Set beach parking free, say some San Diego lawmakers.
The San Diego City Council’s Rules Committee recently voted 3-2 to ask the full council to place a proposal on the November ballot that would ensure that free parking at city beaches and bays remains free.
On March 18, District 7 Councilmember Raul Campillo’s proposed no-paid parking ballot initiative was supported by Council President Joe LaCava of District 1 and Councilmember Vivian Moreno of District 8.
Councilmembers Kent Lee of District 6 and Sean Elo-Rivera of District 9 dissented.
Campillo’s legislative initiative would place protections directly into the City’s Municipal Code, ensuring that parking at local beaches and bays remains free until or unless voters choose otherwise.
In an interview with Times of San Diego, Campillo explained why he is coming forward with this initiative now during a time he described as being “an all-time low” for public trust in local government.
“We need to send a signal that we are listening to our constituents, that we want to earn that trust back,” he said.
Campillo cited the city’s recent attempt to charge for parking in Balboa Park as an example of how current council policy seeking to increase revenues through taxation has “backfired,” with constituent’s voices not being heard.
Asked what his ballot proposal intends to do, Campillo said it will “give the voters the chance to make it a city law, that the city council and the mayor can’t charge them to park at beaches and bays, like at La Jolla Shores Parking Lot and Mission Bay Park, in the city.”
Of his ballot measure, Campillo pointed out it’s not going to impact parking meters along the streets near the beach, nor those existing parking lots, usually on private property, that are already charging for parking.
“It’s important that it be a ballot measure where the voters can make it a law, and only the voters can undo that law,” Campillo said.
Campillo also took issue with those who have contended that the city never really intended to charge residents to park in Balboa Park.
“I called foul on that,” he said adding, “I voted no because the timing was bad, there was no equity for those with low incomes, and because it was hurting Balboa Park’s museums and programs.”
The councilmember also was not on board with the notion of taxing or not taxing people for parking according to whether or not they were city residents.
“This pitting of people who might be able to vote for us, versus people in other cities, really is a political ploy,” said Campillo adding, “We should be voting to keep parking free at the city’s beaches and bays because our own city residents want it. The bottom line is, it’s the right thing to do.”
Campillo said his free beach and bay parking initiative is part of a “larger series of transparency and accountability initiatives” that he intends to roll out in the coming months. He said one such initiative is an anti-corruption measure to uniformly set a two-year “cooling off” period before former city employees are allowed to become city lobbyists.
“It’s not just about listening to what the public is saying about their pocketbooks,” said Campillo. “It’s about the city operating in a more transparent way, and holding ourselves accountable.”
Campillo’s no-parking fee ballot initiative for parks and beaches has to come back to the council’s Rules Committee for one more reading before being passed along to the full council. The deadline for the council to put it on the ballot for a vote is Aug. 6.
He added that if the measure makes it to the ballot, it will require a simple majority — 50% plus one — to be passed by the voters.