Paid Parking to Begin in Balboa Park on January 5
By Kate Callen
Paid parking in Balboa Park is scheduled to begin Monday, January 5. If you’re willing to pay standard hourly or daily rates, permit kiosks have been installed, and their operation will be familiar: punch in your license plate number, choose length of visit, and pay with a credit card.
But if you want to use the discounted permits that were promised to San Diego residents, you’ll have to trust that City Hall can roll out a new multi-step system of permit application and payment in just 10 business days – including two city holidays.
In the seasonal spirit of good will, we are going to believe that. For once, the Rag will have faith that Mayor Todd Gloria will fulfill a pledge to the people of San Diego. We’re just not sure how he can pull it off in such a short time.
The original plan was for paid parking to begin in October. But under fire from angry constituents, the City Council decided in mid-September to extend the start date to January 1.
On December 18, we asked the Mayor’s office if another postponement might be in the works. The answer was “No.” A city spokesperson sent this response:
“The online portal through which Balboa Park visitors will be able to purchase parking passes is still undergoing development and testing. We expect it will be added to the website and ready to accept registration on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. At this time the City is on track to implement paid parking in Balboa Park on Jan. 5th.”
So the new system might be available for use on the same day people have to start paying. Does that mean we can get our residents’ permits that day? Not likely. Such permits require an application process that takes time because documents must be submitted and reviewed.
The City already has five “residential parking permit districts” where high daytime parking demands (from a university or a hospital) require special accommodations for residents. The “Resident Parking Permit” website offers three YouTube videos with step-by-step instructions:
Creating Your Account: You open an online personal account with your contact information and street address. Then you wait to receive an activation email. The email will include your account number, which you’ll need for future logins.
(Two complaints were posted on this page, including this one from a month ago: “This parking site is the worst ever. I put in the required info and it keeps saying invalid address. I’ve tried so many different ways. Then it asks for directional: N, S, E, W. SO STUPID.”)
Requesting Your Permit: You must register your vehicle by uploading and submitting copies of your driver’s license and vehicle registration. If your address doesn’t appear on those documents, you must submit two other documents, like a utility bill and a property tax bill. And be sure you don’t have any unpaid parking tickets, because that will nullify your request.
Paying for Your Permit: You’ll be notified that your request has been sent to Parking administrative staff for approval. Sometime later, you’ll receive a second email that your request has been approved. You log back into your account and enter your credit card information. If you’re successful, the permit will be mailed to your home. But the video cautions, “It can take 7 to 10 business days for permits to be processed.”
Can all this take place over the next two weeks? It’s possible. The project has a finite scope. The money involved is in the mere millions. City Hall’s army of staff professionals, contractors, and consultants should be capable of analyzing the data and performing the due diligence to get this right.
And after all, it’s not like this is a trash fee ballot measure or a real estate deal.
For my part, I’m resolved that 2026 will be the year of embracing the reality of life in San Diego. Perhaps we’ll get the discounted residential permits we were promised. Perhaps we won’t. Maybe our elected officials will start really listening to the voices of their frustrated constituents. Or maybe not.
It’s like the Buddha said: “Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance.”
Happy New Year.
The pay lots will charge for a full day, no reduced hourly rates.
And did you see the part where the city got their revenue estimates wrong by 400%?
Finest city!
Clearly Todd Gloria and his sycphants at City Hall believe the parking nightmare will drive everyone to riding buses, bicycles, tricycles and skateboards to shopping centers, grocery stores, and Balboa park. Unlike a Library Card, homeowners and renters will have to copy personal information like driver’s licenses or identity cards and property tax records to prove we are Citizens and this personal information will be stored “in the cloud” so that ICE and oher federal thugs can monitor who is parking in Ctiy of San Diego lots. This is clearly designed to root out fake residents or paperless people becuase “those kind of people” really don’t belong in Gloria’s San Diego. What is next, ICE thugs tapping into the parking meters?
I’m sure there were internal studies done aka “how much can we charge San Diegans for parking in Balboa Park without significant political ramifications?” It was not a coincidence that trash fees were passed 51-49, while knowing they could later game it at will. There is a citizens initiative coming regarding both of these issues, and as with La Jolla segregation, that will also be contested by the City using every resource at their disposal. We need another Prop 13 moment.
Boycott everything and anything Balboa Park. If revenues crater, they might notice. Or they might just raise the fees further until the entire endeavor hits crush depth & blame the entitled.
The institutions of Balboa Park do not deserve that. This is not their idea.
Thousands of San Diegans volunteer for the institutions in Balboa Park. Many volunteer for the Park itself. Boycotting the Park will not help their efforts or the Park.
So punish the employees who work in the park? The restaurants in there deserve to go under for the sake of a boycott?
Our City Charter once protected “dedicated” parks. New parks are no longer “dedicated,” they are “designated.” This is as close to “developable” as you can get. The whole area of Balboa Park along 5th Ave looks great for Development, doesn’t it?
Perhaps a one-day boycott of Balboa Park, by locals, would send a strong message that parking fees are unacceptable.
A single day? No, much longer. As long as it takes. Until the city relents and lets residents park as usual. We can find other things to do.
I share your concerns for the non-profits and the employees of businesses in the park but I’m not going to support a corrupt system with my money, not if I can help it anyway. If something is so important, in the park, maybe I’ll go there, but mostly, I’ll boycott. And I do entirely agree with the views expressed above by Ron May.
You do you then.
Please don’t boycott the park. The “corrupt system” of Gloria, La Cava, and Elo-Rivera don’t care about the park or the people who work there. They only care about keeping their own entourages on the payroll. That’s why they’re treating the park like their own ATM. If park attendance declines, they will shrug it off.
As I was taking the kiosk pictures, I struck up a conversation with a museum employee who was heading into work. He was depressed and scared. Park staff are facing certain layoffs, and they now know that the Mayor and the City Council, who have always professed undying love for the Park (“our crown jewel!”), don’t value their work and never have.
Perhaps we can find a way to inflict pain on the people who deserve it. A park boycott won’t do that.
I’m not sure if you were responding to me but I actually agree with you on this. People who are boycotting the park are not helping anything and as you said the powers that be don’t care. And as i mentioned it’s only hurting the people who work there.
I disagree. Revenue is what the city wants. Deny them. Tourists will always make up a good portion of paying customers, but residents can put the hurt on the city until they stop gouging us. You can’t always let them get away with things. They need to know we will hit back harder.
There’s the option of taking the bus. The 7 and the 215 go right to the park. No parking to deal with so no money being spent on it.
Not everyone can get to a bus, allocate the hours it may take to ride/wait/transfer, physically manage getting to/climbing on and off, or deal with scheduling help to do all this. The last bit of freedom some disabled or older folks have is sliding into their car and parking close to where they are going. In support of those folks, ban the park.
MTS is the same mechanism as the city. You pay one or the other. Parking nearby and ride share is the only true denial towards paying the city while supporting a local.
The MTS is a lot cheaper than the paid parking will be.
But less convenient according to schedules and kids and necessities in tow.
Chris, I’m not sure what you mean by that. Is that in response to my post?
Stop voting for the same bad democratic politicians that think the same failed way. Democrats have for the past 10 years have leveraged Trump as a boogeyman to scare voters towards the Democratic Party and to pass their socialist agenda.
SD has experienced what happens with single party rule. Job killing tourism wage mandates, project labor agreements to pay unions higher wages at the expense of our infrastructure back log, high fees, paid parking at Balboa, trash fees, etc.
Democrats should reflect on why the rest of Americans voted for Trump vs the Democratic Party. It’s bad economic policy, if it weren’t for tech and Hollywood California would be in serious trouble. But that hasn’t stopped unions from driving Hollywood out of LA.
Let’s hope democrats land towards abundance liberalism because AOC’s/Mamdani’s Democratic Party will make us all worse off!
You’re a little off topic Ezra, but since you brought it up. Worse off than the current Republican Party? Seriously? Is your head in the sand?
CA’s Democratic Party is on the wrong track and has diverged significantly from Clinton’s 3rd Way, and is a long way from an abundance liberalism perspective.
FL and TX have improved their economic competitiveness vs California. Newsom has ballooned the deficit (after a great setup by Gov Brown), UNIONS are paying for state policies that are market distorting (Fast Food minimum wage, tourism minimum wages, etc.)
It is not eye that needs to take their head out of the sand. I don’t subscribe to a politics of fear that may democrats follow off a left wing cliff.
Moderate democrats all over the country offer a better vision than socialist democrats, progressives, left wingers. Not all republicans are MAGA.
Keep your critical thinking caps on.
Once again, Kate, I admire your spirit of generosity. But issues with the park have been building with me for a long time. The food is overpriced and not very good. The museums are expensive and don’t always inspire me. The Museum of Us? that kind of dumbing down doesn’t appeal to me. And then there are the restrooms. Not the fault of the employees, but whose fault is it? It is the fault of our elected officials who, as you have said, don’t value the park or the people who work there. I will continue to use the park when something there appeals to me, but for the most part, I will stay away.
The city’s web page says nothing about parking fees for Morley Field (e.g., disc golf, velodrome, archery, tennis, etc.). Morley Field is part of Balboa Park. The news stories I’ve seen don’t say, either. Does anybody know if there are plans to charge for parking at Morley Field lots as well?
George, there will be no parking fees (as yet!) for Morley Field and the eastern mesa. The City’s website to register for Central and Western mesa parking just went live Friday: https://sandiego.thepermitportal.com/
I registered this morning, and it went pretty smoothly. But my application still needs to be approved. And I have questions about website contractor IPS Group. I’m going to the Park tomorrow morning to observe the first day of paid parking and will file a report.
Thank you, Kate. I did look at the portal this morning before posing my question here, and as you know, they don’t say anything about it.
I do now recall reading something last month but alas I didn’t bookmark it and can’t find it now. It said that in addition to paid parking everywhere inside the Morley complex, it would also cost on the park side of Upas St., from Alabama St. (by the dog park), east to 28th St., and even adjacent to Bird Park on 28th St.
It’s odd the city is silent about that issue on their web page.
I also wonder what, if anything, they have planned for the dog park area south of Switzer Canyon in South Park. There’s so much free (and available) residential parking just east of there, though, that I imagine few would use the dedicated parking lot at all, if they had to pay the parking fee to run their dogs every day.