Hey there. I diaried a few weeks ago about my community's botanical garden that was open and free to the public since its start in 1966.
Long story short, the University which owns and manages the garden has fenced it in and will begin to charge admission in the spring. Their reasons, they say, are inadequate funding and vandalism.
I thought I could let it go. In fact, I almost did. When fence installation began I posted that information on my Facebook status with a comment about how I would miss my dear friend and I was ready to leave it at that. The first response was a snarky "how wonderful the garden will be now that vandalism will be eliminated."
Needless to say that pissed me off. But it also caused me to clarify my thoughts. It wasn't the fence as a decorative or border concept that angered me. Nor was it the admission fee which for me is affordable.
No, I was angry at the thought of a beautiful and much used public area becoming closed to a large segment of those users. My viewpoint is fairly egalitarian and the garden I loved was open to everyone for short visits or long excursions.
I've written letters to the editor of both the local and college newspapers. I've spoken to my friends (preaching to the choir there). Yay! I no longer work for the university and can say whatever the hell I like.
What else can an individual do? Caveat: I'm your typical quiet polite Midwesterner (think Lake Wobegone) with an inner snarky bitch who escapes when I'm pissed. And, about this, I'm pissed. Sigh. I also have no money and no influential friends or connections.
Ideas for action? I've posted links to free university gardens on the McCrory Facebook page and started tweeting #FreeMcCrory. They haven't blocked or deleted my posts yet but I'm sure they will eventually. Interestingly, I got one response from a garden employee (I hope he wan't fired) who told me I couldn't compare the free garden to McCrory because the funding structure was completely different but he had no problem comparing admission to a football game with admission to the garden.
I suspected (strongly) that the university decided to privatize the property and reverse-engineered the rationale. After my first letter to the editor of our local paper a column examined the issue.
According to the garden's director the garden has an annual budget shortfall of $100,000; the $318,000 fence was paid through donations; and the admission fee is expected to generate $15,000 per year. And the new Education & Visitors Center cost $4.2 million. I'm no accountant but those numbers don't add up for me.
I particularly enjoyed this comment, "A botanical garden? Of course you're going to pay an admission fee, just like you would at a zoo or anything else."
Actually, no. My brother and husband (football not flower fans) both remarked "Nobody's going to pay to look at flowers." And certainly the spontaneous visitor who only wants a quick visit isn't going to pay.
I wondered about the policy of other university botanical gardens. Maybe they all charged admission and McCrory was just joining the flow. Using Wikipedia as a starting point, I was able to find 123 botanical gardens and arboretums associated with institutions of higher education. Of those only 15 (a bit over 10 percent) charge admission or have a suggested donation.
The college newspaper ignored this information submitted in an LTE in favor of the Dean of Ag's statement. "The consulting firm that worked on the creation of the strategic plan was surprised that the garden wasn’t fenced already and it was the only university-owned garden they were aware of without a fence, Dunn said. The consulting firm was also unaware of any gardens of this kind that didn’t charge." Um ... how about Cornell Plantatations for example. Thousands of acres open and free. And there are many more just like it at universities around the country. Incompetent consultant? Gullible or dishonest Dean? The paper has not posted my comments with specific institutions and details.
I grow more certain that the bean counters in admin decided to squeeze the resource for a few out-of-town bucks and the heck with the community that's supported the garden for nearly half a century. The fence and fees appeared to be a first "solution" with no consideration of the garden's long history as a public space. I don't recall any donation drive, fundraiser, or push for city or corporate sponsorship. Just "Boom" there's your fence and fees. Suck on it.
The bright spot (faint though it is) is that a few others share my feelings. The garden felt the pushback and put up this page. It's a bunch of corporatist doublespeak shilling for donations (as if!) but I suppose for many it will be good enough.
Anyway, enough of my diatribe. I welcome any suggestions for further activism.