It's a bear market for the city's budget | Photo by BigMcGuire via Flickr

The city is entering on of the worst budget woes it has ever faced. And while it's been talked about for sometime now, the effects are now becoming more apparent. Yesterday in a long city council meeting over most things money, the most controversial subject of water and power rate hikes ended with the increases on hold for further discussion, but admission to the LA Zoo went up 40% for some, initially raising prices $2 for all age brackets and $1 bumps for the next two consecutive years. The move is expected to save nearly a half million dollars.

"We are confronting the largest budget deficit in the city's recent history," Greuel said in the Daily News. "No savings is too small to be considered. No reform is too daring to be implemented. We must be more disciplined in how we spend taxpayers' money." And to that, she introduced a motion to do away with parking validation at city facilities. A visit to City Hall may no longer be a visit on the cheap -- surrounding lots can easily cost downtown visitors at least $10.

If you're still yearning for some zoo action, this side of free, Scarlet at Bored LA has a good idea: "Why pay to go to the Los Angeles Zoo when you can go to the old abandoned sketchy drug-den/sex-cave zoo hidden in the hills of Griffith Park for free? Plus it's way more exciting."