Some councilmembers push to pause or repeal paid parking at Balboa Park
Paid parking at Balboa Park is facing mounting opposition just days after it went into effect, with multiple San Diego City Council members calling for a pause — or an outright repeal — of the new fees.
The mayor’s office says metered parking lots at Balboa Park generated about $23,000 so far this week alone. But critics say the rollout has been rushed and is unfairly impacting residents, particularly low-income San Diegans.
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Councilmembers Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera, both of whom voted in favor of paid parking at Balboa Park, sent a memo Tuesday asking Mayor Todd Gloria to stop charging city residents to park at the park. They described the rollout as haphazard and said residents should not be used to test the system.
“I don’t think the city and how we’ve rolled out pay parking and how it’s impacting residents is something that we should be proud of at the moment,” Lee said.
Lee said the city should take more time to work out problems before charging residents.
“They shouldn’t be our test case to make sure the system works. And so, if we’re not ready for that, I think it’s OK for us as a city to say, ‘Let’s take a little bit more time,’ and until then, residents would continue to have access to parking for free,” Lee said.
Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, whose district includes Balboa Park, is calling for paid parking at the park to be repealed entirely, for residents and non-residents alike.
“One place that we can’t be looking to fund the budget gap is at low-income residents who just want to come to Balboa Park. That should be the last place we look,” Whitburn said.
Gloria responded in a memo of his own, saying his administration is “utilizing feedback to make improvements” but added that the city will not “reverse course days into implementation in a way that undermines fiscal stability.”
Despite that, councilmembers say they will continue pushing for changes.
“I’m a believer at this point that residents should retain an option to go to Balboa Park and to park for free,” Lee said.
“I think there is a real possibility that we’ll get to the point where we could repeal paid parking in public park,” Whitburn said.
The debate over parking fees extends beyond Balboa Park. Councilmember Raul Campillo held a press conference Wednesday calling on fellow councilmembers to roll back special event parking fees downtown, warning of potential economic consequences.
“The real world impact has been damaging, and with Padres Opening Day only 79 days away, it could be catastrophic for our local economy. People will stay home, workers will quit, businesses will close,” Campillo said.
City officials have warned that rolling back parking fees could create a budget shortfall that may affect city services — the same services the fees were intended to protect.
For now, the city is in a grace period of about a month at Balboa Park. Warning citations will be issued before enforcement officially begins.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.
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