How San Diego's Balboa Park parking policy is affecting arts, culture and access

S1: Welcome in San Diego. I'm Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman. On today's show , our arts reporter Beth Accomando speaks with museum leaders in Balboa Park on the impacts of new parking fees. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Back in January , San Diego began asking visitors to Balboa Park to pay for parking. Up until this week , the city had offered a grace period , declining to write tickets for violators. The city has also expanded free parking for city residents , and it made parking free for everyone after 6 p.m. , but there's been a sustained backlash to the parking fees. KPBS Arts reporter Beth Accomando recently checked in with organizations in the park about how the changes are affecting them. She spoke with Tim Shields , managing director of the Old Globe Theatre. Michael Warburton , executive director of the Model Railroad Museum , and Peter Kaminski , executive director of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership. Here's their conversation.

S2: I am here at the Old Globe Theatre and we are going to be talking about parking here in Balboa Park. And since we are at the globe , I would like to go to Tim first to talk about how has this parking , which came into effect earlier this year , impacted the globe so far.

S3:

S2: And Peter , you work with an organization that oversees a lot of things in the park.

S4: We're at the point where now where we're kind of finalizing the data for February , fully supportive of everything Tim has just identified where where the confusion is rife , where the concern is real about the impact , but most importantly , the impact that this is having on visitation and the devastation that that has over the just the two months that's been in place , um , looks like it will result in somewhere between a 20 and $30 million loss in revenues to these organizations for what effectively is a very small percentage of that in actual parking revenue. So I think we need to ensure that we're realistic and ensure that we actually identify the issues that this is causing at the same time.

S2: And , Michael , you are with one of the museums here , Railroad Museum. And you're a small organization here.

S5: And since that time , we're down in attendance 29%. And what we've really seen , though , is that that casual visitor , the people who decide to come on the weekend , for example , that's really dropped. As an example , Sunday , March 1st , we were down 39% compared to 2025.

S2: Now , this parking has been in effect for a couple of months , as you've mentioned.

S4: We expressed and continue to express our concern about the introduction of paid parking. However , it was extremely important for the members of the cultural partnership , not just that our team members were considered in the roll out of that , but also the visitors to the park and how Balboa Park is truly a regional asset. It is a city asset , no doubt. It's an amazing asset , but it truly is both regional impact , both in economic impact for the city and also on our guests and our visitors. So it was something that the cultural partnership certainly expressed our concern. We offered some ideas. There were definitely ideas that perhaps didn't quite fit the city's vision at that point , and we are pleased that the mayor has introduced a couple of first steps in making some changes. We think it needs to go a lot further. Parking really should be free.

S2: Well , you mentioned changes. One recently came into effect on March 2nd , trying to keep up with what the changes are and what they mean and how to navigate it. I came for Black Comics day. I knew there was three hours free parking at Inspiration Point , but after three hours I was asked by my app to pay for the full $10 for the day because it didn't have , you know , an option for like 4 hours or 3 hours.

S3: We hope they'll do that on the weekends as well. But writ large , the rules in the system , even as it's set up now and even as it's been offered at its most latest iteration of it , is still confusing to patrons , still confusing to anybody who wants to come to the park visitors and works against the public. Access to the park and to organizations like the globe are education programs. For instance , out on the plaza once a month , we offer for free to 2500 or 3000 people , and the idea that now they have to encounter some sort of barrier to that , and either logistically or having to park very far away to try to find their way over to the old globe , or have to pay for parking in any place that's reasonably approximate in terms of walking distance is a real problem for the community , and a real problem that impedes the idea of what the park represented over all of its years of existence. Yeah.

S5: Yeah. Just to follow up with where Tim was going , if San Diego residents think it's going to be just like it was before January 5th , they are completely wrong because there's a cumbersome process to register as a city resident , you have to pay the $5 , you have to wait 48 hours. But then when you get here , the city describes it. 70% of the parking is now available for them to park for free. Those are also the same lots that staff and volunteers are being forced to park in as well. And so not only do you consider that a 30% reduction to make the 70% that is now available for free , but you're also competing for basically parking inventory with all of the staff and volunteers and the people who work here.

S2: For me , the parking app is very easy. It's on my phone. I've got that all in. My mom could not do that , and with some recent vandalism of some of the kiosks , then you don't even have the option of going and putting your credit card in.

S3: And even with those kiosks , we know from the recent experience you were at the globe , we had to delay a performance by 15 minutes because of the line at the kiosk , simply to be able to get the negotiate through the parking structure there. So people , when they went at peak times , are finding a line at the kiosk and people in the line helping people in front of them to try to get through it. But it has a direct impact in how people can get to performances at the globe.

S4: And I think what you see there to , to Tim's point is you see a frustration. The challenge is that that frustration is going to make people decide not to come to Balboa Park. And we talk about Model Railroad Museum. We talk about the Art Institute. We talk about we talk about all these amazing museums and cultural experiences , many of which people are discovering when they come to the park. So , yes , they'll come to the Old Globe. Yes , they'll come tomorrow. They'll they'll come to fleet. But when they're here , they also discover just this amazing breadth of cultural experience. And when people then choose not to come to the park because it's either too hard or the perception is it's very expensive for parking , that damages everybody in the park. It damages our city.

S2: You know , on the surface , it seems like the cost of parking may deter some people.

S5: Anytime I look at anything posted by the city related to parking , the majority of comments and quite , quite often people identifying as non city residents are very angry about it and are literally writing boycott Balboa Park.

S3: When a certain way. It's understandable that the city has an asset and they view that asset as something that they could in the end extract some revenue from. But as a public amenity. To think that way about Balboa Park is , I believe , ill considered , if you would think about it as a parallel for public libraries , which everyone understands the function and the nature of public libraries , you could say , well , that's a public amenity that's being funded with taxpayer dollars. Why don't we try to extract some value from that ? Let's start charging for people to take out books , $5 a book. We can generate revenue that way. I don't think anybody in the public would think that would be a good idea. In a very same argument , in the very same parallel way , I think the same could be held true for Balboa Park that were as much a public amenity as any of the libraries , any of the recreation spots , swimming pools. You can't charge for everything about quality of life in San Diego , and expect that the taxpayers of San Diego , city and county would think that's a really terrific idea.

S4: Balboa Park also drives about $670 million in economic impact for our city. That includes at least at least $30 million in local taxes and some $90 million statewide for taxes. That is being put at risk every time you see a drop in visitation. That economic impact is dropping. You look at revenue shares with some of the restaurants and some of the other groups in the park. The reality is that with a 20% drop in visitation , which is what is projected to many of our organizations , the city will lose more money than they gain in the parking revenue that they've identified to date.

S3: And in fact , the Cone Restaurant Group , and so far , their experience with the Prado restaurant is exactly that , that their business is down. And and the Cone Restaurant Group has been prominent in the voices that are calling for the suspension of paid parking in Balboa Park.

S2:

S3: To.

S4: To.

S3: Believe that the revenue would be additive to the overall budget picture in Balboa Park. I don't believe that to be the reality as the parking revenue is generated , then general purpose revenue is taken out of the budget overall. So to the extent that it reduces the pressure to reduce the budget in Balboa Park , I suppose you can make the case that it's helpful overall , but I don't believe that there's any forward looking projection that says that it , in fact , will be additive and begin to solve the problems that we have here in the park , which are ones of enormous backlogs of physical inventory needs that need to be handled in all the buildings of Balboa Park , which are city owned , including the public may not be aware of this. The Old Globe and the physical plant of the Old Globe is owned by the City of San Diego. The globe occupies it under the terms of a long term lease , and any work that the globe does on the buildings is simply a leasehold improvement. But it's the city of San Diego that holds title to the buildings. Therefore , they're responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the buildings. The outside shell of the building , the roofs , all of those elevators , all of those kinds of things are the city's responsibility. So if this money could be put towards the end of beginning to solve some of the backlog problem of of these kinds of issues , I think there'd be a greater acceptance of it among those who are trying to operate the institutions here in Balboa Park.

S4: Every building , including the historic ones , our city assets. And so what we find is all of our members are using private philanthropic dollars to improve that experience. We need to ensure that the experience within the whole park continues to be elevated. And right now , I don't believe that the way that the parking is being run , nor the fact that that parking charge exists. Serves that purpose.

S5: As a smaller organization , the San Diego Model Railroad Museum , we just don't have the firepower for fundraising like a lot of the larger ones. And so while we would love to have donors take care of some of the issues we have with the building , we have to rely on the city to make repairs. And I've been dealing with leaks every time it rains for months. Coming into one of my exhibit spaces , every few years , we have a sewer drain that backs up and floods and causes issues like we have real issues that are continual and it's a struggle , you know , honestly , to have some of these things repaired and maintained by the city because one , they don't have the money and to sometimes they don't have the staff.

S4: Bottom line there is that the dollars that are being raised through the parking charge are a tiny amount of the deferred maintenance that's required in Balboa Park. So while it's welcoming that the city is recognizing that need. The solution is far from anything that is not just adequate , but is even a drop in the ocean.

S2: Well , and the other thing about the park is there are so many nonprofit organizations. You know , these aren't big corporations or , you know , chain stores or things like that. And it seems like we're already in a climate where , you know , that kind of funding is being cut from other sources.

S5: And I would say that climate , as far as our economic climate has a lot to do with our ability to fundraise. There's only so much of a pie when it comes to funds and philanthropy , and arts and culture is already a smaller slice compared to Health and Human services. And so when you start to have a downturn in the economic climate , it becomes even harder to raise funds for arts and cultural organizations.

S2: So at this particular point in time , if you had the ear of Todd Gloria or somebody else and you said , here's an idea or here's a way we could fix this , and also with the the idea that they have budget shortfalls , they are trying to make it up.

S4: Parking should be free in Balboa Park. The incremental revenue that you receive , whether that's through restaurants and sales tax , whether that's through other direct economic impact , whether that's through the destination of Balboa Park , is such an important destination for San Diego. That's going to by far make up a lot of the revenues that you would otherwise receive from something like paid parking. So for me , the end point is always the starting point , which is that parking should be free for everyone in Balboa Park.

S5:

S6:

S3: Sort of wave a magic wand , I suppose it would be a solution where we've talked a little earlier in this conversation about Balboa Park being , although owned by the city , a regional asset. And I would want to encourage a regional solution to the issues and whether that's some sort of dialogue between the city and the county , whatever form it would take. I would hope that that enlightened minds could get together and determine a way that this problem could be shared among the region's entities , as opposed to being shouldered simply by the city. I know the city itself would be , I think , interested in having those kinds of conversations about this kind of burden being born in terms of the expense of the park solely by the city. So if we are to broaden that conversation , I think that would be an entirely good thing for the region.

S2: The concessions that have been made recently have mostly been focused on San Diego city residents , like , how are you seeing some of those incremental changes that they're trying to do ? What do you think those changes are actually doing ? Are they actually making a difference or not.

S3: In a partial way ? They're making a difference. Again , city residents that use the park frequently are reporting that it's easier for them to get to. And that's great. We appreciate that. As Peter said earlier , as a first step , they moved the end time for enforcement from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. , which for a performing arts organization like the globe , that's helpful. So the city's been helpful in that regard. But overall , again , as a regional asset. We just think the park ought to be accessible to everybody. That's what it was created for. That's 100 years of practice. That said , that's what the park is. And now this cuts against that idea of access to all.

S5: A large portion of our visitors are from the county. Right. And we need to remind the city residents and politicians that we can't succeed as a city without the county.

S1: That was KPBS Beth Accomando speaking with Tim Shields of the Old Globe Theatre. Michael Warburton of the Model Railroad Museum. And Peter Kaminski of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership.

S7: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.