Gov. Christie: It Is Important To Have Places Like The Turtle Back Zoo For Families To Come Together
Press Release
The state has been happy to work in partnership with the county on this. There has been over $70 million in improvements to this zoo with the work of the Freeholder board, our legislators, Senator Ruiz, and others who stood up and helped as well and our administration who feels like it is incredibly important to have places like this in New Jersey for families and children to come to not only to learn and there is a great learning center here in addition to all of the other exhibits but also to have a place where families can be families in a beautiful atmosphere like this one, to be able to not only learn about nature, but also to be able to spend quality time with each other. And that is really the quality of life issue that Joe is talking about in his remarks. And so we are going to continue to be a partner here at Turtleback Zoo for as long as I am Governor. I remember coming to this place when it first opened all those years ago, growing up in this area. And it was a great place to come to as a young kid and it is now once again a great place to come to, an even better place than it was when it first opened. And so this part of the legacy of what we want to leave by partnerships that go across party lines. People say all the time they want bipartisanship, they want the parties to work together, then when we work together, people complain that there must some type of secret deal of course, because the parties are working together, that is usually members of the media who you can never keep happy no matter what you do. This is a result of the fact that this zoo is not a Republican zoo or Democrat zoo, it is a zoo for the people of Essex County and people of the State of New Jersey. And to go from 100,000 visitors twenty years ago, to 800,000 visitors now, is a testimony not only to how great this place is but the demand that did exist for a place that was able to give families the kind of experience that this place gives to families across New Jersey and especially in Essex County every day.
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