L.A. Seeks Greater Control Over Zoo : Recreation: City seeks more authority over facility’s 135,000-member support group and a larger share of its funds. Association calls the proposal ‘unpalatable.’

Los Angeles officials, raising the stakes in a power struggle over who controls the zoo, have sent the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. a proposed list of demands intended to give the city greater authority over the support group and a bigger cut of its funds.

The nine-point directive, to be considered by the Recreation and Parks Commission on Monday, contains a provision requiring GLAZA to pay the city $2 each time one of its 135,000 members enters the city-owned Los Angeles Zoo.

GLAZA members have traditionally been allowed unlimited free entrance to the Griffith Park facility in return for their $35 annual fee for individuals or $45 for families. The new charge would be levied on GLAZA, not the individual members.

Under the proposed plan, the GLAZA board would have to report to the zoo director, a city employee. Another provision would give the city the authority to audit the books of the nonprofit organization.

GLAZA officials, who were notified Tuesday of the pending commission action, called the demands “unpalatable” and said they would not comply.

“It is only the zoo which suffers from this petty political claptrap,” said Camron Cooper, chairwoman of the GLAZA board. “These demands would make fund raising much more difficult, which is especially disturbing,” Cooper said. “Any way you look at it, this proposal would take money away from the zoo.”

Cooper said many corporate donors are prohibited by law from donating money to governmental bodies. Further, she said, GLAZA’s Board of Directors would be in an untenable position if it had no control over how the organization’s money was spent.

Cooper called the audit demand “nothing more than an attempt to terrorize us.” She said the books are thoroughly audited by an outside firm every year.

The troubled 25-year-old zoo is jointly operated by GLAZA and the city’s Recreation and Parks Department. Under the terms of a decades-old contract, the city is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the zoo and GLAZA runs the food and gift concessions, returning 10% of the gross revenues to the city.

In addition, GLAZA has raised $27 million in donations for the financially troubled zoo over the last decade.

It also operates the zoo’s 500-member docent program and runs educational programs.

One of the new demands would require GLAZA to pay the city $2 for each member of tour groups that are led by the organization’s volunteer docents.

Cooper said she and other GLAZA officials plan to mount a strong protest at the commission meeting on Monday.

City officials, and the zoo’s former director, Warren Thomas, have long complained about their lack of control over GLAZA’s activities and funds.

Last year, shortly after he resigned, Thomas launched a bitter attack on GLAZA for refusing to continue making payments to an international fund to save the Sumatran rhinoceros from extinction. GLAZA officials, who had already donated $300,000 to the cause, said that the program had not been particularly successful and that the money could be put to better use.

Thomas resigned last fall amid allegations of mismanagement and financial irregularities and the zoo has been without a director for nearly a year. He did not admit any wrongdoing and was not charged with any violation of law.

The leadership tug of war has erupted as a new zoo director, Mark Goldstein, former director of the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, prepares to take over in January.

“This appears to be an effort by the Recreation and Parks Department staff to poison the views of the new zoo director regarding GLAZA in order to force us out, despite the obvious financial needs of the zoo,” Cooper said.

Attempts to reach James Hadaway, general manager of the Recreation and Parks Department, for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful. Goldstein, reached in Boston, said Wednesday that he did not wish to “get involved in the intricacies of this dispute.” He said he hoped the matter was resolved by the time he arrives.

“I’m certainly aware that we have two institutions that are critically important to the sustenance of the zoo,” Goldstein said.

The city’s demands were spelled out in a report drafted for the commissioners by Hadaway in advance of Monday’s meeting.

Also included on the list was an order that zoo staff will not participate in any grant program arranged by GLAZA unless it is approved in advance by the zoo director; a demand that the city be reimbursed by GLAZA for any time spent by zoo employees on GLAZA projects; and a requirement that GLAZA provide maintenance services for the concession areas.

Under the current contract, Cooper said, the city is supposed to maintain the concession areas, but has failed to do so. The city informally agreed several years ago to turn over maintenance to GLAZA, she said, and in return, GLAZA retains $59,000 annually from the city’s percentage of concession revenue.

The city also wants GLAZA to provide tram service, which Hadaway said in his memorandum is required under the contract. Cooper said the contract contains no such requirement.