SF Zoo’s Days of Dodging Are Numbered
SF Rec and Park steps in, finally enforcing transparency rules Zoo has flouted for over a decade.
After years of silence, the City of San Francisco has finally taken a meaningful step toward enforcing public transparency at the San Francisco Zoo.
On April 21, 2025, Philip Ginsburg, General Manager of the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, issued a formal letter to Tanya Peterson, CEO of the San Francisco Zoological Society, instructing her to comply with public records laws as required under the Zoo’s lease agreement with the City.
The letter was prompted by a Sunshine Ordinance Task Force (SOTF) complaint—File No. 25003—filed after the Zoo failed to respond to a public records request in a timely and complete manner. This was far from the first time: I first began requesting documents from the Zoo six years ago, including full copies of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accreditation reports, only to be met with obfuscation and delay.
Despite managing a city-owned facility and receiving over $4 million in public funds annually, the Zoological Society has long behaved like a private corporation—stonewalling the public, flouting state law, and ignoring the City’s own Sunshine Ordinance.
A Clear Directive from the City
Ginsburg’s letter cites Section 16.2 of the Zoo’s 85-page lease agreement, which explicitly states:
"SFZS shall provide public access to information concerning the operation of the Zoo to the same extent that such information would have been available to the public pursuant to local ordinances if the Department had continued to operate the Zoo."
The clause leaves no room for interpretation. The Zoo is required to comply with the California Public Records Act, take minutes at Board of Directors meetings, and make all information related to animal care publicly accessible.
To enforce this, Ginsburg directed that all public records requests be handled through the Rec and Park’s Custodian of Records, relieving Zoo staff of that responsibility and ensuring compliance with both local and state laws. He gave the Zoo a hard deadline of May 1, 2025 to comply with the current request:
Why This Matters
This letter is more than bureaucratic housekeeping—it’s a long-overdue acknowledgment by city leadership that the Zoo has been violating its contract and obstructing public oversight for years. By centralizing public records compliance within Rec and Park, the City is finally taking steps to prevent further evasion by Zoo leadership.
While this may seem like a routine administrative action, it’s a breakthrough for transparency advocates and a critical shift in how the Zoo is held accountable. For far too long, the San Francisco Zoological Society has operated in the shadows—ignoring Sunshine Ordinance rulings from 2008, 2019, and again in 2025. But now, the Recreation and Park Department is signaling that enough is enough.
The real test will be whether enforcement continues beyond this letter, and whether city officials finally hold Zoo leadership accountable—not only for transparency violations, but also for deeper issues tied to financial mismanagement and animal welfare that continue to raise red flags.
After Six Years of Fighting, a Turning Point
This directive may not resolve everything overnight, but it marks a turning point. After six years of obstructed records requests, dismissive responses, and blatant violations of the public trust, the City has finally—publicly—asserted its authority.
This is just the beginning. But it’s a step in the right direction.