From day one, the Achilles heel of the Onondaga County aquarium has been the county’s lack of transparency about how much it will really cost to build and operate, and who will pay the bill.
Secrecy hurt the project again last week. Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard’s Tim Knauss reported that a $5.7 million donation to help finish construction came from the sale of the failed film hub in DeWitt.
Even members of County Executive Ryan McMahon’s own Republican Party were blindsided by the news that an entity connected to the county was the aquarium’s largest donor. Democrats now in control of the legislature said the lack of disclosure damaged the fragile trust between them and the county executive…