Members of the Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium are astounded today to find that the Detroit City Council DECLINED a $40,000 grant from the State Historic Preservation Office [[SHPO) which receives federal Historic Preservation Fund monies are offered to operate the state's historic preservation programs. Each year 10 percent of the SHPO's federal grant is awarded to Certified Local Governments [[CLGs).

This year the Belle Isle Aquarium succeeded in receiving such a grant, but the Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium were astounded to find that the Detroit Council has actually declined accepting it.
There seems to be a serious disconnect between a citizenry wishing to preserve their historical buildings and the officials elected to perform the business of the people.

Belle Isle Aquarium [[Sister-building to Belle Isle Conservatory) was closed through an agreement between Detroit Zoo director Mr. Kagan and former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2005. In shutting down the Aquarium, Mr. Kagan was able to cut the financial strings to Detroit and receive more lucrative funds from Oakland County.
As a sop, the former mayor was given the impression that a super-aquarium was to be constructed downtown Detroit, which we now know amounted to nothing more than wishful thinking.

Super-aquariums became a must-have in the previous decades, and since the '80, these have proliferated throughout the country, increasing the amount of these institutions from the teens to the upper twenties. Few of these are able to sustain themselves without massive support from other sources, and my own personal objection to them is that kids get tired halfway through their massive exhibit.
The Belle Isle Aquarium, designed by Albert Kahn, is the OLDEST aquarium in the Americas and the ONLY public aquarium in Michigan. The aquarium is an ideal size for school children, being neither too big nor too small.
In comparison, costs for running the Belle Isle Aquarium are laughably small. To put it into perspective, direct losses through lawsuits incurred by the ousted mayor and which were paid for by the City, would have kept the aquarium open for eighteen years!

It's a pity the city can't pull this together.