By Kate Callen
The tangled saga of Mayor Todd Gloria’s decision to monetize parking in Balboa Park has taken a new and interesting twist.
San Diego County Crimestoppers is offering up to $1,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest of suspects “responsible for multiple cases of felony vandalism to [52] parking pay stations located throughout the Balboa Park area.”
According to the February 10 announcement, “The suspect(s) vandalized the parking pay stations by spray-painting them, shattering the digital glass screens, and placing a sticky substance on the keypads deeming them inoperable. The total cost of the damages is estimated to be approximately $77,500.”
The notice included pictures of kiosks that were smashed and covered with paint. It didn’t include pictures of a more common sight around the park: kiosks plastered with Todd Gloria name tags and petitions for Gloria’s recall.
The OB Rag does not condone vandalism. Destroying public property as a form of protest is counterproductive.
But it’s hard not to appreciate how Gloria’s worst idea to date – okay, second worst after Bonus ADUs – has unleashed a five-ring circus that is uniquely San Diegan.
Public figures are scrambling to lead the populist resistance. Shane Harris has announced in newspaper op-eds that he’s pushing an ordinance to fully repeal paid parking. Richard Bailey, rumored to be on the verge of running for the District 2 Council seat, has announced via Instagram that he’s filing a notice to repeal the parking fees.
And Kevin Faulconer and the Lincoln Club have jumped into the fight for free Park parking. Anyone else? Carl DeMaio, would you like to get in on this?
Then there are Councilmembers Joe La Cava, Kent Lee, and Sean Elo-Rivera who were for the parking fees until they were against them. They want a temporary suspension of the fees until … well, until the furor dies down. Which is unlikely.
But the capstone so far is the mayor’s decision to walk back some (but not all) of the fees, a lame attempt at appeasement that has only stoked the flames. His announcement contained a tone-deaf statement that is vintage Todd Gloria:
“Good governing also means listening. I’ve heard from residents and from members of the City Council about how this program is affecting San Diegans who love Balboa Park as much as I do.”
Loving the Park as much as Gloria does, given that he is treating it like an ATM, seems like a very low bar.
Time will tell if the Crimestoppers reward offer leads to arrests. Once apprehended, the felons could very well become folk heroes. If they’re photogenic, their images could sell t-shirts. GoFundMe campaigns could raise thousands for their defense fund.
The Rag will follow the pursuit of the kiosk felons closely. Stories like this are what we live for.
imagine if the tea party behaved like this.
Chris S – The Tea Party was much worse than a few vandalized parking kiosks. They help to prevent much-needed health care overhaul for America by disrupting town hall meetings with Congressional reps, holding rowdy protests n the streets and in capitols. Just for starters.
I was referring to the Boston tea party.
Sorry, I jumped to the other reference. The Boston Tea party did much more damage than was done to the kiosks.
I love it, I hope it’s senior doing it. I hope they start their own group something like black lives matter but for seniors. SAVE SAN DIEGO FROM SEAN ELO-RIVERA
Are we talking about the Boston tea party of 1773? That was a very famous act of vandalism that is still celebrated more than 200 years later. But it was an act of vandalism, right? Done as a political protest against the Tea Act, which was intended to raise money for the crown, much like paid parking in the park.
JH, fairly certain he was referring to the Tea Party that sprang up during the Obama years.
Yes
First, at least I think both sides are on the same side about the Tea Party no matter which one is was.
Second, you go people! There’s just a time when too much is too much and the tone def politicians must be made to see they are not popular and stupid PR stunts don’t convince anyone.
Just give up and give up all paid parking in Balboa Park and it should be everywhere. This war on the people of San Diego is stupid and juvenile. Go back to the drawing board and figuer out (without hiring expensive consultants) how best to handle the finances of the city.
Our politicians are indeed tone deaf. Past a point, the proverbial strongly-worded letters or phone calls or showing up at meetings is just useless. Oh, someone took a brick to your parking meters in Balboa Park? What a shame. Thank them for providing valuable feedback.
Yes, I’m sure Mr. Schultz was referring to the proto-MAGA, racist reactionaries of the Obama era. I just thought it was ironic that he would compare them to our parking meter vandals and then imply that they were “victims” of public opinion, while missing the obvious parallels between the Boston tea party and the Balboa Park vandals.
Since I am commenting again, I would be remiss if I did not thank Kate Callen for this great article. I enjoyed reading it and it brought a smile to my face. Thank you Kate.
Comical this went off the road with the ideological lil twisted sister tea party.
John, it was literally my pleasure. For a writer, Gloria is the gift that keeps on giving.
We need caring non manipulative politicians please just ask the mayor and entire city council to resign we need full time libraries
“We need caring non manipulative politicians”
Pretty much cancels out anyone who chooses that line of work.
Thank you Kate…. Very helpful article.
When they come for the person who did this, I suspect there will be half of San Diego County standing to say “I Am Spartacus”.
The media and the city are using this as a distraction.
What we should be focused on is what’s the city’s next move? They removed the paid parking at the park item off Monday’s agenda and now silence. Then Tuesday, the city announces that it will offer a reward for vandalism of the machines.
Let’s stay focused. We need to push the council to approve Shane Harris’s ordinance before the March 6th deadline so it can go on the June ballot.
In addition, have people sign the Repeal the fees initiative (starting in March) that will go on the November Ballot.
With the city council’s dithering and Todd never backing down and using ‘his’ city attorney to appeal any suits, we must make sure both the Ordinance and also the initiative go on the ballot. We need a two-track campaign in order to bury this failed program.
I predict ‘Recall Gloria’ will become a louder refrain.
Well more parking meters coming to a neighborhood near you. All Todd’s added density that doesn’t produce parking is abhorrent. And sorry to say there’s only one person on that council that’s respectable.
As of February 2026, San Diego is rolling out new parking meters in Mid-City neighborhoods, including Normal Heights, Kensington, Talmadge, and City Heights, to improve parking turnover. Key areas include Adams Avenue (between Hamilton and 42nd St), El Cajon Blvd, and surrounding residential streets. Meters are active Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m..
Addition to a previous comment
Key Proposed and New Meter Locations (Feb 2026):
Adams Avenue: 29th Street/Kansas Street to 42nd Street.
El Cajon Blvd: 29th Street/Kansas Street to 37th Street.
Kensington/Talmadge/Normal Heights Area Streets:
Felton Street (near Adams Avenue).
34th Street (near Adams Avenue).
Hawley Blvd (near Adams Avenue).
Park Place (Kensington Dr to Marlborough Dr).
Terrace Drive, Kensington Drive, and Marlborough Drive (near Adams Avenue).
32nd, 33rd, 35th, Bancroft Streets, and Wilson Avenue (near Adams Avenue).
I checked in with a buddy in the know and he said they’ve all known about these meters going in for years.
They meaning the city? The neighborhood? Nice optics/ timing with the Balboa Park fiasco. It also would be nice to attach an actual cost city management has been inflated by, during Todd’s term, that’s relatable to the past and present budgets.
No, local community associations.
Found a partial answer. 100 positions equating to 20-25 million
https://obrag.org/2025/12/in-city-halls-budget-crunch-san-diegans-need-to-ask-just-how-many-middle-managers-do-we-need/
Anybody remember Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke”? Why was he arrested?
Cutting the heads off parking meter with a pipe cutter.
Right you are! You just won a free subscription to the Rag! And you’ve given proof you were alive during the 60s.
Actually my folks used to go to dinner at the Officer’s Club here with the Hoppers, and would sometimes drag me along. Margie Hopper was a kick in the rear, and used to tell me how her son was trying to make it in Hollywood. She told me he was in Cool Hand Luke. Took me a few years to realize her son was Dennis Hopper. Oddly enough I never met Dennis, but Paul Newman and I were racing Datsuns years later and we often shared track time & chats.
Cool beans! My parents also used to “drag” me to the Officers Club — but never ran into anyone famous. (Was Dennis H in Cool Hand Luke? I don’t remember him.)
We need housing libraries not more parking meters our Mayor city council can’t control spending anyway they should all resign now
Kate, you’re so right about the pile-on by termed-out politicians, but you forgot to mention former D2 councilmember Lorie Zapf; here she is — as you generally predicted: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/02/13/opinion-city-hall-ignored-warning-signs-in-push-for-balboa-paid-parking/
The link requires subscriber ship
Once you read fast enough, before the pop up, it’s doable. The context of the opinion points at council members not doing enough due diligence. Either you believe that or not, regardless of past personal experiences with the author.
Lori Zapf’s op-ed is pretty well crafted. You can say and feel whatever you want about her conservative ideologies but these facts remain: unlike Jen Campbell, Lori Zapf attended her calendared events, met personally with this constituent and a number of other advocates, activists, and constituents that I know. Zapf vehemently opposed eliminating parking requirements for density developments, especially in the beach communities. Zapf as a representative generally reflected the will of the majority of her constituents and respected the sanctity community planning groups.
The succubus that is Jen Campbell was an incompetent nightmare since the moment she took office. Campbell betrayed her constituents, actually turned against her constituents and continues to vilify them, and barely staved off a recall only by gerrymandering her own district lines based solely on the addresses of recall petition signers obtained through the recall process.
Zapf was no Donna Frye. But Zapf most definitely wasn’t the arrogant, defiant Judas that remains incessantly absent that Dr. Gentrification Campbell is.
Well, Mateo, you can say and feel whatever you want about Lori Zapf; you make her sound like an angel — but she was far from that and actually dissed her constituents many times. How do I know? I was there and the Rag posted many critical articles about her.
Zapf ain’t no angel and I am not implying that but at least as a constituent I felt heard.
The point is, she talked with me, directly, and she met and talked with other activists about a litany of issues. Zapf attended calendared events, the ones I attended at least, the succubus is 100% no show. Zapf didn’t send her staff in her stead to community meetings that inevitably skulk away before the community can engage with them. Zapf also didn’t subject unpaid interns to answer the phones to get earfuls of abuse for misrepresenting her constituents the way Jen Campbell’s office has throughout her entire terms. That is… if anyone in Campbell’s office even bother to answer the phone.