Elsewhere: Tourists Must Now Pay To Enter S.F. Botanical Garden. Are Locals to Follow? SF Weekly, City Hall Watch: Visitors now must pay to see Botanical Garden Ex, Botanical Garden admission fee takes root Chron
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors today approved a law charging non-San Francisco residents to visit the Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park.
By an 8-3 vote, the board approved fees of $7 for adults, $5 for youth and seniors, and $2 for children ages 5 to 11.
Many supervisors noted they had to make difficult decisions in the face of the city’s projected $483 million budget deficit.
According to the Recreation and Parks Department, the fees could generate about $250,000 in new revenues.
Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi, Eric Mar and Bevan Dufty voted against the charges.
Mirkarimi and Mar said they wanted to keep the gardens free for all visitors and that charging non-residents would make it easier to impose fees for San Franciscans in the future.
The board also today unanimously approved increasing fees for non-San Francisco residents to use the elevator at another popular tourist attraction, Coit Tower.
