San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said Wednesday the city will not be reversing course on its new paid parking system in Balboa Park despite the fees being "politically uncomfortable."
Gloria's statement came in response to a memo sent Tuesday by council members Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera. The council members asked the mayor to waive parking fees for city residents, citing "key problems" with the city's online payment portal and the parking kiosks installed in the park.
"The resident discount portal is the only method for San Diegans to receive discounts on Balboa Park parking, yet it was introduced mere days before paid parking began on Monday, Jan. 5 — a haphazard rollout that will surely lead to San Diegans missing out on their resident discount and paying higher parking rates than they have to," the memo said.
The pair also said public education efforts by the city have been inadequate, citing the lack of signage on kiosks in the park on Monday as evidence that the program isn't "ready for prime time."
City workers affixed stickers with QR codes to kiosks in the park on Monday that link to the online portal — the only way for city residents to access their 50% discount.
But those discounts require residency verification — which costs $5 and can take up to two business days — another reason Lee and Elo-Rivera said the fees should be suspended.
Physical signage reflecting parking rates, including the three hours of free parking available at Lower Inspiration Point, was installed by city crews on Tuesday afternoon.
In a four-page memo responding to the council members, the mayor said the program's rollout is happening on the City Council's accelerated timeline.
Gloria said the council made optimistic assumptions about how much revenue parking will generate in the 2026 budget, and any delay will lead to a greater projected deficit.
"Throughout this six-month-long process, my administration, in conjunction with your Independent Budget Analyst, consistently cautioned against aggressive revenue assumptions and a compressed rollout schedule, citing concerns about rushed implementation," Gloria's memo states. "Nonetheless, the City Council voted in September 2025 and November 2025 to proceed with program implementation as early as January 2026, giving the administration just a few months to stand up a brand new program with a complex rate structure."
Gloria said reversing course days after the program began would just lead to more confusion.
He said city leaders need to stand by their decisions.
"What we will not do is reverse course days into implementation in a way that undermines fiscal stability, creates uncertainty, and sends the message that addressing a decades-old structural budget deficit that has plagued our city is optional because it is politically uncomfortable," Gloria's memo said. "That kind of erratic decision-making is not good governance, and San Diegans deserve better."
The mayor said parking kiosks in the park collected $23,000 over their first two days of operation after going live Monday.
The online portal collected $106,000 in daily and long-term passes — more than 90% of those going to residents, Gloria said.
