Months of backlash against efforts to balance the city’s budget with more parking fees has pushed at least three San Diego City Councilmembers to suggest the city pump the brakes.
First up, Balboa Park: Two days in, paid parking at Balboa Park is off to a rocky start.
The city started to charge for parking Monday and some residents complained about prices, while others were downright confused. City of San Diego residents are supposed to get steep discounts.
Tuesday, Councilmembers Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera urged city officials to suspend parking fees for San Diego residents.
In a memo to the mayor, Lee and Elo-Rivera said the city had not done enough to clearly inform community members about the paid parking program.
“The fact that San Diegans can only qualify for the resident discount if they register their vehicles 48-hours before their first visit to Balboa Park, and purchase passes in advance of each subsequent visit, underscores why ample time for public education is so important,” reads the memo.
The councilmembers also said residents had not been clearly informed about when the resident portal would be accessible, how to use the system, and that they could only get discounted parking passes online.
It’s also unclear when enforcement will begin for paid parking. City officials told the Union-Tribune it would be a few weeks, while they told KPBS there would be a one month grace period.
In the memo, councilmembers also pointed out last-minute scrambles to add additional signage about resident discounts, and signs to indicate that people can park for free three-hour at the lower Inspiration Point lot.
“San Diegans should not have to deal with the impacts of a system that is not yet optimized for public use,” they wrote.
Campillo blasts downtown rates: ‘Enough is enough” read a press release from City Councilmember Raul Campillo who plans to stage a press conference Wednesday morning with business leaders including Betsy Brennan, the head of the Downtown Partnership.
Their complaint? The new fees on parking downtown during special events.
“Councilmember Campillo will outline a common-sense, worker- and resident-focused proposal and call on his City Council colleagues to support the changes when they come before the Council for a vote,” reads the announcement.
Notably not on the list of attendees: Councilmember Stephen Whitburn who is actually the downtown representative on the Council.
City Fights to Keep Enforcement Against RVs
The city of San Diego last fall began a major crackdown on people living in RVs particularly in the Mission Bay area. A legal filing recently revealed just how intense it got.
Between July and September, city employees issued more than 1,000 citations and referred 245 people to H Barracks. Only 59 of those went to the safe parking lot.
Now city lawyers are trying to protect the city’s ability to keep it up. Plaintiffs say the city violated a settlement deal it made in 2024 to avoid these sorts of crackdowns unless there is reasonable places for people to park their cars safely.
Our Mariana Martinez Barba explains the legal exchange a judge will have to weigh in on soon.
Three Top County Lawyers Out After New Boss Announced
The three top deputies to the county’s chief lawyer left their posts last week before county supervisors publicly revealed their next county counsel.
Veteran lawyers Erica Cortez, Caitlin Rae and Heidi Skinner – who each served as assistant county counsels – departed the County Counsel’s Office Friday, our Lisa Halverstadt reports. Three days later, two county supervisors announced that the county board will vote next week to make Damon Brown, now a special assistant state attorney general, the lead county counsel serving the board and county staff.
A county spokesperson said Cortez, Rae and Skinner left to “pursue other opportunities” and that Brown, who is expected to start Jan. 26, will fill key vacancies going forward.
City Sues Federal Government over Border Fence on City-Owned Land
The city is pushing back on a fence being constructed by U.S. marines along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In a lawsuit filed on Monday, the city alleged the federal government trespassed and illegally constructed razor-fencing on “environmentally sensitive land” protected under an agreement that involves both city and federal authorities.
The city-owned land located in Marron Valley in South County has been protected under a conservation plan since the 90s. The city said they discovered about a dozen U.S. Marines on the property last month traversing paths in protected areas and leaving excessive trash.
“The City of San Diego will not allow federal agencies to disregard the law and damage City property,” said City Attorney Heather Ferbert in an email statement. “We are taking decisive action to protect sensitive habitats, uphold environmental commitments, and ensure that the rights and resources of our community are respected.”
Chula Vista Mayor Wades into Horse Arena Debate
Chula Vista Mayor John McCann on Tuesday came down firmly on the side of horse owners in a heated local debate over renovation of a city park that has pitted advocates for sports fields against South San Diego County horse owners.
At a Tuesday morning press conference, McCann urged city staff to preserve a decades-old horse arena at Rohr Park, a 60-acre park on the city’s border with Bonita that for decades has served as a regional recreation hub.
Late last year, city staff abruptly removed the park’s decades-old horse arena from a proposed park overhaul that could begin as early as this year. A proposal unveiled in November replaced the arena with soccer fields and a skate park, citing “sports equity for all youth” as a top goal of the park overhaul.
Horse owners in Bonita and surrounding communities decried the move and have bombarded the city with letters, emails and public comments at meetings.
On Tuesday, McCann, who is up for re-election later this year, sided with the horse owners. He urged city staff to restore the arena, calling it a “valuable resource [that] supports responsible horse ownership, training and education benefiting not just our local community but the entire region.”
A city spokesperson said planning for Rohr Park is ongoing and the city would take community feedback into account before settling on a final proposal.
In Other News
- Don’t put away your umbrellas just yet. Another round of rain is set to hit parts of the county today, followed Thursday by winds that could top 50 miles per hour over local mountains. (Union-Tribune)
- San Diego Superior Court’s new presiding judge, Michael Groch, takes the helm this week at California’s second-largest trial court system. Groch, a self-described proponent of both technology and efficiency, will lead the court as it moves toward providing digital access to criminal case files. (Union-Tribune)
- Former San Diego Chargers placekicker Rolf Benirschkie will become the next chairman of the board for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance board of trustees, zoo officials announced Tuesday. Benirschkie previously served as the board’s vice chairman and has a longstanding connection to the zoo through his father, who helped to establish the zoo’s conservation research program. (CBS8)
- The family of retired Navy corpsman Carlos Enriquez filed a wrongful death suit against the Chula Vista Police Department this week, alleging officers used excessive and unnecessary force when they shot Enriquez last year during a mental health call. (NBC San Diego)
The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch, Mariana Martínez Barba and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Scott Lewis.