The number of City Councilmembers Supporting Non-Resident Paid Parking at Mission Bay Park and City Beaches in their Updated Budget Priorities Memos has Dropped to One, according to January 27th Independent Budget Analyst Report.
By Donna Frye
Back in November of last year, as part of their budget priority memos, four city councilmembers (La Cava, Foster, Moreno and Elo-Rivera) proposed charging non-residents to park at our beaches and Mission Bay Park as a way to help balance the city’s budget. The community push back was immediate and widespread. Our opposition to this proposal was based on sound reasoning as to why this would not work including:
- The public doesn’t support paid parking because it limits access to our beaches and bays. In other words, fewer people would be able to go to Mission Bay Park and our beaches.
- According to the City Auditor regarding Mission Bay Park revenues, “The Office of the City Treasurer could not formally issue potential audit findings from the required percentage lease revenue audits for FY2024 due to a City Management-directed moratorium on revenue audits, which increases the risk of loss of revenue and reduces transparency and oversight for the City.” In other words, figure out how much money you have before asking for more.
- The City of San Diego Parking Demand Management Study issued in 2025 concluded that parking demand (that included both residents and non-residents) is not consistently high enough to require charging parking fees in Mission Bay Park. In other words, the revenue generated would not offset the costs to implement the paid parking program.
On November 18, 2025 the city council considered this as part of their budget priorities but did not include the proposal for non-residents to pay a fee to park at our beaches and Mission Bay Park as a revenue option.
On December 10, 2025 the IBA asked the city council to provide their updated budget priorities memos to their office by January 9, 2026.
On January 27, 2026, the Independent Budget Analyst (IBA) issued their report on the Updated City Council Budget Priorities and the following is from that report.
“An additional item of note with respect to resources: in IBA Report 25-32 REV we noted that four Councilmembers’ initial priorities memos mentioned exploring a potential non-resident beach and bay parking revenue stream. This potential revenue received the highest level of support of any specific resource in the initial memos, but it did not reach majority-support and was not included in the initial Budget Priorities Resolution. As of the January 9th priorities update memos, the number of Councilmembers supporting this revenue has dropped to one.”
Link to January 27, 2026 IBA Report https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/26-03-fy-2027-updated-city-council-budget-priorities.pdf
Informed community activism and the public’s collective opposition have, for now, all but eliminated the council’s support for parking fees at Mission Bay Park and our beaches even for non-residents.
The lone city councilmember still pushing for non-residents to pay to park at Mission Bay Park and our beaches is Councilmember Elo-Rivera. His January updated budget priority memo says in part that,
“… the proposed revenues and expenditures our office submitted in September remain priorities.”
The following three paragraphs discuss some of the revenue priorities from Elo-Rivera’s September budget memo.
“This year’s budget must shift the burden away from residents and toward non-residents. To be clear, we will not support a budget that continues to allow tourists to treat our City as a free playground while San Diegans suffer the consequences.”
“Mission Bay Park Vehicle Non-Resident Entrance Fees
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. It is time to ask those visitors to pay their fair share for the safety, maintenance, and enhancement of the park.”
“Non-Resident Parking Fees at Beach Lots
Tourists from around the world and non-residents from across the region visit our beaches, enjoying the beauty and safety that the City provides. And, as in too many cases, San Diego residents foot the bill for almost all of it. San Diego must begin to charge non-residents for parking at a rate like other cities throughout the region and state.”
I assume the tourists and many of the non-residents to whom Councilmember Elo-Rivera refers are not the same ones who since May 1, 2025 are paying higher, voter-approved transient occupancy taxes (TOT) to stay in local hotels.
The TOT rate increased from a single zone rate of 10.5 percent to a three zone rate of 11.75 percent, 12.75 percent and 13.75 percent. The TOT revenue last year was approximately $320 million and the TOT rate increases are estimated to generate an additional $80 million annually. The general fund portion of the TOT is approximately $170 million not including the revenue from the TOT rate increase. Therefore, anyone staying in San Diego hotels is now paying higher taxes and helping to generate more revenue for the city. I mention this because facts matter.
As we approach the April 15 release of the mayor’s proposed budget, it is important to stay engaged and informed. There are no assurances that this issue won’t resurface during the budget deliberations and we need to make sure that parking fees are not imposed on anyone, including San Diegans who may not reside within the official “city” limits.
If paid parking at Mission Bay Park and our beaches is approved for non-residents, we all know it is only a matter of time before the “free resident parking” becomes a “fee per resident parking.”
Here is a link to the October 10, 2025 IBA report showing the key dates of city council committee meetings and city council meetings where the budget will be discussed both before and after April 15.
Finally, it feels good to get some good news for a change. It helped remind me that we do have the ability and power to stop some bad things from happening even when everything around us seems to indicate otherwise. We need to celebrate all of our victories, no matter how small or inconsequential they may seem in comparison to all the injustices taking place in our world right now. There are better days and kinder times ahead of us. Keeping the faith….
Knowing STVRs are not popular, he wants to propose an 8K tax on empty homes and STVRs. I don’t think he realizes STVR owners could simplify add another 20 or 30 bucks to the rental while at the same time getting an additional 8K of write-off. It defeats his purpose of trying to manipulate more housing. I am against it strictly from a government intrusion standpoint unfairly targeting one group without looking into empty apartment buildings as a more effective means than an empty house many couldn’t afford to begin with. This is another of his affordability disingenuous city budget money grabs.
Hit the nail on the head Chris.
Instead of an $8K tax, eliminate all non-residential real estate tax subsidies, the lucrative write-off scheme cooked up to keep rents artificially high that offset occupancy revenue losses due to vacancies.
For those playing at home, the San Diego City Council is an abject failure. The City Council has made NO efforts to eliminate “In Lieu of Fees” that developers simply pay to opt out of the affordable housing construction, in order to build it “offsite.” There are no legal requirement and never have been any legal obligations for developers to own the “offsite” property necessary to build “offsite” affordable housing and no legal requirements to fulfill a requirement for construction. They get off Scott Free!
We’re all paying the price that out of state corporate owners do not, and in so many ways other than financial. Depleted resources, massive budget shortfalls, skyrocketing water and power fees, inflation, the fealty of feckless leadership, loss of morality, humanity, and our lives are now void of prosperity while killing “the pursuit of happiness.” This is the nearly 20 year result of real estate market manipulation through the legislated politico-corporate monopolization of housing that is literally killing Californians.
At least one piece of insanity was voted down. It’s one thing to go after corporations, but to not give a crap and lobby to extort home sales through tax mechanisms on honest people for having a second home is wrong. It’s ok to build ADU’s and every variation under the sun with Ego, but by golly don’t you own a second home. Remember, these guys started the ADU process that removed starter homes from first time buyers, and downsizing seniors, and turned them into investment properties depleting inventory to begin with. All with record property tax revenue.
We already can’t park in the free lots here in Ocean Beach during the summer because it fills up early and no one leaves. The lots are full of sketchy people and annoying van lifers taking advantage of this public resource. It is time to charge for parking in our Ocean Beach parking lots, so residents can even have a chance to use them.
Charging for parking solves nothing you’ve mentioned. Paid parking at the beach is elitist, and wholly discriminatory. The issues you describe epitomize the complete failure of fiscally irresponsible legislators trying to enrich themselves and their corporate masters at everyone else’s expense.
Simple seasonal 3 hour limit solves everything; not a never ending regressive tax that will increase every 6 months (or every month with our corrupted ruling “party”, mayor and council)
It cost $35 to park in Huntington Beach now but started out at .$50. How many retired San Diegans can afford $150/week $600/mo of fixed income to surf in the Pacific Ocean that belongs to us all?
I like the time limit as well. Good solution to the problem.
I agree, “Greg” most residents can walk or catch a ride. It would be nice to get some of the permanent vans and buses down there removed.
Donna Frye, please run for mayor!
Please…
Please!
Parking at Santa Monica beach was always pay to park and I go back to the 1960’s. It cost $1 to park. If you didn’t get there before noon the lots were full. I agree with Greg to charge a nominal fee that will open up some parking for citizens and families not people living in vans at the beaches is an idea who’s time has come.
Charge everyone else to park because of an inability to address vagrancy is no solution at all! FEES WILL NEVER REMAIN NOMINAL, and you know it! I would venture a guess that you probably haven’t parked in Santa Monica beach lots since the 1960’s, and I can assure you it is no longer $1. Why would you possibly imply that is should be incumbent upon every tourist and every taxpaying San Diego taxpayer to foot the bill for loitering van lifers that should be cited and/or towed Dick?
Seasonal 3 Hour limits to park SOLVES ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!
Donna, thank you so much for putting this together and giving us information of real value to share on social media about these really important issue. Your work is vitally important to our effort to bring honest incompetent leader leadership to our city. Please keep up your good work in this area.
Yeah, I support Donna Frye for Mayor,
Local, smart, beautiful
Would need to jump through significant hoops: I’ll make my protest sign now and get ready.
( AI generated) “Implementing paid parking at a public beach in California almost always requires approval from the California Coastal Commission. Because such fees affect public access and can create coastal access barriers, they are considered “development” under the Coastal Act, requiring a Coastal Development Permit (CDP).
The Commission evaluates if paid parking limits the public’s ability to use the shoreline.
Any change in the intensity of use of public access requires a CDP.
Approvals often come with requirements for free parking for residents, lower-income discounts, or “beachgoer badges”.
There are a lot of astute comments here and astute writing by the much loved Donna Frye! I’m reminding everyone of something else: the Coastal Resiliency Master Plan (CRMP) is supposedly going to move all the beach parking lots and change up all sorts of things at all San Diego beaches, so is installing parking meters and coming up with all these new plans by the beach or bay worthwhile (worth the effort, worth the finances?) when the CRMP plans to move everything around anyhow? The CRMP isn’t even a done deal yet but we can expect to see major activity for resiliency efforts in the parking lots. Another possibility would be the City’s installation of berms/dunes year round, right where the parking meters might be installed. I think some of the different City departments and committees need to talk to each other more often.