Botanical Garden closes for first time for 2 weeks

In response to budget cuts mandated by the Bloomberg administration, executives and trustees have decided to close the Queens Botanical Garden (QBG) for the holidays.
In an announcement on Tuesday, December 16, officials said that the entire garden, including the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum-certified visitors’ center, located at 43-50 Main Street in Flushing, would be closed from Monday, December 22 through Monday, January 5.
Saying that they “decided to use this traditionally slow period of visitation at the Garden to our advantage,” QBG Executive Director Susan Lacerte said the two-week hiatus “Will save the Garden much-needed funds as we move into 2009 and continue to explore ways to tighten our budget while minimizing the impact to the public.”
“We hope the public will understand,” said Frank Mirovsky, Chair of the QBG Board of Trustees. “We feel that closing during the holidays is one of several ways in which we can save funds, enabling us to use the dollars saved to better serve the public during the warmer, more popular seasons of the year.”
One early casualty of the closing is the “Winter Composting” program, which had been scheduled for Saturday, December 20, according to QBG spokesperson Tara Rogers.
“It’s sad but after the city-mandated and internal budget cuts, we had to do it,” she said. Rogers admitted that the numerous people who find the garden a perfect spot to relax or do their Tai Chi or other exercises will have to find another spot during the shut-down.
For travel directions and more information, visit www.queensbotanical.org or call (when they’re open) at 718-886-3800.