Balboa Park Parking Fee Repeal Petition Cleared to Gather Signatures

Overview

• Petition organizers, who launched the drive Saturday at the park’s Organ Pavilion, are now collecting signatures at kiosks with a first-week-of-July deadline to qualify for November.
• Under the city charter, 24,000 valid signatures would force a City Council rehearing, while about 80,000 would place the repeal on San Diego voters’ November ballot.
• The San Diego Model Railroad Museum reports a 32% attendance drop this year versus 2025, has laid off three employees, and cut its schedule from six open days to five.
• The city introduced paid parking in January, then in March let verified residents use select lots for free and ended fee enforcement at 6 p.m., and Mayor Todd Gloria says the program will continue.
• Campaign lead Richard Bailey, a City Council candidate and former Coronado mayor, says the effort logged more than 1,000 signatures at the kickoff and counted over 10,000 gathered online earlier, and only city residents can sign.