L.A. considers putting zoo operations in private hands

Someone else may soon be tending to the misty artificial rain forest at the Los Angeles Zoo where Bruno, a 300-pound orangutan with a wispy orange beard and a hulking frame, makes his home.

The city opened the zoo and botanical gardens in 1966, but officials are now considering a proposal to turn over management to a private operator. That means the gardeners, plumbers and other city employees who help run the zoo could be transferred to other departments and replaced with private workers.

Like any issue involving labor — or animals — the fight over the fate of the zoo has caused a considerable stir.

City officials say the change would save nearly $20 million over the next five years and rescue the zoo from possible budget reductions or even closure. But opponents of the plan question the savings and warn that privatization could mean steeper ticket prices for the zoo’s 1.5 million annual visitors and less transparency when it comes to animal welfare.

The zoo plan is only the latest example of a shift in how budget-strapped officials think about “core services” and City Hall’s basic obligations to taxpayers. They are also considering proposals to privatize the Los Angeles Convention Center, an animal shelter in the San Fernando Valley and several arts facilities.

Such public-private partnerships are common in Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History are two county facilities operated by nonprofit organizations.

“It’s not a revolutionary idea,” said Miguel Santana, L.A.’s chief administrative officer, who came to City Hall from the county in 2009. “This model has worked across the country as a way of ensuring services are maintained in an era of declining revenues.”

According to a draft proposal for the zoo plan, which the City Council’s Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee will consider Thursday, Bruno and the rest of the animals would remain the property of the city, along with the zoo’s Griffith Park grounds.

All current staff would remain employees of the city, but those who do not hold zoo-specific jobs might be transferred to other city departments. Future hires would be employees of the new operator.

Two potential operators have already stepped forward.

One is the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., or GLAZA, a nonprofit headquartered on the zoo’s campus that raises money for the institution, manages its memberships and operates its concessions. In 2010-11, it raised about $13 million for the zoo, according to GLAZA President Connie Morgan

The other party is Parques Reunidos, a Madrid-based theme park operator that runs 70 amusement parks, water parks and zoos worldwide.

Dave Towne, a former consultant for the L.A. Zoo, said that if a private company takes over, the face of the zoo may change. “Any private, for-profit operation is going to Disney-fy it,” he said. “That’s just what they do.”

Towne, former director of the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, oversaw the transition of that zoo’s management to a nonprofit 10 years ago. He said private operators run the majority of the nation’s major zoos and are often more successful at marketing and fundraising than cities, in part because they are less encumbered by bureaucracy.

Animal activists fear that could result in a lack of transparency. Catherine Doyle, of In Defense of Animals, said that if the zoo is privatized, “it will become even more secretive and insular.”

She and others have long accused the zoo’s management of not being forthcoming about animal care, and have asked that the operator be required to answer to a city-appointed animal welfare commission.

Adriana Hawkins, a zoo gardener for six years, says everyone will suffer if longtime employees are reassigned. The zoo will lose expertise, she said, and the employees will lose jobs they love.

“I don’t want to go down to the harbor; I don’t want to spend my life on the freeway,” Hawkins said. “I have a passion for the zoo.”

Santana and others have said that privatizing the zoo will allow it to flourish. A report he commissioned said that under private management, the zoo would be able to reap up to $3.8 million more each year in revenue, thanks to new opportunities for corporate sponsorship, fundraising and special events.

But City Councilman Richard Alarcon said that’s all the more reason to keep control of the zoo. “If a private corporation can make it profitable, why can’t we?” he said.

It costs $26 million a year to run the zoo and pay the salaries, benefits and pensions of more than 200 employees. The city contributes about $14.6 million; the rest of the budget comes from ticket sales and donations.

Officials say if the city does not privatize management, that figure could grow as high as $19.4 million by 2015. But even if it does complete a deal, the city will still contribute about $13.8 million to the zoo in 2015, according to the proposal.

The savings may be small in the short term, but Santana insists that it adds up. Next year, he and other officials will have to find a way to close a $200-million budget deficit.

kate.linthicum@latimes.com