SAN DIEGO (KGTV) \u2014 Free parking is returning to parts of Balboa Park for San Diego city residents after weeks of complaints and concerns from museums, workers and longtime volunteers.<\/p>\n
Mayor Todd Gloria announced Friday the city will allow verified San Diego residents to park for free in seven outlying lots beginning March 2. Those lots include Pepper Grove, Federal and Inspiration Point.<\/p>\n
Paid parking will remain in several premium locations, including the Organ Pavilion and Casa de Balboa lots.<\/p>\n
The mayor also announced the city will reduce enforcement hours. Parking tickets will now be issued until 6 p.m., instead of 8 p.m.<\/p>\n
ABC 10News has been following the backlash since paid parking began last month. Museums and park workers told us the change has hurt attendance and business.<\/p>\n
At the San Diego Automotive Museum, staff and volunteers say parking lots have remained noticeably empty since the policy went into effect.<\/p>\n
We first visited the museum in January, just weeks after paid parking began, when leaders said foot traffic had dropped and some volunteers had to be let go.<\/p>\n
Volunteer Tony Mondini says the impact was immediate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very noticeable right from the start,\u201d Mondini said. \u201cThe first day I came in for a shift after the parking rules had changed, I was shocked at how empty the main lot here was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mondini says the sudden shift to paid parking was too much, too fast for visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, the park has been free for so long. To suddenly go from zero to 60 overnight, to me that seems like asking too much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to the museum\u2019s chief operating officer, Brandi Wilson, attendance dropped sharply after paid parking began and continues to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur numbers were down 62% compared to resident free Tuesday in January 2025,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cCity and county residents who get in for free on resident Tuesdays are not coming in when they get in for free, and they\u2019re not coming the rest of the month when they have to pay for parking.\u201d<\/p>\n
While many see the mayor\u2019s new announcement as a positive step, some say it still does not go far enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a step in the right direction,\u201d Mondini said. \u201cI\u2019m glad to see there\u2019s some flexibility and some room to negotiate, but ultimately I\u2019d like to see it go back to free for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another concern is how the city will make up for the potential loss in parking revenue.<\/p>\n
City Council President Joe LaCava said the change could significantly affect the city\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could cost us upwards of $1.7 million in lost revenue during fiscal year 2026, which ends June 30,\u201d LaCava said. \u201cThat is the tough conversation we\u2019re having in trying to identify new revenue measures to help us balance the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the changes, museum leaders say the community continues to push for broader access to free parking.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegardless of your ZIP code, we\u2019re all San Diegans,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWe hope they will reverse the parking to make it free for anyone who lives within the county of San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO (KGTV) \u2014 Free parking is returning to parts of Balboa Park for San Diego city residents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4549,70728,1610,80999,17530,63711,74,70729,76,75],"class_list":["post-168629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-balboa-park","tag-brandi-wilson","tag-city-council","tag-city-council-president-joe-lacava","tag-mayor-todd-gloria","tag-paid-parking","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-automotive-museum","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}