Can’t see the video? Click here. To view a transcript, click here.

San Diego City College editors-in-chief ⁠Tresean Osgood⁠ and ⁠David J. Bohnet⁠ joined Yonatan “Yogi” Hernandez in the debut episode of City Times Media’s “Reporters’ Roundtable” to discuss the ongoing saga surrounding parking in and around Balboa Park.

The ⁠introduction and passage of paid parking⁠ at Balboa Park was swiftly met with ⁠criticism from community members and City College students⁠ who used the lower lots to park while in classes.

While community members navigate the ⁠updates⁠ and fee changes, stay tuned to ⁠City Times Media⁠ and ⁠sdcitytimes.com⁠ for all the up-to-date information.

Can’t access the audio? Click here. To view a transcript, click here.

TRANSCRIPT:

Yogi:
Good morning, City Times. This is Yonatan “Yogi” Hernandez. I am the operations manager here at City Times Media. Today, we’re talking to the changing parking rules at Balboa Park and what that means for San Diegans, and most importantly, what does that mean for San Diego City College. Joining me today are Tresean Osgood, multimedia journalist on talent air and filmmaker focused on full news, operating operations. And David J. Bohnet, a multimedia reporter and photographer bringing art, sports and civic encouragement to live across our city. They’re both been reporting on this story as it has been unfolding. Tresean, you’ve been reporting on this issue for quite a while. Take us back to the beginning. How do you, did the paid parking conversation at Balboa Park and how did you get to where we are today?

Tresean:
Yeah , well, Yogi, I started out last year in November, I went to the Balboa Park Committee. They had a meeting, and they were just going over some of the paid parking proposals, trying to get some rates down, trying to gauge how this would be rolled out in the future. And from that, I kind of was listening to the community, and they were not very happy. We’ ve had German Shepherd trainers complaining about their free service might be going away. Other community members just upset that they’re gonna have to pay for a park that has been public for almost everybody’s lives. So it’s been very interesting to see the viewpoints that people are establishing, and it’s definitely been a doozy, trying to catch everybody and get their opinions.

Yogi:
You know, it’s funny, right? At first, the proposal sounded like it was just a simple paid parking across the board, but after public pushback, as you mentioned, it shifted to tired pricing and resident programs. What changed and what was the least, and now the latest version of the plan, right?

Tresean:
So at first it was like you said it was just going to be for the levels based on balboa’s parks. And a lot of pushback happened. The community was not happy with the rates that they were given, and so there was a price change from about $16 if you were non resident to about $8 and then $4 if you were a resident. So they’ve changed the rates around. They’ve also tried experimenting with making some streets free parking, making some of them accessible for citizens, and it’s been a lot of back and forth, and they’re trying to get it done. There’s a website to register for San Diego residents who want to have their discount. And there’s also a petition that got started about a week ago about them just reverting the parking all together. So it’s still an ongoing process. There’s meters up and around the parks. Excuse me, just there to use if you don’t feel like paying on your phone, and they’re still just trying to make this thing work.

Yogi:
You know, it’s funny. I just talked to a couple of representatives too, and everybody’s confused, right? And so David, that brings me to you. You recently tried parking there yourself. Can you please walk us through what happened? How did it work, or lack thereof, and what is the process, if any?

David:
Yeah, I think Tresean kind of nailed it there. It’s, it’s definitely one of those things that’s just become kind of confusing and just kind of trying to figure out exactly what to do. I ended up trying to head to Balboa. I love taking my pups over there to the Prado. They have that little dog park right there that is just awesome. We’ve, we’ve loved going there for years. Of course, I went on a Sunday, which I normally don’t do. And if you’ve ever been there on a Sunday, you kind of know that the struggle is very real. It’s very busy. I mean, it’s beautiful. We love San Diego, that’s why we’re here. But this was my first time actually getting into the whole system. So I’m driving in. The first thing you have to do is actually find a spot, right? I think that that’s one thing that we are not used to, is usually you kind of go, you can either find something on the street that area is, is right off of sixth. You know, you can sometimes park on Fifth, but usually we just kind of start heading towards downtown a little bit, and we usually are able to find a spot. So after waiting for a little bit I was able to find a spot once you actually get into that spot, then you have to hit the city’s website, and you have to register, because I am a resident, which is kind of different. Usually you could just maybe get out, put your license in use the meter, which I’ve actually seen a bunch of lines the last few times I’ve been around and seen that. Um, lots of lines people trying to wait for the kiosk, but yeah, once we finally kind of got the registration all set, that’s a $5 fee, then you kind of have to see what zone you’re in. They have zones one through four. I was kind of just looking even on the website today, and it does kind of throw you into circles. There’s videos, there’s PDFs. In the end, it was just one of those things where my dogs are screaming in the back wanting to get out to the dog park. I’m over there trying to navigate this, you know, website not wanting to get a ticket, because obviously they are enforcing, and they are out in force. So the time it took was probably 30 minutes, you know, from trying to find a parking spot to registering before I could even get out and enjoy the park. So it is difficult, you know, it can be done, and maybe next time will be just a little bit easier, because I’ve done it. But as Tresean mentioned, a lot of the rules are changing. We’re trying to get out there. People are putting petitions to kind of just scrap the whole thing. Needless to say, it’s been a little bit of a debacle.

Yogi:
You know, it’s funny. Balboa Park isn’t just a parking lot for everybody that doesn’t know, right? It’s neighborhoods, museums, recreation areas, residential streets. How did these zones affect where people can realistically park? I mean, it just costs. Now, it’s just a cost, right?

David:
I think that’s one thing that’s they tried to in the beginning. And Tresean has covered this extensively at sdcitytimes.com. You go through, and you have to see what area you even are. And I think originally they had set out different zones, but then they were, they hadn’t made any exception for residents. So everybody was kind of up in arms about that. Now they’ve changed it to where residents can actually get exemptions to get into certain areas, and again, depending on which side and you can access, like Yogi mentioned, the park on four different sides, the north, south, east and west, depending on where you go. You know, if you like to go to the golf course, that’s going to be different than if you’re trying to go to Morley or the sixth side, or even down, you know, further closer to City campus. So it does take some research. It takes some time before, yeah, just depending on where you live.

Yogi:
So what I’m hearing you say is, in order to go park, you got to do homework. You got to plan ahead. So basically, leave early, have a strategy, save some money, bring some cash, bring credit cards, bring your phone, Waymo, if it’s available. And that’s a different story.

David:
A story for another day. Definitely not cash like you can. I don’t even know if you can put change into the meters anymore. Oh, wow. Some of this, some of the roads are actually metered. So, and that’s $2.50 an hour, unless there’s a game day, which then it’s a dynamic pricing so that could be up to $10 an hour, from what I’ve seen. But yeah, there’s a lot of payment modes. They’ll take your money, but you know, it may just take some time getting there.

Yogi:
So let’s bring this back home. Back before this whole conversation started, I know a lot of students used to park there for free, right? They used to go park over there doing classes. They would, and then they would walk over here, and then on the way back, it was their zone of Zen to be able to, you know, clear their mind, prepare for classes, and also on the way in, right? Now, what does that look like? And with the minimal parking that we have here, even just on campus, because of the construction that’s going on in lot five that we lost, how does that help and or hurt our city college students?

Tresean:
Well, I think it definitely hurts us a little bit, that’s been a good spot for students who, like you say, want to walk down and then they want to have a little zen to come back to and unwind. But it’s a lot that we also use for our graduation ceremonies, so we’ve also wondering how that’s going to affect us in the long run too. If we’re going to lose that as a free parking spot, or is it going to change for acceptance of our contract that we have with Spreckels Oregon Pavilion? So it’s a lot of to worry about. I know students are trying to do their best to maneuver and so apps like ParkMobile are here to help you find a parking spot close to campus, and it also allows you to park in our student lots if you do not have a parking pass.

Yogi:
Well, that’s all the time that we have for today. Thank you for joining us. And parking policy might sound small, but it shapes access equity and daily life across San Diego, from city finances to student communities, the issue touches all of us. Huge thanks to Tresean Osgood and David J Bohnet for the reporting and first-hand insight for continuing coverage. Please visit City Times Media online. Follow us on social media. I am Yonathan “Yogi” Hernandez. Thanks for joining us today. If you tried parking at Balboa Park recently, we want to hear your story, your experience. Drop a message. Send us a message, and help us keep this story and our community driven and alive. Stay Informed.