The Callen Report
By Kate Callen
In recent weeks, hundreds of double-bottom dump trucks carting thousands of tons of rubble have driven in caravans down North Park residential streets, rattling windows and setting off car alarms.
Their destination: Balboa Park.
It’s no secret that decades of official neglect have left San Diego’s crown jewel badly tarnished. A picture is now emerging that for City Hall, Balboa Park is literally a dumping ground, an easy place to stash construction vehicles, excavation debris, and household trash.
Since 1974, the East Mesa has been home to a toxic mess that few San Diegans know about: the 65-acre, methane-emitting Arizona Landfill. Thanks to an “existing” permit that is perpetually renewed, construction companies from across the city can haul in their debris to cover up the site.
On the West Mesa, during the months-long construction of the Park Boulevard bike lanes, heavy equipment occupied the entire back row of the Carousel parking lot. Today, the lot contains a huge trash dumpster spilling over with broken furniture, bedding, rotting food, and personal documents.
San Diego politicians always profess their undying devotion to Balboa Park, especially in election years. But they never show their love. The result is a downward spiral of Park deterioration, and official negligence is entirely to blame for it.
East Mesa: Arizona Landfill
“The Garbage Dump Hiding in Balboa Park” was the headline of a 2012 Voice of San Diego article that delivered an unpleasant surprise. Unknown to most park users, the 60-year-old Arizona Landfill containing 1.9 million tons of debris was sitting just beneath Morley Field’s disc golf course, ball fields, archery course, and hiking/biking trails.
Because landfill gas from decomposing waste is 40% methane, the city had to install 51 methane extraction wells and a “shrouded flare” system running 24/7. Emanating heat waves have been visible from the flare’s 16-foot-high stack. Dump trucks have carted in debris from around San Diego to cover landfill parcels that are sinking into decaying trash.
In the years since the story ran, long lines of dump trucks have snaked up Pershing Drive to drop mountains of rubble deep into the mesa. But when construction of SANDAG’s $14.4 million Pershing Bikeway closed off the drive for 2 years, the trucking companies had to find other ways in and out.
They chose the most convenient routes: quiet residential streets in surrounding North Park neighborhoods.
Bob LaRose lives on Utah Street, which became a favorite dump truck route. He took notes and photographs, and he followed the trucks to East Mesa, where a city employee explained what was going on.
With that information, LaRose was able to address fears expressed by neighbors on the NextDoor social media platform that Morley Field was about to become a large outdoor homeless camp.
“The City should have been on top of this,” said LaRose. “They should have informed people in affected neighborhoods what was going on and how long it would last. That would have been the responsible thing to do.”
West Mesa: Carousel Parking Lot
Parking on the popular West Mesa near the Prado has always been a challenge. The difficulty ramped up after Mayor Todd Gloria decided in 2022 to remove scores of curb spaces along Park Boulevard to install bike lanes.
Park visitors who arrived early still had access to two lots, one near the Natural History Museum, one near the Park Carousel.
But a bizarre thing happened once the bike lane project got underway. All the construction equipment – bulldozers, pavers, backhoes – took up the parking lot’s entire back row of 42 spaces. They were there all day, all night, and on busy weekends.
The message to tourists and other park visitors was clear: The City of San Diego cares more about the convenience of its contractors than it does about your access to this iconic public space.
The bike lanes are finished, and the equipment is gone. But a new and more mysterious hulk now occupies a half-dozen parking lot spaces: the Orphaned Green Dumpster.
For months, park rangers have been trying to find out why the dumpster is there and who put it there. It bears a Waste Management (WM) logo, so rangers called WM headquarters in Chicago. The company said nothing could be done without an invoice number.
Maybe there’s an invoice somewhere inside the dumpster. Its contents include lots of documents, including what look like utility bills, and an assortment of garbage and debris that have made it a popular scavenging site.
Here’s a challenge for elected officials running to keep their seats in November.
When voters ask you what you’re going to do about the Park (and they will), don’t recite your “I [heart] Balboa Park!” script. Grow a spine. Tell us exactly what you’ll do to keep the Park healthy and where you’ll find the money to pay for it.
Sad that our City is trashing our City. Awful situation at Moorland and Crown Point Drive a staging area for construction that looks like a dump! You can see it on google maps from 2022 and drive by and see it today. What is our rep Jen doing to maintain the beauty of our parks? NOTHING!
Thanks Debbie – plus we all have to thank Kate for her coverage of this.
3 spaces isn’t a half dozen….I appreciate the coverage, but exaggerations don’t help your cause.
I believe that is called “picking nits.”
Very educational article, I had no idea. Well done.
GREAT Article Kate!
For whatever excuse the politicians can come up with, North Park has become the dumping ground/experimental use for many subjects, and Whitburn is not working FOR the people. ADU’s, removal of dozens of craftsman housing and foliage, replaced with multi storied dwelling units looming over, peering into single story houses and yards with planted concrete and no parking, removal of parking replaced by bike lanes few use, removal of traffic lanes on 30th., University, Pershing, and center lane on 30th. where vendors parked to off load businesses supplies, now they get tickets for parking in bike lanes to off load, road diets have created traffic jams, which negatively impacts the Climate Action Plan. Makes a person wonder if when Todd Gloria was councilman for the North Park area, someone offended him and now he’s punishing North Parkers.
If people want changes and leadership, larryturnerformayor.com
“removal of parking replaced by bike lanes few use”
Win win for those of us who DO use them, which BTW is more than a “few” as you stated. Bummer I guess for those who don’t use them.
“and now he’s punishing North Parkers.”
I’m no fan of Todd, but don’t pretend all North Parkers agree with your stance. I’m sure many do, maybe even a narrow majority but there’s a good who don’t.
A good chunk I meant to say.
Congratulations! for a well documented report, and a continuing
source of the truth about our Mayor & City Council – hypocrites, sycophants,
and poseurs. Now at election time, it’s time for a CHANGE! We should also
be thinking serriously about returning to the STRONGE CITY MANAGER
form of city governance. Politicians make poor managers!
Todd Gloria and Steven Whitburn have made it abundantly clear that they do not care one bit about Balboa Park or about the concerns of the constituents they represent. Vote them out.
Vote them out makes a nice poster.
VOTE THEM OUT
Could also add in smaller letters…
Save San Diego!
Tessa: My mother’s slogan, “VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS”..and I add and “NO on all propositions.” Good rule of thumb.
The poster should be more specific, I guess.
There are good people working in the city.
“Vote Out Gloria”
is precise.
San Diego needs somebody who can break in the direction of the average citizen. The only power base that Gloria thinks is available seems to be the real estate crowd. They have lots of clout, but they deserve a their own marginalizaation instead of us “little people” who are trying to make a life in this place.
Thx much for sharing this important and well-researched article. Hopefully it will prompt coverage in other media, and put pressure and Whitburn and the Mayor’s office to literally “clean up” their act.
FWIW the Carousel and nearby parking lots are in the CENTRAL mesa of BP. The WEST mesa is the area west of the Cabrillo Bridge. People knowledgeable about PB would not make that mistake.
Correct!
Facts are important.
Wow, thank you, Kate. New info for me and, as always, you not only document a problem but identify the history, context, and causes. Thanks for bringing this issue into awareness and calling those who could and should be responsible for fixing it to account.
If there are utility bills in the orphaned dumpster, shouldn’t someone at that address be contacted to ask them where the dumpster was when they used it? Or is the presumption that they drove to Balboa Park to dump their trash?
A quick follow-up: Thanks to Dick and David Cohen for the reminders that precision in writing is indispensable. Jane, it’s a good bet that people are using the dumpster for their personal trash. For a long time, the dumpster’s south-facing end was open, debris was spilling out (Dick, the “half-dozen” included spaces covered by waste), and people were picking through it. Just this week, that end was sealed up, and the ground was cleaned up. So someone is doing something. I’ll report back when the dumpster is gone.
Sorry for the late update — The dumpster was removed the last week of June. This story was widely read, evidence that the public has a deep love for Balboa Park. Too bad elected officials don’t feel that love. Every four years, we can directly grill incumbent politicians on how they plan to improve Park upkeep and where they will find the money to do it. In the months to come, at mayoral, D3, and D9 candidate forums, let’s make sure we ask this question.