Recently, $20 million in taxpayer money that had been earmarked for infrastructure projects was given to the Seattle Aquarium to bail out its new shark tank. Seattle City Council hastily ushered in a 'yes' vote to give the aquarium the additional $20 million, on top of the $39 million already given.

Seattle City Council is supposed to represent its constituents; instead, it chose to use taxpayer money to bail out a project that will end up contributing towards climate change, and it does nothing for the infrastructure problems we actually need solved here in Seattle. Tell the Mayor and City Council that we want our money to be spent on projects that are climate neutral or that actively combat the climate crisis! Mayor Harrell has until September 27th to remove this from the budget!

Seattleites consider climate change a top priority; we should be spending money on projects countering its negative effects, especially for our black and brown community members. In light of this Council vote, taxpayers are left with the impression that our City Council thinks it's okay to fund projects that significantly harm the climate, as long as its business partners and board member associates benefit from it. City Council has flagrantly tossed aside Seattle's Climate Action plan and Green New Deal for the benefit of a few.

At 325,000 gallons of water, this shark tank will use huge amounts of energy in its filtration process. The shark tank is a tropical shark tank, not one that could resemble anything like what you would find here in the Puget Sound. This tropical tank will require lots of energy to heat up to an appropriate level. Water must continuously be pumped in from Elliot Bay to be heated and filtered, used, and then be re-cooled and filtered and pumped back out into the Sound. The process of heating and cooling water on a constant basis will contribute towards higher emissions. This is not the kind of forward-thinking project we want for our "city of the future.

The Seattle Aquarium is strategically positioned in this high tech region to lead and be the model for other cities. Using cutting-edge, technological experiences, it could achieve its educational and entertainment goals without a single animal suffering and without the need to build a 325,000 gallon tank. The use of non-live exhibits has become an exciting technological adventure for many zoos and aquariums; many are thinking about what virtual reality technology could do to revolutionize their exhibits. Considering Seattle is a leader in VR technology, the aquarium should take advantage of Seattle's uniqueness and create a cutting edge non-live exhibit that would get everyone excited to go to the aquarium again.

Tell City Council and Mayor Harrell to remove from the budget the $20 million in REET tax funds given to Seattle Aquarium for its new tropical shark tank, and instead spend our money fixing climate change!