorably on the measures because they all benefit children.

``I like all three of them because they basically address all the things in the city young people get to do,'' said Wachs.

Councilman Hal Bernson was voicing some concerns, until he was told the library bond issue includes funds for projects in his district in the Northwest Valley.

In the end, Bernson said he supported giving voters the opportunity to decide for themselves whether the bond measures have merit.

``The people will ultimately make that decision when they vote,'' he said.