Creative Commons/Allan Ferguson

San Francisco residents with ID can enter the botanical garden in Golden Gate Park for free; out-of-towners must pay $7

Updated April 12, 2011 at 5:41 p.m.

The controversial $7 entrance fee for the botanical garden in Golden Gate Park has been extended until the fall of 2013.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 6 to 5 Tuesday afternoon to extend the nonresident fee, which critics have cast as an effort to privatize public parks. 

The fee was put in place last year by San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department to pay for gardeners in the face of budget shortfalls. While out-of-towners must pay, San Francisco residents can still get into the 55-acre botanical garden for free, but they must show their IDs.

Supervisor John Avalos led an effort to kill the fee because he said it limited access to the garden and cost too much to collect. A report by budget analyst Harvey Rose found that it cost 59 cents to collect every $1 — and that Rec and Park had been overly optimistic when it projected that the fee would bring in $650,000 in its first year. In fact, it will bring in about $356,000.

But Avalos’ legislation was defeated by Rec and Park with the backing of Mayor Ed Lee, who counter-proposed extending the fee. That means that the recently constructed kiosks that block both entrances will remain standing. And the ticket takers will remain employed. 

The fee had strong support from the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, which helps run the garden. The Society even went as far as agreeing to eat more than $100,000 in startup costs once it became apparent that tourists were not lining up to pay $7 to see the plants.  

A group of vocal residents rallied against the fee, saying they feared that Rec and Park, headed by Phil Ginsburg, is trying to turn public parks into private business.

The board's more moderate supervisors supported the proposal to extend the fee, with board President David Chiu casting the deciding vote in favor.