Save The San Francisco Botanical Gardens

All of these photos were taken by me on Monday during my visit to the Botanical Gardens. I planned on this just being a Wordless Wednesday post with photos until I visited the Gardens website and found that due to budget cuts etc... the gardens will fall to demise unless they begin charging an entrance fee. There have been mumblings and rumors about this over the past year with a lively debate.

Now you all know that I am there on a regular basis. If it has to permanently close I WILL NOT be a happy camper. The gardens have always been free unlike all the other venues in that area to include the DeYoung Museum, The Academy of Sciences of which you almost have to be a millionaire to afford their entrance fees, The Japanese Tea Garden and the Conservatory of Flowers.

My position is that the Botanical Gardens should begin implementing fees. Why not? Everyone else charges fees to maintain their venues. If you buy a membership to the gardens which is as low as $60.00 per year, rounding out to five bucks a month, then you have a 24/7 free admission. What the gardens is proposing is to charge a $7.00 entrance fee for all non residents which I think is very liberal. My suggestion is to charge everyone a fee unless they buy a membership. Then the gardens can also implement a couple of free days per month for everyone like the other venues in the area. Now mind you, I am not rich by any means but can certainly afford a $60.00 membership ($5.00 per month), to save my gardens.

I am extremely passionate about this cause and there is a petition on the Botanical Gardens website where you can sign in favor of the $7.00 non-resident entrance fee. Click here for the link to that petition. Now I know many of you do not live here but if you agree with this fee and saving MY GARDENS :) then please sign. They need 1,000 signatures and currently, as I am typing this have about 480.

There are so many exciting changes going on at the Gardens everyday, that to see it die due to not enough funding is just heartbreaking. I took many photos on my jaunt there on Monday so I'll have more during the week. Thanks everyone.