Admission fees are widening equity gaps
For a family of four in New York City, it costs up to $112 to visit the Bronx Zoo, $100 to visit the American Museum of Natural History and $140 to visit the New York Botanical Garden — and that’s just to get through the door. Special exhibits are an additional $10 to $35 per person, for locals and tourists alike. Add to that the cost of transportation, food and beverages, and the average family could spend up to $300 on a fewhour visit to one museum.
In a city with a median household income of $76,607 and a poverty rate of 17.2%, according to the Census Bureau in 2022, average New Yorkers simply cannot afford to take their families to our worldclass museums, gardens, zoos and science and performing arts centers. But the reality is that they should be able to. It’s unacceptable that a New Yorker can live blocks from a museum but be unable to afford to attend it — especially when you consider what we already pay for this privilege.
As our city faces budget cuts to our schools and libraries, widening educational achievement gaps since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation leading to rising child care costs, every family in New York City deserves to know about their right to enriching activities right in their neighborhood.
Many of us are not aware that because the American Museum of Natural History, the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Garden are on city-owned parkland and operate in city-owned buildings, they were established with the explicit intention to be a free and open educational resource for New York City residents.
These institutions were provided free rent with the caveat that they serve as a supplement to the New York City school system. In addition to the three named institutions, 14 other institutions across all five boroughs including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (photo), the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Central Park Zoo were incorporated to provide free access.
The 17 institutions agreed to offer free admission some or all days of the week to New Yorkers in exchange for free rent in park situated city-owned buildings. On top of free rent, all institutions receive operating subsidies. This agreement was written into founding state laws, but existing agreements with the city do not comply with the incorporating or amended state laws. Even those institutions that offer one or two free days a week do not follow the original agreement.
Take for example the American Museum of Natural History. It was founded with the requirement to be “free of charge throughout the year for five days in each week,” as written in state law. In 1970, the institution signed a lease with the city which added a stipulation that it could charge admission. However, it is doubtful that the city has the authority to overwrite state law. For more than 50 years, the museum has charged New Yorkers a fee to access its collections.
Or consider the Bronx Zoo. When the zoo was founded, its charter required free admission four days a week, later reduced to three days a week. Then, in 1991, the Legislature approved the first in a series of exemptions to authorize the zoo to offer free admission only one day per week.
This was due to the Bronx Zoo claiming financial hardships; however, there is no evidence that any financial studies were conducted to confirm this claim. The last temporary exception to the three-day requirement expired on July 1, 2020, yet the zoo has continued to offer only one free day a week for the last three years.
As a state senator representing Harlem, a lifelong New Yorker and a product of our public schools, I know the value these institutions bring to our families and communities — when they’re accessible and living up to their founding purpose. They’re part of what makes New York the city what it is.
I’ve heard from countless young people, parents and members of my community who would love to participate in the incredible culture our city has to offer but can’t afford to. That’s why I’ve introduced study bill A03059/S5265 to conduct a review to determine and report the facts of public access to the 17 institutions on the city’s parkland, the admissions fees they collect from New Yorkers and the subsidies, including the value of free rent, they receive.
It’s time we unravel the history of these institutions’ obligation to provide free access and serve as a supplemental education campus. That is why I am sponsoring and prioritizing this bill for inclusion in the state budget. Will you help me, your family and neighbors, by calling and urging your state representative to pass the bill? Cleare represents Harlem in the Senate.