Free Things to Do in San Francisco

Before the meeting began

There was a full house, standing room only, at tonight’s community meeting in the County Fair Building about Park & Rec’s proposed admission fees for the San Francisco Botanical Gardens (aka Strybing Arboretum). I’d estimate there were close to 300 people there. The vast majority of them were opposed to the fees.

There was some hissing that started right off, as soon as the first speaker mentioned the word “fees,” but then people, for the most part, were patient as officials from Park & Rec and the Botanical Gardens spoke for a long time, almost an hour. After that, so many people wanted to make comments that the meeting was extended for an extra half-hour past its planned hour and a half.

My take on it is this: I think the people who run the Botanical Gardens are trying to change what the Gardens are, to tilt the balance more towards the plants, and away from its use as the neighborhood’s back yard. I got the impression that they want to make this into a world-class Botanical Gardens, to be able to compete against the big boys of the Botanical Garden world. They talked in terms of extending their “collection” of plants, as if the Gardens were a museum, and of maintaining it a level that would be attractive to graduate students, as if the Gardens were a university.

But the Gardens are many things. Yes, some of the areas are planted with exotic plants of interest to gardeners and botanists, but much of the land is open space, vast lawns where people, who may not have back yards of their own, come to get some sun, have picnics, throw frisbees, watch the ducks and turtles and hawks, meditate, chat, and read. There are lots of beautiful paths where people walk, and jog, and push baby strollers.

In the presentation, the Botanical Gardens official dismissed the sun-bathing, picnicking, and jogging as “untraditional uses.” Perhaps they are untraditional in some Botanical Gardens, but not in our Botanical Gardens. It was as if the official had some other version of the Gardens in mind, one where the lawns, and the benches, and the people on them would all disappear, leaving only a shining mirage of institutional prestige.

The City’s budget crisis is unquestionably real, and I understand that painful cuts have to be made. But the money that would be raised by charging entrance fees goes far beyond what is needed to make up the shortfall of money from the City. Only a portion of the money would go to Park & Rec. The rest would go to the Botanical Gardens themselves. My take on it is that the people who would like to change the Botanical Gardens into a more prestigious place may be taking advantage of the budget situation to put a new way of running the Gardens into place, a way which will become permanent, lasting far beyond the current budget crisis.

I think there are other solutions to the budget shortfall, other ways to raise funds that don’t involve admission fees that would keep many neighborhood people out. And I think there are other visions for the future of the Gardens which would allow it to keep its current balance of recreational space for residents and outstanding displays of interesting plants. It’s good enough the way it is now. It’s been good enough for the last 70 years. I’m not against a quest for excellence, but I think you have to look at what will be lost. To change the long-standing balance in the way the space is used is to risk turning it into yet another place where only tourists will go.

Park & Rec and the Botanical Gardens have been getting many emails and phone calls from people opposed to the fees. I guess it couldn’t hurt if they got more, but my sense is that they are committed to trying to get this through, and that the best chance of stopping it is with the Board of Supervisors, who have to approve the budget before it can go into effect.

Editing to add:

I found some great photographs here –> A Hostile Crowd of 250 Says No to Charging $7 Admission to Strybing Arboretum