Here is the link to the "Friends of the Belle Isle Aquarium" (FOBIA) web site. Please sign their petition. http://www.belleisleaquarium.com

We visited the Belle Isle Aquarium and Dossin Great Lakes Museum during the summer. Two great local attractions! The gardens around the Aquarium were lovely! City of Detroit due to budget cuts is wants to close the Aquarium. There is a FOBIA meeting tonight at Coffee Beanery in Ferndale.
Info available on their website.

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signed w/comments

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We go to Belle Isle every couple/few weeks to the conservatory and Aquarium, we love it, matter of fact we were there the same day right before they announced the closing. There already is hardly any family friendly attractions in the area and there is nothing to attract tourists to Detroit and its becoming a slum. Of all things they could cut, they have to cut the Aquarium????????

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DO they still have thier zoo? I will definetly sign it too.

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I am not sure

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Be sure to check out 'Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium" website today. http://www.belleisleaquarium.com They have updated their site with info from last nights meeting. They were on Channel 2 at 10 pm last night.
This is the oldest aquarium in the country! A friend of mine went to the meeting last night. She says that Channel 4 was there but it wasn't on their news last night.

My friend says that the meeting was good. There was about 25 people, enough to get some things accomplished, it was very diplomatic. It was organized by a very passionate guy. The employees were told that their last day is March 4th, so that’s the day it closes. My friend feels that the sad thing is that it means there will be probably just some maintenance person left to feed the fish. She says that the closure by City of Detroit is being handled poorly

My friend volunteered to work on City of Detroit historic designation for them. She says that it doesn’t help the immediate crisis, but it can help the building be saved in the future.

My friend says "It is just another great building in Detroit that is unfortunately owned by the City of Detroit."

Perhaps between now and March 4th we should all be sure to take a trip to the Belle Isle Aquarium!

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Other websites with info on Belle Isle:

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/detroit/d6.htm

http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us/recreat...isle/belleM.htm

http://www.detroitzoo.org/critters2.html

http://www.detroitzoo.org/critters2.html

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The family and I went to the aquarium yesterday. It's awesome how great the condition of this place is for being so old. The place was nice and clean, employees were helpful and smiling. Except for the signs, you would have no idea it was closing it's doors this coming Thursday.

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This is one of the great local attractions for families to do! We went to River Rouge's Historical Museum yesterday afternoon! They have a wonderful collection!

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Got a bunch of emails today from the Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium:

Email #1

Fellow Aquarium supporters,

The tax-deductible credit card access and donation mail address is now
available online:

http://belleisleaquarium.com/pledge_address.htm

Sincerely,

Stephen Goodfellow
FOBIA Web admin
http://belleisleaquarium.com
"Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming"
Dorie, in 'Nemo'


http://www.belleisleaquarium.org

Email #2

Friends of the Aquarium,

FOBIA Meeting Today, Thursday 7:00PM
Coffee Beanery, Woodward & 9 Mile - Ferndale
22871 Woodward Ave, Ferndale, MI 48220 (248) 543-9434

Sincerely,

Stephen Goodfellow
FOBIA Web admin
"Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming"
Dorie, in 'Nemo'


http://www.belleisleaquarium.org

Email #3

Hello!

This is an advisory to let you know that the Detroit City Council today, over rode Mayor Kilpatrick's veto relative to the Resolution urging that the Belle Isle Aquarium remain open for two months to allow time for supporters to raise money to bridge the funding gap. Tragically, this is not an automatic halt on the Mayor's plans; but the action does place on record the will of the legislative body. Thanks for all you do! Jo Ann Watson

JoAnn Watson, Council Member

313.224.4535

http://www.belleisleaquarium.org

Email #4

Hey folks,

>From 5 to 9 next Tuesday the 15th we will be having a fundraiser at
Charley's Grilled Subs in Macomb Mall. We are asking those who wish to
participate to donate $25 on the honor system while you have a good time
and eat subs, however, I am also well aware that many members of FOBIA
already have donated a significant amount of money, so the main focus is
on bringing new people both to make some money and to generate some
excitement. If you already made huge donations and are tapped out, don't
despair. Just bring friends who can contribute so we come away with a
profit and can pay a little back to the Mike and Mike Bradley (who are
really great for helping us out like this) so they don't have to suffer a
big loss in food cost. A good time will be had by all. If you have any
questions, respond to

Mike
--
Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium Head of Fundraising



http://www.belleisleaquarium.org

Email #5

Hey folks,

We will hold this at Big Boy at:

28340 Ford Road
Garden City , Michigan 48135

When we met in Ferndale last week, we were a bit rushed to solidify
ideas. I want to meet at 7:00 on Wednesday for about an hour so we can be
a little more thoughtful on developing long term strategies to bring to
the whole group in Ferndale on Thursday. Please plan on spending at least
$5 out of courtesy for the restaurant.

If you are interested in being a regular participant in fundraising
committee, please send me a message at being
careful not to reply to the whole list server. Also let me know if you
can attend on Wednesday. I told the restaurant to expect between 10 and
20 people and they are fine with that, but I want to have an idea if I
guessed wrong I can plan for it.

Once I have your email information I will send email only to subcommittee
members for subcommittee meeting so as to avoid bogging down everyones
mail.

One last thing--I think I managed to lose my spiral notebook in Fernadale
last week. It has contact information for various people, but not me. It
has a plastic blue cover and is half sheet size. If you find that, please
pop me an email.

Thanks!

Mike
--
Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium Head of Fundraising


http://www.belleisleaquarium.org

Email #6

All,

I can't vote either way on this. It's another false dichotomy.

Ultimately I think that we would have to get the other "f" we had for
awhile back in this for it to make sense, "fund-raising." In a city
apparently on its way to receivership, money spent on any cultural
entity, with somewhat limited patronage, is not likely to fly. This is
even if that patronage became limited in large part by a lack of promotion.

Detroit, for reasons that are too extensive to argue here, is clearly,
at this juncture, a non-viable economic entity, in which many
governmental functions will become privatized, for reasons ranging from
bad to terrible. Every cultural entity in it will become more
completely dependent on some mix of privatization and state assistance,
with DPL serving as the only partial exception. The latter at least can
pass millages even if the revenue from them is based on dwindling value,
much of the remainder value only there because of the general housing
bubble.

In my mind, that's why no matter how many well-put together
spread-sheets we come up with and how big of a well-informed
constituency we have, ultimately, it will all depend on whether we can
at least in large part privatize the aquarium. All of the
electioneering that we could do during the campaign season would
produce, at best, only vague promises, to be shredded at the earliest
opportunity. Neither of the leading candidates is going to put more
than that into it, nor would a yet to emerge dark horse. If we want the
aquarium we're going to have to find the financing for it, Detroit will
not be able to provide it for us, even with better government than it
now has.

Bob W.

Email #7

Dear friends of Belle Isle Aquarium,

I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is to fight for the existence of the
Aquarium, working with dedicated people in an atmosphere uncharged by the
familiar annoyances of disparate politics, race and culture. Here, we all
have one agenda - the survival and well-being of the Belle Isle Aquarium.

As you probably know by now, the city administration has decided to shutter
the Aquarium on April 3rd. The Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium have gone to
great efforts to reason with the City Administration, apparently to no
avail.
This leaves us with two options. Our first choice is that we can give up and
call it a day.

To desist is a viable option.
We fought the good fight and no one would berate us for walking away, even
though it burdens Detroit with one more one more ruin, one more step from
being a city to becoming a slum.

The second option is much, much more difficult, but more fun.
We fight.
In our efforts to work with the present City Administration and help them
see reason, we have kept our claws sheathed. until now, no inference has
been made by this group to the City Administration's appalling lack of
vision or judgment. If we have to fight, this paradigm will now change.

First, we will have to endure the Walk in the Wilderness. FOBIA will be a
government in exile for the duration of the Kwame Kilpatick regime. In our
darkest days, the media may for the most part forsake us and our efforts
will be scoffed at.
But we will do our homework.
When elections come around, we will insure that we are included in the
policy centerpieces of whatever mayoral challenger faces off with the
present mayor.

How do we know when we have arrived?
Several parts of a jigsaw puzzle will have to be in place in order for us to
step back and say, "There!, We did it!"
We have to convince the mayoral candidates that an open Belle Isle Aquarium
is good for the city. Our homework is to lay the blueprint for revival and
to undo the physical damage wrought on the Aquarium.
We must educate and inspire potential candidates, show the spreadsheets,
know the business of running the Aquarium.
We must have a long-term framework in place to insure the survival of the
Aquarium. This must include a divorce from the Detroit Zoo, and a commitment
from the City and State that transcends the momentary financial whims of any
given administration.

That we should decide to stand and fight may be a seminal moment for the
people of the Metropolitan Detroit. If we can get together and re-open the
Belle Isle Aquarium, what else might caring people of energy be capable of?
And now, it's time to vote:

Please go to this page to vote:
http://belleisleaquarium.com/misc/flee_fight.htm

Sincerely,

Stephen Goodfellow
FOBIA Web admin


http://www.belleisleaquarium.org

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