Here’s the thing - people on both sides all seem to know each other and care deeply about The Garden. This conflict seems a kind of civil war (hence the Antietam name check, yes it rhymes exactly), a family squabble. It’s plant-loving Brother against plant-loving-but-other-stuff-too Brother. Get up to speed on this dispute here.
Now, once more into the breach, dear friends.
The mise-en-scene last night. It’s Recreation and Park Commission President Jim Lazarus taking individual questions from a hostile crowd, split up unnecessarily, it turned out, into three sections. This is what the bulk of the meeting looked like. Click to expand:
But let’s start at the beginning. Below, it’s the organized neighbors! They taped up hundreds of small signs to draw attention to the meeting. Did workers from DPW spend a lot of time taking down the unofficial notices? Apparently. Were any official notices put up, like last time? Not that I could see.
Inside, the fellow on the left, (didn’t get his name, someone called him The Kid) tried to get things started, but vocal members of the crowd didn’t like the agenda that was handed out, particularly they didn’t like being split up into three groups.
The guy with the ponytail went off, and the Eli in the Yale jacket on the right pleaded for calm. Thank Gaia for Yalies:
After a couple go-arounds like that, The Kid threatened to cancel the meeting. (Arboretum staff appears to view hosting public meetings like these as doing a favor to Arboretum visitors, and truth be told, if San Francisco officials are dead-set on allowing the charging of admission, they can do it regardless of what regular Arboretum visitors want.) Here’s a ten-minute video of the action.
But after a brief huddle, redolent of a friendly car salesperson taking your low-ball offer to the Big Guy…
…out comes lawyer Jim Lazarus calling an audible to change the meeting’s format. He seemed every bit the experienced pol he is.
The new agenda that got worked out with leadership elements from the masses: an uninterupted 10-15 minute “general presentation” of the plan. “Then you can decide how much you want to beat us up after that,” said Jimbo. “You can shoot us all when it’s over.”
This Lazarus Effect resuscitated the meeting. So, let’s hear The Proposal.
The Arboretum would set up pre-fab ticket kiosks at the Main Gate and the Friend Gate (near the Japanese Tea Garden) for $65K and then hire four part-time cashiers, a manager(?), and also a part-time accountant for $148K per year. San Francisco residents would enter for free after showing some sort of ID. Those useless freeloading parasites known as Everybody Else in the World would pay $7, or $4 (students and seniors), or $2 (kids) each time they go in. They’d have the option of getting a $75 annual pass that would also allow entry at the Japanese Tea Garden and the Conservatory of Flowers – something like that.
The projected 100,000 in paid admissions would have a “blended average” of $5.50 per, resulting in a gross take of $550K. Take away $150K for expenses and you end up with an annual net of $400K, of which $100-150K would go into the Rec and Park kitty and the rest could go into whatever, like hiring more gardeners at $68K salary (plus 25% more in benefits).
The goal would be to eventually get up to a full complement of 16 gardeners, which will “never happen” without some new source of Arboretum-specific cashola.
That’s it.
“KEEP THE ARBORETUM FREE”
What about residents of neighboring counties in the Bay Area you say? It doesn’t matter, all auslanders gotta pay.
What about the rumoured $1.3 million cost of building the kiosks and other related expenses? That was just a “Cadillac proposal” dreamed up by somebody or other – the bare bones approach discussed last night would not be as nice, but it would get the job done.
This charismatic-messianic type got lots of applause for questioning the whole idea of charging anybody anything, regardless of the numbers:
Mr. Lazarus acknowledged the fear San Francisco residents have of being the next in line to be charged, the fear that admission prices would then increase after that. No promises on that front. Que sera sera.
But I’ll let the Keep the Arboretum Free people delve into these issues more. When I left, Lazarus was answering questions one by one, Phil Donahue-style.
“FREE means NO FEES, NO I.D.s”
Oh yes, the “next terrible meeting” promised by Jimbo will concern paid parking in Golden Gate Park. (Do people really plant their vehicle in the park for free and then run all over town all day? People do.)
Random observations:
The estimate of $148k annually to pay salaries for the paid admission scheme sounds low. Way low, particularly in light of what cashiers at the Japanese Tea Garden get paid.
Park and Rec knows how to notice a public meeting but, for whatever reason, it appears to have done a bush-league job of noticing last night’s workshop.
Next up next month in June: the action will move over to City Hall and the Board of Supervisors. When will our civil war end?
When: May 28, 2009 – Thursday 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Where: County Fair Building, 9th Avenue and Lincoln Avenue, San Francisco
What: In response to the feedback received on the proposed admission program at Botanical Garden, the Rec & Park Department decided there will not be a fee for residents. The revised proposal does include a $7. fee for nonresident visitors. Public workshop is to take feedback regarding revised proposed admission fee and will be seeking topics including:
Implementation of the new fee for non-San Francisco residents.
Amenities at the Garden.
Potential new revenue sources.
Well they’re still doling out the cash on this one, so why not get some of it?
Now I’ll tell you, the only worser idea than going to law school these days (ooh, that link is a bit much, non?) is going to cooking school, am I right, GF? So why not use your JD to help the poor souls who were misled by the California Culinary Academy?
It’s a win-win, baby! Get all the deets below.
Sure, cooking school can be sexy, but does it pay off?
“Senior Counsel and Director of Legal Aid Firm (downtown / civic / van ness)
This is an opportunity to found a legal aid organization. In Amador v. California Culnary Academy, students alleged they were led to believe the $46,000 12-month culinary education they received would make economic sense based on their post-graduation job opportunities. For most students that proved untrue.
In connection with the $41.8 million class action settlement of the case (judgement is expected to become final later this month), $2 million has been earmarked to provide student-debt-related services to class members. These class members need help dealing with their creditors. The director will set up and manage the firm under the oversight of the trustees of the fund, Ray E. Gallo and Robert W. Mills. The objective is to effectively manage and compromise the class members’ debts by all legal means. Also, through other fundraising efforts, we hope this new firm may live beyond its $2 million founding budget to become the first agency to focus on providing remedies to the economically disadvantaged when they suffer consumer-related tragedies like those at issue in Amador.
The ideal applicant is an attorney with 10 or more years of experience who enjoys being in a courtroom and has significant experience supervising other lawyers and staff members. Big firm training and top 10 schooling are preferred, but anybody smart and scrappy is welcome to apply. This will be a small firm environment, and effective use of technology will be essential, so you should be someone who welcomes those things.
The job may be available as early as July 1, 2012 and requires a commitment of at least two years. The location of the firm will be determined in consultation with the Director once hired.
Please submit cover letter, resume, writing sample, and salary history by email. Potentially qualified candidates will be asked to complete online assessments.
And outside, what you’ll see are a bunch of tourists debating the merits of paying $28 or whatever to enter the gates. Usually, they walk off dejectedly.
Why does our Strybing Arboretum (aka San Francisco Botanical Garden) need to become “world-class?”
Nobody’s ever explained that one to me. But that’s the rationale for charging admission these days (after six decades of free admission.)
Now, why isn’t our Strybing Arboretum called Strybing Arboretum anymore?
So it can become “world-class.” (Apparently, naming an arboretum after the woman who gave the money to start things up is considered provincial Back East. Plus Founder Helene Strybing made the mistake of becoming old and dying so nobody gives a ROMEO ALPHA about her anymore.)
Anyway, they started charging admission so the place turned into a ghost town, a “museum of plants and trees.”
Click to expand
Oh well.
They said if things didn’t work out, they’d stop charging admission.
And here’s what they look like. Yes, there’s a bathroom in there:
Click to expand
Myself, I haven’t been back into Strybing (except to poke my head in to see how few people are there) since they started charging admission.
Maybe I’ll visit again when they stop charging…
But these booths need hawkers, you know, just like the strip clubs in North Beach. Why don’t you sign up?
You’ll need sales skills of course. Check out the job posting below.
BTW, your pay as a “Garden Ambassador”will be $9.92 below minimum wage (aka nothing) and your commission will be zero (0) percent. (Can you imagine what hawkers would do on slow days if they got paid a commish of one dollar per entry ticket? OMG,
“Description
Greet visitors at the North Gate of the Botanical Garden and encourage them to visit this outstanding garden. Many visitors approach the admissions kiosk and don’t know about the amazing garden that lies just beyond the gates.
Skills
Public Speaking, Sales
Requirements
Willingness to approach the public. Ability to communicate effectively and persuasively. Sincere desire to share basic knowledge about the Garden. Genuine love and appreciation for the SF Botanical Garden.”
Doesn’t San Francisco already pay seven figures a year to run the San Francisco Botanical Garden? So why should people have to pay to get into the thing? Oh, it costs money to run, a whole lot? Well, then why don’t we just shut it down?
One might wonder.
Jim Lazarus, past president of the Recreation and Park Commission, gets it wrong here:
Well actually, Jimbo, why not let’s do nothing and then the fee would go away by itself, right? No repeal is necessary, actually, as you already know, huh Jimbo?
Now here comes simple-minded Randy Shaw of Beyond Chron, who doesn’t seem to understand that the purported quarter-million a year that’s “expected” (by whom, some wildly optimistic person, obviously) to be generated by the fee will for pay three “extra” unionized gardeners at the Arboretum. There’s no way on Gaia’s Green Earth that the fee at Strybing will pay for social services.
SF Crime Examiner Thomas Pendergrast has pretty much all you need to know about the plan to make permanent the access fees at the San Francisco Botanical Garden.
And looky here, here’s a pdf from Budget and Legislative Analyst Harvey M. Rose, CPA:
When an accountant calls your forecasts “highly optimistic,” what’s he really saying?
Oh well.
I guess the BOS will soon vote to make the temporary boycott of the San Francisco Botanical Garden a permanent boycott.
Oh well.
As seen last Saturday:
Oh, and look what else is coming up:
“Thursday, April 7, 2011 2:00 p.m. City Hall, Room 416 11a. GOLDEN GATE PARK ACCESS PASS Discussion and possible action to recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve an ordinance amending Park Code Article 12 authorizing the Commission to discount admission fees for the Conservatory of Flowers, Japanese Tea Garden and the San Francisco Botanical Garden as part of a Golden Gate Park Access Pass. (ACTION ITEM) Staff: Brent Dennis.
Hey. what’s a GOLDEN GATE PARK ACCESS PASS? We’ll find out soon enough…
Quintin Mecke was on hand representing Assemblymember Tom Ammiano’s office and somebody else spoke for Supervisor John Avalos. Noticed Aaron Peskin in the audience as well.
All the while, there was absolutely nobody on or near the Main Lawn just inside the admission gate. Presenting your empty Strybing Arboretum:
Click to expand
But that’s the way the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society likes it.
Saturday April 2nd, 2011
1:00PM – 2:00PM
Arboretum Main Gate
(9th Avenue & Lincoln)
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW
On April 6th, 2011, the Budget Committee of the Board of Supervisors will be making a crucial decision on the future of the fee, either free admissions for all or a permanent non-resident fee.
SUPPORT- Ordinance 110113 sponsored by Supervisors Avalos, Campos, Kim, Mar and Mirkarimi to use Prop N tax revenues as a sustainable solution to support a free public garden.
OPPOSE- Ordinance 110225 sponsored by the Mayor for a permanent fee.
After 7 months the fee has been a failure. Only $54,800 out of a promised $250,000 has been collected. Attendance, based on Rec & Park figures, has declined sharply with non-resident visitors down 70% vs. estimates and resident visitors down 36%. RPD’s strategy is to market Strybing Arboretum as the new Japanese Tea Garden.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP THIS HARMFUL FEE:
Attend the Budget Committee Hearing on Wed. April 6 (time TBA)
