unanimously to approve a resolution that had a clause about money coming into the general fund. i want you to respect your promise of last year. i have one more short story to tell you. i was there in front of the ticket office. two people came up behind me, a young man and young women. they got married here and now they have to go pay to get in? we cannot afford to live in san francisco. they started crying. >> thank you. i am a public employee.

i am proud to have a union job. i'm a member of -- and i'm ashamed that tend to one has taken a stand in favor of this the because this is against the interest of the workers. many of our workers to not live in the city and they will be punished by this. i have family who lives outside of the city as well. as a librarian, i have a very strong sense of the public comments and the public good. these are not meant to raise money, they are not meant to generate revenue. as someone said earlier, the penny wise and a pound foolish. the whole atmosphere of san francisco is against having this kind of fee imposed and the

privatization of the commons. i used to work for the san francisco botanical gardens society. i was there until april of last year. they have cut the library, use education back to practically nothing. they're putting all of their funding into trying to institute the fee and maintain it. we know it makes no sense financially. they are happy to have access restricted. they think that this is only for the few. they are unhappy about what was referred to as a mere comments which does not show that she understands what the idea of the public comments is. this is good for our physical and mental health, quality of life as a tourist destination

and this is completely foolish to try and impose -- to think about penny pinching. the people who can appear running social service, the social services to ask you to keep the feet, they have been misled as many of the volunteers and docents and staff has been -- have been misled by the information that has been put out. they have already gotten for $1,000 from the fee. they are not eligible to be looking after the comments. thank you. >> thank you. >> hello, could afternoon. i have lived in the inner sunset for about 20 years now. i wanted to come out against these fees. i brought a packet and

supervisor avalos was supposed to pass those out to you. here is a map, no one has talked about this. here is the parking lot in the back of the flowers. people cannot go through these gates anymore. there is a children's hospital where they are suffering from cancer and they cannot go there anymore. there is another wall here where the garden was built.

there is no longer any lease. othe sierra club is proposes because the red light fraud would be endangered by having it at that location. -- the red-legged frog would be endangered by having it at that location. >> thank you.

>> i live in district 10, i am a mother, a public school parent. a couple of quick points. if we are getting 59 cents on the dollar of our revenue, then perhaps we're not charging enough. i urge you to continue this fee. i did a quick check of similar sites around the country. in scottsdale, arizona and costs $15. in atlanta, $18, brooklyn, $10, even in boise, idaho, they charge $5 to go to their botanical garden. that might be some way to get the percentage of the fee to profit is to charge what is being charged elsewhere.

this is not discriminatory to charge people to go to a garden. we as san franciscans are already paying for it. of course, we should not have to pay twice. we are asked to pay twice all the time. my neighborhood association just had to pull a permit to use our neighborhood park for a free egg hunt later this month.

when i played basketball, they are charged $50 more than daly city residents. >> thank you for this opportunity. i am the director of marketing for the san francisco botanical society. i have been in this job a very short time. the marketing program is in its initial stages. i am here to assure you of that because -- a 7 minute because of and the manzanita that we helped to preserve and saved from the

presidio. we have had to the san francisco examiner, "the san francisco chronicle," and we have been featured on -- we will be featured in the ritz carlton. we have many other things in the running and we are increasing attendance. over 31,000 people have limit paid to enter and enjoyed the botanical gardens since the fee and over 100,000 people have entered our gates free. this is our botanical garden and people are free to enjoy that.

i am the creditor for the american association of museums. i credit the gardens across the country. >> thank you. >> hello, supervisors. i am the labor union official local 261. i would like to speak in favor of continuation of the non resident fee. we can get impolite and route towards each other as we walked and while members of the good labor union are not really about

half day about what is going on with extending the tax cuts to people that don't need them, we will always speak in favor of the revenue and parks department. we want you to know that we believe that the mayor is right. we need to stop the bleeding of one of the most important parts departments that we have. the recreation and parks department is the health department and we need to make sure that we generate that revenue. our coalition is a broad coalition and i give credit where credit is due to the people that oppose the fee. they have done it everywhere. our coalition is san franciscan. this is ethnically diverse, this is workers, this is business,

and this is community. we live here, we are the residents. we have been paying 5% three years ago, 5% in two years ago. if we don't come to you and encourage you to make difficult decisions to generate revenue, when it comes time to negotiate another 2% or 3%, we are negotiating that right now, then we will make every opportunity to generate revenue. we have an excellent relationship with the general manager and with the business community and we will have an excellent relationship with you. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker. >> i may 5 generation resident of san francisco.

two of my children used to go there every day for preschool. this is a special place. as a kid walking through, this is part of golden gate park. you should pay to see something like that you are forced to find revenue generating things. thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, i support supervisor avalos and eliminating the fee. mr. ginsberg has framed the issue are around need revenue for running the department. i believe that the board of supervisors should take him up on his -- about trade-offs.

he has hired a new director on deputy affairs. probably needed to appease the people who are outraged by this fee. in addition to this brand new portion, there is another half time, $300,000 police commander. between these positions, there is now $250,000 that can be eliminated by the budget thereby supporting the gardners. i am not suggesting that we don't take on the idea of having additional funding streams coming in through the property tax. i can put on this table $250,000 without this fee. this is very very disquieting to have to deal with this problem. also, supervisor kim asked what it does for rec and park.

it pays for a police officer and a representative. it limits where we can go to experience the diversity of nature and golden gate park by requiring an identification and money. please and this fee and support the spending on the new transfer tax for gardeners. thank you. >> good afternoon. i have lived and worked in district 4 and i have an infant who is 3 months old. i'm having very difficult time to get out to my work at 3:00, go home and get -- before 4:00. a couple of times, my wife and i arrived at 3:55 and they shut the door.

they handed me a business card for nancy johnson. i called and left some messages regarding this incident. that is the first issue about the arborists. the second issue that we have is that we just don't understand when we will stop. first, we start to the fee for the japanese tea garden. then, we need to charge money for the san francisco. i have been in over 203 countries. we in become worse than a third world country. if you have ever visited the toilets in the park, this is worse than a third world country. i have gone to the last -- i have gone to the park over 30 years and now i cannot go. i cannot get in. if i forget my driver's license,

i cannot get in. we love hard working people. we built this country working hard, not for those making a billion dollars a year. i work hard and i manage my budget. this is the richest, smallest county in the world and we make billions and billions of dollars. if we cannot manage this, we should get rid of the bad management. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm the chapter vice president for -- and i am speaking in support of these fees. i know a few folks have commented that we might be

misled. i am not misled. i know what happens in our department when we don't get revenue. last year, i saw many of my co- workers no longer go with jobs because they did not have revenues. we are trying to get revenue, not on the backs of san francisco. a month ago, i took my loved ones to the arboretum. i had to pay to come into the city. i had to pay today when my car sitting in a lot. i am fully aware of why we need revenue and i want you to think of one thing, we have to have sustainable revenue so that we can have recreation, we can have the parks for everyone to keep enjoying these world-class places. thank you.

>> hello, everyone. i am a resident of san francisco. i am here to help keep these it opened by supporting a nonresident feed. the nonresident fee provides a dedicated source of revenue that helps the city keeps our parks clean and our facilities open. we are in a time when it is vitally important keeps our kids engaged in healthy activities. this is not anything hard, this is really an easy choice to make. please come and support the revenue for our parks and recreation centers and no cuts. >> thank you. >> thank you.

>> good evening. i am representing the randolph institute. we are in support of the workers. what that means is that if we have to continue the fees for the botanical gardens, we felt that would be necessary. what we would really like is to see and have the supervisors to take the time to sit down and look into our alternative funding such as the real-estate tax transfers as a possible way to save jobs and to eliminate the fees. just don't eliminate the fees without looking for additional funding from alternative ways. also, you might want to take more time to do an extended

collection of data. 8 and a half, nine months is not long enough. we have the summer coming. and in for a situation is beginning to improve. it might not be so bad to overturn this after all. before you cut the feed, please take a look at alternative funding. thank you. >> hello, supervisors. i am a 42-year resident of san francisco and i oppose the fee. the arboretum is a special place. i feel a lot of people and the

southern part of the city have very fond memories and very strong attachments to the arboretum. we tend to look at this that only impacts tourists. in reality, this is a disservice to our residents. all of us have family and friends spread throughout the entire bay area due to economic conditions. people cannot afford to live in san francisco. most of our children live outside of the city. what an insult to this to our san francisco in residence and to our native san franciscans to have to go back to visit the garden and to be told that you have to pay to see the plants and gardens. thank you. >> i would like to make an announcement. for anyone who is currently in the overflow room, we have seats that are open in the board chambers.

if you would like to make your way over here, i have about five or six more speakers and line. >> if this fee is extended, i would personally feels cheated. if we went out and work hard, this fee would be done away with. that is not happening. if you extend this fee, -- i went door to door and i stood in front of the farmers' markets. many of my friends did the same. we work hard for that. we work hard because we were told that if either of those were adopted, the fees would be rescinded.

if you do not do this, you have made yourself a bunch of liars. i think that the people that have come here and spoken for the fees are also being cheated if you do this because what they don't realize is that all we're asking for is 1% per year of the new revenues generated by proposition 9. 1%. certainly, the recreation and parks department enjoys at least 1%. if you are not willing to allocate 1% of that revenue, you are not allocating one penny to the recreation and park department. that is not fair. the recreation and park department has been cut year after year after year, more than any other in the city. this is something that is

important to the people. this is a place where many of us raised our children. my child lives with his throat friend in berkeley. we used to go to the arboretum to remember his mother. now, he will not go there anymore because we have to pay $14 to walk around the arboretum. >> i was not originally planning on speaking. i heard a few things while i was sitting there. i am a ticket taker. i definitely know the numbers that come in. i am for keeping the fee, not just from my job but as far as working there, it is nice to be

able to educate residents. we house plants that are almost extinct. we give them maps, they get to walk around. at one point, people feel free to yell at us through the plexiglass. they come up with nasty attitudes. a lot of times, they don't come with their id, i will explain to them that it is our policy if they don't prove residence. if they choose to walk away mad, that is a choice. as far as working there, there is a daily visitor who came up to me and witnessed a master bitter but she did not feel it was important enough to call the police herself. i have come across lost children who need to call their parents.

if the? this not there, what do they do? it does not seem that people take responsibility to make a safer place themselves if they don't want us to be there either. thank you. >> thank you. >> excuse me, can i ask you a quick question? you are employed as a ticket taker? >> yes. >> how many days a week do you work? >> in the summertime, i am working four have shifts and during the winter hours, i work six hours. >> in this season right now, is it a winter? >> this is technically 9:00 a.m.

to 6:00 p.m.. i work for and a half hours. i have been working there since august 7th. i know, if i can. we had a lot of tour buses that have said that we were free. a lot of people were turned away because we were told -- they were told we were free. there are still a lot of people that don't know that we charge. there are some that are happy to pay when they don't have their id. >> are you working today? >> i was working and then i came over here. >> thank you. >> next speaker, a priest -- next speaker, please. >> i am in charge of the docent training for the garden. we only have two choices to talk about today.

one of them is keeping the city going, the other is taking a one time donation from the board of supervisors. unfortunately, those are the only choices we have. if they said, we will give you what you need every year for the next 10 years, we would not have had this meeting. that choice apparently is not on the table. maybe we will get the money next year. i think that the botanical garden needs the feed because that is the one that is probably going to be more sustainable. that is why i am for the fee. i think the fee is the one that will start making more money and the people who are angry who lives in the city will start coming back and that is basicawh