In April and May a survey of Park visitors was conducted at random in the vicinity of the Arboretum, Museums and the Tea Garden. No position was advocated and two simple questions were asked of those who agreed to participate: 1) Where do you live? and 2) Would you visit the Arboretum if there were a $5-$7 fee?. The results indicate the following:

- 87.5% of S.F. residents would not pay to visit the Garden.
- 73% of non-residents would not pay to visit the Garden.

So far, RPD and the Society have either not done or have not been willing to share the results of any direct study of the public willingness to pay fees to enter the Arboretum. This survey establishes a very negative outlook for attendance should fees go into effect. While the low resident figures are not surprising, the non-resident results completely undermine the RPD financial plan for the fee proposal - surely leading to a resident fee proposal to try to make up for a shortfall from the current non-resident fee plan.

Please click on the link here to download the full results.