Less than three weeks in, it’s plain that Balboa parking fee is backfiring

After City Hall initiatives go awry, they often end up triggering relatively specific reactions.

When Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the City Council rushed into a costly lease-to-own deal in 2016 for an Ash Street office tower only to find out that asbestos contamination and other issues made it unusable without extremely expensive renovations, public incredulity was universal.

Last year, after Mayor Todd Gloria and the council completed a long-term con job that imposed trash fees on 220,000-plus homes at rates that were far higher than promised in 2022, anger was common.

And after the imposition of first-ever parking fees at beloved Balboa Park on Jan. 5, anguish has been a frequent response. Brad Taylor’s essay on our pages about how the change had created a sense of “tremendous loss” resonated with many locals.

But Wednesday’s report about the parking fees quickly backfiring should turn this melancholy into fury. For months, critics warned the plan would drastically limit visits by the many San Diegans who struggle with the cost of living. It’s already clear that is happening. Using data from January 2025 as a baseline, Balboa Park museums saw a 20% to more than 50% decline in visitors depending on the day and venue.

“If the minimum projected decline of 20% is maintained and applied across all museums, the total annual revenue loss would be a staggering $20-$30 million,” Jessica Hanson York, president of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, wrote in a letter to Gloria and the City Council. The partnership said that unless the fees were rescinded or reduced, they were sure to lead to layoffs and reduced exhibitions.

A blame game has already broken out. Councilmembers Sean Elo-Rivera and Kent Lee — who joined Joe LaCava, Jennifer Campbell, Marni von Wilpert and Henry Foster in a 6-2 vote to approve the fees on Sept. 15 — issued a memo Jan. 6 that decried the “haphazard” way the program was being implemented by Gloria. But even if the rollout was flawless, the fees would still have caused visitors to stay home. It’s possible that the fee program could cost the city so much in lost revenue due to lost visits that it is a net financial negative.

In other words, a policy decision that has diminished the quality of life in San Diego could end up costing the city money. How can Gloria, Elo-Rivera, Lee, LaCava, Campbell, von Wilpert and Foster sleep at night?