Green Jersey

Tax dollars could end up in Xanadu aquarium

Taxpayers may end up pitching in for a private aquarium in the Meadowlands that’s part of the Xanadu complex, the Record is reporting today.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) tabled an amendment that had tried to keep N.J. tax dollars out of the $200 million aquarium. He told the Record the Senate Economic Growth Committee, which he chairs, was in a rush, finishing things during the hectic final days of the Legislature’s spring sessions.

Without such an amendment, taxpayers could end up contributing millions of dollars to the for-profit aquarium, which, at 200,000 square feet, would apparently be the second-largest in North America.

This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve funded fish. Several years ago, the state put $25 million into reopening the Thomas H. Kean New Jersey State Aquarium in Camden as Adventure Aquarium.

Unlike many other large aquariums in the country, the one at Xanadu wouldn’t have a big private endowment behind it.

Of course, maybe Xanadu will finance the entire project without asking for taxpayer money.

More: Xanadu project could soak taxpayers (The Record)