Aviary Executive Director Makes Argument for Bond

Aug 28, 2008 by Eric Ray

(KCPW News) In November, voters in Salt Lake County will decide whether to provide Tracy Aviary with a $19.3 million bond to help upgrade its facilities and exhibits. Executive Director Tim Brown says it would be a level of support never seen by the aviary.

"In 2003, Salt Lake City residents passed a bond to build "Destination Argentina." It was a $1.2 million exhibit. And that was our first new exhibit in 30 years. The building before that was the Wilson Pavilion built in 1970. So we've not had a major level of support," says Brown.

Brown says part of the bond money would be used to tear down the pavilion and build more modern exhibits. Those two goals are part of the second phase of the aviary's master plan. It's a phase Brown says must be done all at once because the aviary plans to attempt to regain its accreditation next year, and it would take too long to build the projects in a piecemeal fashion. And Brown says, the bond money would help the aviary create more indoor space, therefore providing more educational opportunities.

"We've found with the Chase Mill our winter attendance skyrocketed because all of a sudden we had a space for field trips to come during the winter. We could do indoor bird shows on Saturday and Sunday inside the mill. It's not an ideal space for a field trip or a bird show and Proposition 1 would help us build education space and a better bird show space," says Brown.

To listen to a conversation with Tim Brown about Tracy Aviary's bond request, download a podcast of yesterday's Public Square.

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