After seven decades of free access, the San Francisco Botanical Garden (formerly the Strybing Arboretum) began charging a fee for non-City residents. In mid-July, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to continue charging the $7 fee, which was approved in 2009 and was about to expire. Free access is still to be allowed for all visitors between 7:30 and 9 a.m daily, as well as one day per month and on select major holidays.
There is vehement opposition to the fee from the local chapter of the Sierra Club, from longtime users of the 55-acre site (which boasts a reported 8,000 species of plants), and from critics who have charged the City’s Recreation and Park Department with privatizing and monetizing public space in San Francisco.
