SAN DIEGO (CNS) — Attendance at Balboa Park’s museums are down 34% on average since paid parking went into effect inside San Diego’s urban park, according to data released Tuesday by the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership.

In the analysis released Tuesday, the partnership found that between January and March of this year, attendance is down by that average of 34% compared to the previous year, with some institutions dropping by 60% over the same period.

“We’ve appreciated the city’s recent willingness to listen and take initial steps in response to community concerns,” Balboa Park Cultural Partnership Executive Director Peter Comiskey said. “However, the latest data make clear that those changes are not reversing the decline in visitation, and the impacts on our institutions are becoming more serious. We are urging additional action by our regional leaders before potentially irreversible damages take hold, and jobs and beloved programs or even organizations are lost.”

The report comes out as Mayor Todd Gloria’s draft budget for fiscal year 2027 proposes slashing arts funding by more than $11 million as a way to grapple with a structural deficit of more than $118 million.

Some of the park’s larger institutions predict more than $10 million lost in revenue from the lowered attendance alone, and jobs and program losses are a real threat, Comiskey said.

Visitors to Balboa Park were asked to pay to park their vehicles in city lots starting in January, breaking a tradition of more than 100 years of the city’s crown jewel being free for those in private vehicles.

San Diego residents are now able to purchase a monthly, quarterly or annual parking pass at a discounted rate by visiting sandiego.thepermitportal.com/. Residents can pay $30 for a monthly parking pass, $60 for a quarterly pass or $150 for an annual one. Non-residents can pay $40, $120 or $300 for the same levels.

The fiscal year 2026 budget passed last summer anticipated $15.5 million in parking revenue from Balboa Park. That number assumed $12.5 million in fee parking in Balboa Park and at least $3 million from zoo parking.

A revised figure presented to the City Council in November instead found the non-zoo parking might bring in just $2.9 million, or a decrease of $9.6 million from initial estimates.

The city originally planned to begin charging for parking in October, but delays prevented that and three months of revenue from happening. Expected parking rates have dropped as well.

The parking passes come under three pricing tiers, Levels 1, 2, and 3, based on demand and proximity:

— Level 1 lots, located in the core of the Central Mesa area, would be subject to the highest rate — $16 per day and $10 for up to four hours for nonresidents and $8 per day and $5 for up to four hours for city residents. These include Space Theater, Casa de Balboa, Alcazar, Organ Pavilion, Bea Evenson, Palisades and South Carousel;

— Level 2 lots would be priced at $10 per day for nonresidents and $5 per day for residents. These include Pepper Grove, Federal, Upper Inspiration Point and Marston Point;

— Level 3 lots would also be priced at $10 per day with the first three hours free, with a resident rate of $5 per day with the first three hours free. This includes the lower Inspiration Point lot.

The Office of the Independent Budget Analyst estimated revenues in this fiscal year from the non-zoo parking would be close to $4 million, still well short of plans.

The zoo, which operates on an independent lease from the city, will allow members to continue to park for free. For non-members and non-residents, general parking is $16 per vehicle, per day, $44 daily for oversized vehicles per day. City of San Diego resident rates are half that.

Revenues from the parking fees paid within the park must be spent on Balboa Park. The funds can support ongoing maintenance, infrastructure, and visitor amenities and may include road repaving, lighting upgrades, sign improvements and landscaping.

Gloria backed off some of the parking fees in February, citing overwhelming negative feedback.

City residents who have verified their address will again be able to park for free in the Pepper Grove, Federal, Upper Inspiration Point, Lower Inspiration Point, Marston Point, Palisades and Bea Evenson lots.

“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,” Gloria said.

“That feedback matters, and it’s why I am eliminating parking fees for city residents in select lots in the park. This change will reduce revenue, and I have received a commitment from the City Council president as well as other council members to identify other service-level reductions in order to keep the budget balanced.”

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. Enforcement will now end at 6 p.m., instead of 8 p.m.

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.

Despite these changes, Comiskey and the cultural partnership said more must be done before summer, busy season for the park and the museums and cultural institutions within.

“The data show we are at a critical moment,” Comiskey said. “As we approach the summer tourism season, we need a clear, region-wide recovery solution that restores accessibility, rebuilds public trust, and sends a strong `welcome back’ message to residents and visitors alike.”

Copyright 2026, City News Service, Inc.

The state agency leading some of Alaska’s most polarizing development projects has approved a new communications budget, saying it needs to do a better job telling its own story amid attacks from critics.

The state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is run by a former chief of staff to Gov. Mike Dunleavy and is charged with promoting economic growth and expanding natural resource extraction and exports.

It is leading work to develop state-owned oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and also hopes to build two controversial new roads to access mining prospects in Northwest Alaska and outside of Anchorage.

Those projects have drawn sharp opposition from conservation organizations and other critics, including lawsuits, critical op-eds and campaigns that have labeled the agency “Bad AIDEA” and caricatured its leaders.

At a meeting in Ketchikan this month, board members, with no public discussion, authorized AIDEA’s staff to spend up to $700,000 a year on a new communications budget — formalizing a plan that the agency says was previously budgeted inconsistently through spending on individual projects.

The new communications plan, the agency said in its formal resolution authorizing the spending, will “ensure proper public engagement, transparency, and stewardship of the authority’s mission.” The money could go toward trade shows and conferences, responding to media inquiries and “other communications-related needs,” according to the resolution.

The agency’s executive director, Randy Ruaro, referred questions about the plan to Dave Stieren, an AIDEA employee who ran an advertising agency and hosted a conservative talk radio show before joining the Dunleavy administration.

Stieren said he could not provide exact figures on AIDEA’s past communications spending, but he acknowledged that the new plan should allow the agency to meaningfully boost its public profile.

The $700,000 a year, he added, is a limit, and the agency will set a final budget through a request for proposals process.

“Mothership AIDEA has done, frankly, little to nothing on a consistent basis to tell our story,” Stieren said in an email — particularly when it comes to its loan programs that have helped finance tourism and hospitality businesses, like the Alaska Club fitness chain and Anchorage’s Bear Tooth pizza restaurant and theater.

“We’re far more than roads,” Stieren said. “But since we’ve really not promoted or showcased our efforts in traditional finance areas, I understand the narrative or lack thereof that folks may have.”

Stieren has also personally defended AIDEA on social media, including over the weekend — when he posted a conservative news website’s positive story about an agency-owned shipyard and said that “when commie libs attack AIDEA, they attack projects like this.”

AIDEA’s board chair, Bill Kendig, declined to answer questions about approval of the new communications budget when reached by phone.

At the Ketchikan meeting, one AIDEA critic, Melis Coady, credited the agency with formalizing communications spending as a “step toward accountability.” But she said that the plan doesn’t “deliver the transparency it describes” because it gives Ruaro, the executive director, authority to approve communications spending, and only requires that he report it to the board if asked.

“The authorization is broad, the dollar amount is undefined, and expenditures are approved solely by the executive director,” said Coady, who leads a conservation group called the Susitna River Coalition.

Ruaro, in an email, said AIDEA will issue reports on communications to board members “whether requested or not.”

Nathaniel Herz is an Anchorage-based reporter. Subscribe to his newsletter, Northern Journal, at northernjournal.com.

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Jessica Cox, the world’s first licensed armless airplane pilot and a leading advocate for disability-led innovation, will be inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame on Friday, May 15, 2026. The induction ceremony, hosted by Rightfooted Foundation International in collaboration with the Pima Air & Space Museum, will take place at the museum from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Cox’s recognition honors both her historic achievement in flight and her ongoing work expanding access and opportunity for people without arms. Through her leadership at Rightfooted Foundation International (RFI), Cox has championed mentorship, education and practical innovations that help aspiring pilots and families reimagine what’s possible in aviation and beyond.

“Saying I’m proud of her can’t fully encompass what I feel,” said Patrick Chamberlain, Cox’s husband and RFI’s Inclusive Engineering Director. “Jessica’s induction into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame recognizes both what she has accomplished and what she continues to do. She has helped shed light on the many pilots with disabilities in aviation and shown the world that disability does not mean inability.”

The 2026 induction class also honors two military aviators: Frank Schiel Jr., a Phoenix-born Flying Tigers veteran credited with seven enemy aircraft destroyed in World War II, and James K. Johnson, a Phoenix-born U.S. Air Force colonel and Korean War double ace credited with ten aerial victories.

The Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame, established in 1985 and housed in the Dorothy Finley Aerospace Gallery at Pima Air & Space Museum, pays tribute to Arizonans who have made significant contributions to aviation and aerospace history.