true On April 6, 2009, the city of San Francisco held a public meeting regarding the proposed $5 entrance fee to the San Francisco Botanical Garden. About 200 people showed up to profess nearly unanimous disapproval for the plan. Here are some of the points I found were noteworthy: * No other proposal other than the $5 entrance fee were mentioned by the city. People were disappointed that no innovative or even traditional proposals were floated, such as fund raisers or benefit concerts. * The fee would not only make of up for the budget shortfall but also increase available funds for improving the Garden. * The City is trying to float the $5 as having the same (positive) impact as the fees for the Japanese Tea Garden and the Conservatory of Flowers. * Most people realized that the money needs to come from somewhere. * Almost everyone gathered agreed that a $5 fee was prohibitively expensive given how often SF local visit the Botanical Garden. * Most of the crowd agreed that San Francisco residents should not be charged for visiting the Garden; "tourists" should be charged a fee. * The SF locals in the meeting felt that the Botanical Garden's large size, ease of access, casual family usage, and other features constitute a much larger cultural asset, and thus loss to the community, were a fee to be imposed, especially to low-income, fixed-income, and retired people. Personally I feel that we need to explore other funding alternatives. Charging an entrance fee would shift the Botanical Garden away from an easily accessible San Francisco experience into an exclusive tourist destination. No locals would wander through 3 days a week at $5 a pop. We need fund raisers, benefit events, and political lobbying. I'm a realist: I realize that that money does not grow on the international trees planted there, and I usually roll my eyes at anyone who wants a free lunch. But, I truly feel that a $5 flat fee would kill the place for locals. There must be some other combination of funding for fees: what about a $1 fee plus heavy fund raising? What about a "suggested fee" donation that is heavily pushed and manned at gate entrances, such as at the Museum of Natural History in NYC? Despite the income that the Botanical Garden might generate, this income will not make up for the cultural loss to the city, especially to those who low-income folks who frequent the Garden multiple times per week. Check out my sideshow on Flickr: <object width="400" height="300"> <param name="flashvars" value="&offsite=true&amp;lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fjoe_moore%2Fsets%2F72157616442579487%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fjoe_moore%2Fsets%2F72157616442579487%2F&set_id=72157616442579487&jump_to="></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=69832"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=69832" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="&offsite=true&amp;lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fjoe_moore%2Fsets%2F72157616442579487%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fjoe_moore%2Fsets%2F72157616442579487%2F&set_id=72157616442579487&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object> 2009-04-09T00:36:47-05:00

San Francisco Botanical Garden Fee Proposal Meeting

292 san-francisco-botanical-garden-fee-proposal-meeting 2009-04-09T05:39:24Z 1