Keeping funds flowing into Fresno's Chaffee Zoo

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It was more than ten years ago that Angel Arellano started a campaign to help save Fresno's struggling Chaffee Zoo. Today that same little girl is now 20, still urging Fresnans to support the local zoo.

"Dear Fresno Bee, my name is Angel and I am nine," said Angel Arellano.

At the ripe age of nine, Arellano wrote a letter to the Fresno Bee. She was concerned about lack of funding at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo and started raising money.

Her simple gesture inspired Measure Z. The sales tax went into effect ten years ago and funds renovations and upkeep at the zoo. Now as a 20-year-old college student, Arellano is once again rallying behind the measure, but this time for its renewal.

"This is the kind of stuff that would happen if we passed the second Measure Z, these big exhibits that are being built," said Arellano.

The 2014 Measure Z is identical to the first one. A one-tenth of one percent sales tax. Measure Z Chairman Dennis Woods says it'll allot ten to twelve million a year for the zoo, about $110 million over ten years. He spoke alongside Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin at a press conference Thursday.

"The Zoo in Fresno has become one of the single most important destination locations in all of the Central San Joaquin Valley," said Swearengin.

A destination the Mayor hopes will be around for decades to come.

A watchdog group that monitors city spending is against the tax. The Valley Taxpayers Coalition says very little goes back to the zoo, instead the tax feeds salaries and overhead costs. It's tax battle they're willing to fight in November.