The city of San Diego is walking back some of its controversial plan to charge for parking in Balboa Park. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria announced Friday he is expanding free parking zones for city residents and changing the hours parking will be enforced.
Under the new plan, city residents will be able to park for free in the Pepper Grove, Federal, Upper Inspiration Point, Lower Inspiration Point, Marston Point, Palisades and Bea Evenson lots. Parking enforcement will also now end at 6 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. These changes will go into effect on March 2, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.
“Good governing also means listening. I’ve heard from residents and from members of the City Council about how this program is affecting San Diegans who love Balboa Park as much as I do. That feedback matters, and it’s why I am eliminating parking fees for City residents in select lots in the park,” Gloria said in a statement. “This change will reduce revenue, and I have received a commitment from the City Council President as well as other councilmembers to identify other service-level reductions in order to keep the budget balanced.”
San Diego Air & Space Museum president and CEO James Kidrick said that was not enough.
“Bottom line is, there should be free parking everywhere in Balboa Park, as there always has been in the entire 150-plus year history of the park," he said. "This is about access, and it's about the importance of Balboa Park to our community, to the country, to the world.”
The park's museums and cultural institutions have been vocal in opposing the parking fees. Last month, the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, which represents 24 arts, science and cultural institutions in the park, said its members saw a 25-50% drop in admissions during the year's first "Residents Free" museum day.
On Friday, the parking lot in front of the Air & Space Museum was half empty.
“I would never have seen so many open parking spaces before," San Diego resident Chris Rudd said. "Obviously, fewer people are coming to Balboa Park because there's an expense to it that they're not used to.”
Spring Valley resident Antonio Dacosta however, thinks the fee is a step in the right direction, especially because of the city’s budget deficit.
“I think there's a way to maybe, perhaps do it where they charge tourism and not the people who live here, such as the residents and whatnot,” he said.
He paid $10 for parking today to accompany his son to the museum on a school field trip.
Verified San Diego residents will still be charged to park in premium lots such as the Space Theater, Casa de Balboa, Alcazar, Organ Pavilion and South Carousel lots. The cost is $5 for up to four hours or $8 for a full day.
More than 3,000 San Diegans have registered to be verified for the resident free parking program, and the city has collected nearly $700,000 for operations and maintenance in Balboa Park.
These adjustments announced Friday come up short of what some members of the City Council have called for. In the weeks following the implementation of parking fees and after sustained public backlash, Council President Joe LaCava and Councilmembers Sean Elo-Rivera and Kent Lee called for parking fees for city residents to be eliminated altogether.
"Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee, Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, and I put forth a plan last week to restore free parking for city residents,” a statement from LaCava reads. “Today, we achieved our goal, and I thank the Mayor for his quick action. We are delivering affordability, while protecting the park and City services.”
While the changes announced Friday will likely win favor immediately amongst San Diegans, they present a deeper problem. The city's budget last year was balanced on speculative revenue sources such as the parking in Balboa Park, which was postponed for months, likely costing the city millions.
So while residents can more affordably access Balboa Park, cuts to city services could be coming.
