The San Diego City Council this week is combing through Mayor Todd Gloria's proposed budget raising questions about a long-debated concept: charging for parking in Balboa Park.
Gloria's spending plan assumes the city will implement paid parking in the park by January 2026 and collect $11 million in revenue by the end of June 2026. It also assumes the city will spend $1.4 million to get the program up and running. Councilmembers are scheduled to vote on the budget next month, but would have to take a separate vote on the parking charges later this year.
City officials say they are still studying options for various parking rates, and have indicated that some lots could still be free while motorists would pay only for the highest-demand parking spots.
The Municipal Employees Association (MEA), the largest union of city workers, has been pushing the mayor and City Council to raise more revenue from parking to offset the need for cuts to city services. Finance officials say inflation, sluggish economic growth and years of short-term budgeting tactics have created a structural deficit of more than $300 million.
MEA General Manager Michael Zucchet noted that other attractions like SeaWorld San Diego and San Diego Zoo Safari Park charge between $20 and $40 per vehicle while parking at the San Diego Zoo lot in the heart of Balboa Park remains free. He added that city residents should pay less for parking than visitors.
"The model that we have with our municipal golf courses, where residents pay one fee and nonresidents pay a fee that is two or three times as much, is a good model and should be thought of as we embark upon these fees," Zucchet told councilmembers Monday.
Gloria's proposed budget includes significant cuts to city libraries, which would be closed on Sundays and Mondays, as well as higher fees for using city facilities. Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera said he supports pursuing more revenue to soften the blow of budget cuts, and that he agrees nonresidents should pay more than residents.
"We have not squeezed all the juice there is to squeeze out of San Diego being not just one of the premiere tourist destinations in the country, but also what is essentially the playground for the rest of the region," Elo-Rivera said.
Even still, San Diegans have voiced skepticism about the mayor's parking proposals and argue that free parking across all of Balboa Park is essential to keeping it accessible.
"Our public parks are the last escape for people on a budget to enjoy the assets that have been endowed to us by the generations before," said Rosemary Bystrak at a council committee meeting on March 20. "To create more barriers to the community under the guise that tourists will eat the costs doesn't take a real view of year round uses by everyone that calls this area home."
