OB Staff Report / September 26, 2025 
If you’re thinking of visiting Balboa Park any weekend this fall, you might want to make other plans.
The Natural History Museum parking lot is closed to the public through November 21. The Museum is replacing its roof, and the lot is occupied by construction equipment.
For weekend visitors, the closure will mean that driving to and from the park, and parking inside the park, will be even more nightmarish than usual.
Asked if the city had made efforts to notify the public, a construction foreman said he was instructed to place sidewalk signs at the site 72 hours in advance.
He also said the city originally intended to begin charging visitors to park while the lot was closed. But people who live in the real world persuaded them that forcing someone to pay for a space that was nearly impossible to find might be a bridge too far.
“If you’re thinking of visiting Balboa Park any weekend this fall, you might want to make other plans.”
Or take public transit and not have to worry about parking. Both the 7 and 215 go right to the park.
What a garbage take to suggest simply changing plans.
Chris, like all MTS bus routes, the 7 and 215 have limited range. Both run east/west through mid-city communities between the College area and downtown. They won’t help families in communities to the north, south, and west get to the Zoo. You have exactly demonstrated the problem with multi-modal transportation policies in a city with an inadequate public transit system.
Come on Kate. Obviously those lines don’t go everywhere but anyone can easily (if needed) drive to a transit center or DT and take it from there or find a way to make the necessary connections, even if it adds time. I stand by my statement that to suggest “make other plans” is a garbage take.
“If needed” is the pivotal phrase. People like you and me (yes, I’m a transit rider) will spend the extra time and effort to get to a transit center, find parking, take one bus or trolley, then connect to another. I know from personal experience that it isn’t done “easily,” and few people will go to the trouble, especially parents with kids.
I guess we have opposite perspectives then despite both being people who use transit. If people truly won’t take the time, that doesn’t speak well of them (families or not). A better take for a progressive stance would be “due to necessary construction, parking will be limited and alternate means to get to the park should be considered”. Instead the Rag suggests “making other plans”.