Opponents said Saturday that they will join forces to try and force the city to set aside the parking fees at Balboa Park that have angered so many residents.
The speakers at a rally at the park’s Organ Pavilion – including former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and others with local Republican or conservative ties – gathered to announce the collaboration, which is set to begin next month.
Among them were members of San Diego United Communities, a coalition of local groups typically associated with opposition to large-scale developments, and Richard Bailey, a former mayor of Coronado who is behind the “Repeal the Fees” website, a challenge to the parking fees.
Margaret Virissimo, of the community group, said it will join with Bailey in February in hopes of putting the question of pulling the Balboa Park parking fees on the ballot later this year.
Many of the crowd pointed squarely at Mayor Todd Gloria and the San Diego City Council, blaming them for budget deficits that have been and continue to dog the city.
“City leaders stopped looking at Balboa Park as a public treasure and started looking at it as a cash cow,” said Virissimo said. “They claim these parking fees are about maintenance, but we know the truth.”
Gloria has said that fees like those at the park are necessary to make up for years of the city failing to match revenues to costs. Faulconer, who served as mayor from 2014-2020, had oversight over city spending prior to Gloria taking office.
City budget issues aside, the Balboa Park fees, up to $16 for non-residents in parking lots closest to the most popular attractions, have riled up a public fed up by rising costs in general and the expense of living in San Diego in particular. Leaders at Balboa Park attractions are complaining of lower attendance too.
One of those at the rally, Melonie Gallegos, who comes to Balboa Park with her husband to socialize with other dog owners, has felt the difference since the fees took effect on Jan. 5. “It’s not full of life like it usually is,” she said.
“We take care of it,” Gallegos said of the park. “We’re proud of it. We pay high taxes already, so they really shouldn’t be doing this.”
Another park supporter, David Blumberg, is concerned about how the fees hit those with lower incomes, from seniors to people without vehicles. He would prefer, though, to see a move away from motorists using cars to get to Balboa Park and to a future where there’s “more park space and less parking spaces.”
Since his stint at City Hall, Faulconer has had a failed run for governor, then fell to Terra Lawson-Remer when he challenged her for her seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors in 2024.
Bailey, a two-term mayor in a city with roughly 20,000 residents, now lives in San Diego. HIs campaign also targets San Diego’s new trash fee. Mark Powell, a former San Diego school board member who has announced a run for city council, and Mark Larson, a radio host at KOGO who holds a seat on a Balboa Park museum board, also spoke Saturday.
