By Kate Callen and Paul Krueger
After decades of neglect and a controversial parking fee that has endangered its attractions, Balboa Park could be rescued as early as next fiscal year through the determined efforts of its rightful owners, the people of San Diego.
More than 80 community advocates for Balboa Park gathered at a March 28 public forum to map out steps for saving San Diego’s embattled crown jewel. The first step: a change of the current park governance, which must happen immediately.
A new governance model would be an engine for addressing two Park priorities: raising the necessary funds to keep Balboa Park healthy and intact, and balancing the fragmented needs of numerous park constituencies.
“It is important to recognize that every blade of grass in this park has a constituency,” said former City Architect Michael Stepner, “and when you want to mow the lawn, you need to talk to everybody.”
Stepner and landscape architect Vicki Estrada led the discussion at “The Future of Balboa Park: A Community Conversation,” co-hosted by the San Diego Community Coalition and Neighbors for a Better San Diego at the Mission Valley Library.
The conversation was spurred by a growing consensus that the City of San Diego, which only allots $14 million a year for total park maintenance, should no longer be solely responsible for managing Balboa Park.
Public furor over the parking fees revived a long-held belief that San Diego needs a public-private shared governance model. Known as a “conservancy,” the model has helped invigorate urban parks in New York, St. Louis, New Orleans, and other cities.
The forum posed two questions to participants: Should San Diego consider creating a conservancy? And would San Diegans support such a model?
The first answer was a clear “Yes.” The second answer was “It depends.”
Forum participants want a conservancy that will embrace community input. The new structure must be tailored to San Diego’s unique needs. And it must be a big tent that builds public ownership by attracting a wide range of stakeholders to Balboa Park.
Participants called for vigorous outreach to the San Diego County government and to other cities where communities have felt alienated by special “city resident” discounts for paid parking. Such overtures could help increase park funding through greater engagement with the county.
“After visiting Balboa Park for years, I found out I’m no longer a ‘San Diegan,’” said Jody Vacala of El Cajon. “The county definitely needs to be involved. I’m going to contact my county supervisor and ask them to take this to the board and see if they can get them involved.”
A conservancy also could find new ways to engage underserved city communities that need greater park access.
“For Balboa Park to reach its full potential, residents in communities across San Diego need to feel ownership of it,” said Nam Nguyen of City Heights. “If there’s a way to connect with people who may only come for December Nights and instill that sense of ownership, you could have millions of people fighting for the park.”
The community advocates at the forum were told that the City is now proceeding with a Balboa Park Master Plan Update. They had heard that before.
Balboa Park has been the subject of a long series of plans, updates, studies, and surveys. Through it all, the Park has continued to decline in the face of meager funding. Any “plan update” that does not address the governance issue will be another wasted effort.
Kate and Paul deserve a lot of credit for organizing this forum. Finding a locale for the event was very challenging — and it looks like they pulled it off. They struck a nerve with many San Diegans who hold Balboa Park in high regard and who appear to be responsive to this idea of a public-private conservatory for the Gem.
Kate, thanks so much for doing this–I find I’m behind the new approach for what that’s worth. When I last wrote to you I indicated I was going to talk to my cousin who is a life long resident of St. Louis and lives near Forest Park. I did and here is his answer which I think you may find interesting (but not saying anything that we don’t believe at this time.) I’m sure you will notice many similarities to San Diego in his response.
Say, I know of Balboa Park’s great reputation and I am sure that I have visited it somewhere along the way, probably a long time ago now. Like Forest Park (which is much, much larger than NYC’s Central Park), these city resources are worth all of our efforts to sustain and protect. If they go, they’re gone and would not be replaced.
Forest Park Forever in my observation, has been an outstanding organization to do just that. They still operate in conjunction with the city, but are the dominant driving force in taking care of it as the stewards. Right now, for example, it has been busy raising funds, and replacing all of the trees and repairing the damages from the tornado that hit it so hard last May. I don’t really know how they officially exist in partnership with the city of St. Louis, but I am sure you could learn a lot from their website https://www.forestparkforever.org/about
Their “conservancy” as you correctly termed it is critical because there is no way that the dysfunctional city government could afford or have the organizational expertise and manpower to take care of the park. Forest Park Forever was formed, for just that reason-the park was deteriorating badly and of course the city had no plans to turn it around. Forest Park and the zoo, skating rink, golf courses etc, do benefit from the region’s Zoo Museum Tax District, a rare city/county collaboration that some taxpayers may grumble about but not too strenuously when they look at the free admission to the zoo, etc., but Forever is not a part of that district. They are a non-profit that relies totally on memberships and donations. We have been moved to donate to them in the past, and probably should more often!
Wish I could provide you with more details, but I can say that it sure looks like a great organization doing good and necessary work. It’s reputation is as good as a public organization can get these days! I applaud you for your concern about Balboa Park and your initiative to research better options to take care of it!
Thank you, Kate and Paul, for providing a clear and illuminating roadmap to reclaim the crown jewel of our city—moving it out of the hands of political opportunism at City Hall and into the stewardship of responsible citizens for a sustainable future.
Thank you, Kate and Paul, for providing a clear and illuminating roadmap to reclaim the crown jewel of our city—moving it out of the hands of political opportunism at City Hall and into the stewardship