Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Belle Isle Aquarium to close April 3

30. March 2005 • Murph
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The City of Detroit is scheduled to close the Belle Isle Aquarium on Sunday, 3 April. The Friends of the Belle Isle Aquarium are continuing to try to convince the city not to close the BIA, including a rally on Saturday at 10am, and, the Aquarium is closed, they have vowed to become a “government in exile” and fight for reopening under a future City administration.

The unfortunately acronymed FOBIA is urging people to donate towards the Aquarium’s salvation and to contact City and State officials asking for a stay of the closing.

Part of the problem is that the City funds the Aquarium on its own, despite the fact that the aquarium is a regional asset, and not just a city attraction. Consider, as an alternative model, Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Regional Asset District, which spreads funding of such facilities across the municipal area.