Editordude: The following report by David Garrick has been edited to focus mainly on entry fees for Mission Bay Park and the idea of paid parking at the beach.
By David Garrick / SD Union-Tribune / Nov.2–4, 2025
San Diego City Council members are proposing entry fees at Mission Bay Park, taxes on vacant storefronts, a rental-car tax and other new efforts to boost revenue as they continue an ongoing struggle with the city budget. …
The new ideas come just as debate begins on a new budget for the fiscal year that begins next July…. The council struggled to close a roughly $350 million deficit last spring for the ongoing fiscal year with a variety of cuts, including to library hours, and with new revenues from things like fees to park in Balboa Park and doubling parking-meter rates.
San Diego was also facing a potential deficit of about $10 million during the fiscal year that ended in June. That projected deficit — which could have eaten into the city’s $207 million reserve just when it’s become particularly crucial — was wiped out by a late spring surge in sales tax revenue and some lower-than-expected city expenses.
For the upcoming budget, council members recently submitted their priorities to the mayor and the city’s independent budget analyst. Several council members said more new revenue is crucial to covering city priorities.
Sean Elo-Rivera is proposing a vehicle entrance fee for Mission Bay Park that would be paid only by people living outside the city of San Diego.
“Mission Bay Park is the fourth-most visited municipal park in the United States and a wildly popular destination for visitors to San Diego from neighboring cities and tourists from across the country,” Elo-Rivera said in his budget memo. “It is time to ask those visitors to pay their fair share for the safety, maintenance and enhancement of the park.”
The entrance fee would be in lieu of a previous proposal to charge for parking in Mission Bay Park, where all parking is now free of charge.
But Elo-Rivera also wants to pursue a related proposal from last year to charge for parking in other lots at city beaches.
Both the Mission Bay Park entrance fee and paid parking in beach lots would require state Coastal Commission approval because they would affect public coastal access.
Council President Joe LaCava is also endorsing paid parking at beach lots, but with some conditions. City residents would get to visit for free, frequent users could get a “beachgoer badge,” and low-income people could get discounts.
LaCava also wants Mayor Todd Gloria’s staff to study parking programs in the cities of Del Mar, which charges $4 per hour and $20 per day, and Oceanside, which charges between $2 and $15 per hour depending on location. …
Other council proposals to help balance the budget include Vivian Moreno proposing cuts to the city’s Communications Department and Elo-Rivera suggesting the city has too many middle managers.
“The city should re-examine and consider consolidating managerial positions in order to invest in the city’s workforce,” Elo-Rivera said.
Sorry for the interruption but, Ego-Rivera, in many instances, has leaned in on people needing to pay their “fair share” without definition as to what that really is. As I see this article (and thought this was likely a given, as the downtown extortion rates during events were implemented) and the Balboa parking fee article, two things come to mind. One is the cost of implementing these plans in kiosks, maintenance, and policing. And the second I expect, is that with the trash service, initial monitoring, and trash police eventually, to make sure you’re sorting correctly. Sounds far fetched, but wouldn’t surprise me.
In the beginning “lid flips” will be friendly. Adios.
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2025-11/2025-11-6-city-of-san-diego-is-flipping-lids-to-help-residents-remember-trash-and-recycling-rules.pdf
All of this talk of increasing the cost of living in San Diego and zero talk of reducing the out of control spending by the city.
I wish the Council would support San Diego citizens by not starting new charging for every little thing here. Especially this. It is already too expensive to live here. You are destroying our lives. Do the right thing.