Dinosaurs to take over courtyard at Junior Museum and Zoo - Palo Alto Online

After balking last month, Palo Alto approved a plan to welcome dinosaur sculptures to its newly renovated Junior Museum and Zoo.

By a unanimous vote that belied the council's discomfort, the council approved $234,748 to construct life-sized dinosaur sculptures as part of a new exhibit known as the "California's Dinosaur Garden." The exhibit by Blue Rhino Studios will pay homage to the dinosaurs that once roamed the state: an ichthyornis carrying a fish in its mouth, two deer-sized hypsilophodontids and one saurornithelestes, a feathered carnivore that resembles a velociraptor.

The new additions will be part of an exhibit that also will include a fossil dig where visitors will be able to uncover buried specimens from a long bygone era, according to a report from the Community Services Department.

"When I was elected to council, I never imagined I'd be making decisions on dinosaurs," council member Greer Stone said shortly before the vote. "But as a fan of Jurassic Park, I'm not too disappointed, as long as they don't come alive and start eating the museum attendees."

When the council last considered the exhibit on Nov. 7, it wasn't the dinosaurs that scared them away but the price tag. The exhibit will cost $980,000 and the newly approved contract amendment brings the city's overall contribution to the exhibit to $449,464. The balance will come from a federal grant of $250,000 and a $300,000 contribution from donors to Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo, a nonprofit that led the reconstruction effort for the Rinconada Park institution.

The difference was timing. The Nov. 7 discussion was scheduled one day before voters were set to weigh in on two revenue measures: a new business tax and an affirmation of the city's historic practice of transferring funds from the gas utility to the general fund. Council members generally agreed that spending more than $200,000 on dinosaur sculptures would not be the best optics for a city that is asking voters for additional revenues.

Council member Tom DuBois acknowledged Monday that the council's decision not to approve the contract at that time had nothing to do with its concerns about the exhibits.

"I think the timing … right before the public vote on new taxes wasn't great," DuBois said.

With both measures easily passing, the council had fewer reservations on Monday, though some council members continued to express concern about the museum's budget management. Kristen O'Kane, director of the Community Services Department, suggested that the new exhibit could help increase attendance at the museum, which had dipped below projections, and reignite excitement. She also noted that having a new outdoor exhibit will make it easier for visitors to spread around the museum.

"For now, it's really an underutilized space for the JMZ in the courtyard," O'Kane said. "This will add some exhibits but it will also include a hands-on experience: a fossil dig for kids. It will allow people to distribute a little bit more evenly throughout the facility."

Council member Greg Tanaka wasn't entirely convinced that the new sculptures will drive attendance and suggested that the city consider other ways to spend on money, whether by increasing programs or improving signage on Middlefield Road. While he joined his colleagues in supporting the expenditures, he and others suggested that the city needs to do more to bring the museum toward a balanced budget.

Mayor Pat Burt recommended that the city increase its marketing efforts for the museum and other community institutions such as the Winter Lodge and the Children's Theatre.

"I think there really is a concern that we're not currently on a path toward a sustainable budget for the Junior Museum and Zoo," Burt said.