A property tax proposal to restore and reinvigorate San Diego’s treasured Balboa Park is more than an attempt to tackle a laundry list of deferred maintenance projects. It’s an effort to execute a new community-driven strategy to catalyze a rich public life in a city clawing for solutions to its ongoing financial and political challenges.
San Diegans are fed up with what’s on offer from our civic class. City and countywide sales tax increases were rejected by voters in 2024. The City of San Diego responded to voter unwillingness to increase unrestricted general fund revenues by imposing new fees that compound already frayed feelings over the sky-high cost-of-living.
The swift public backlash was as predictable as it has been fierce. And how could it not be? Each new or increased fee – no matter the debate over necessity or appropriateness – simply maintains the previous level of service. Taxpayers pay more just to keep what we already have.
Water rates go up as the same water flows from the tap. Trash fees go into effect for the same pickup. Parking near the ballpark, at the beaches, or Balboa Park? It all costs something now. But nothing about those services or experiences is materially different or improved than before.
Civic leaders might correctly say that oversimplifies those policies and the challenges they’re trying to address. But built into the blinders of work at city hall is a casual rejection of how the public experiences policy — and the public’s response cannot be waived away if we want a functioning politics that delivers the city we deserve.
Well-intentioned civic coalitions keep trying to push the “special tax” revenue boulder up the hill. But an approach that sets a seemingly inoffensive revenue target and seeks to disperse that revenue across too many needs limits the impact of new revenue. More to the point, at this moment, it may be a strategic trap that is unresponsive to what the public keeps saying: we want to see some problems actually solved.
That’s what the “Balboa Park Restoration & Community Improvement Act” would do.
Balboa Park is a sweeping, social landscape, cast across three mesas and two canyons. It is an anchor of our civic and cultural identity and recreational life. For more than 100 years, it has served as our front door to the world, attracting local and visiting attendees to international fairs, as well as celebrations like the San Diego Pride Festival and December Nights.
The richness of our civic inheritance is expressed in historic infrastructure like the Cabrillo Bridge, in the diverse architecture of previous eras, and in the standout vegetation adorning 1,200 acres.
Balboa Park is unique, and as indicated by recently completed public polling of likely voters, it is almost unanimously popular.
Ninety percent of those poll respondents agreed that Balboa Park should be protected for generations to come. They agree on the importance of not only maintaining, but improving public places like Balboa Park. And they agree that we should keep facilities up-to-date, clean and safe, and pursue ambitious efforts to build beautiful public places.
San Diegans agree that we must be faithful stewards of Balboa Park. But we haven’t been. We’ve turned a blind eye to the neglect of this public resource.
Buildings exist in various states of disrepair. Youth sports fields are unplayable. Landfill contamination restricts land use.
Recreational centers are too small for growing neighborhoods. Families in search of restrooms and safety assistance go without. A music amphitheater exists as a ruin.
The ballot measure being proposed won’t ask for new revenue that only addresses some of the need. Instead, it would fully fund the long-growing and well-publicized deferred maintenance backlog, ending decades of structural and environmental entropy.
The ballot measure being proposed won’t ask for new revenue that only delivers the same level of service. It’ll deliver new accessibility, increase safety and comfort, expand youth programming and create iconic cultural spaces.
And the ballot measure will see that city residents don’t pay the bill twice, ensuring parking remains free throughout the park.
It’s a ballot measure that focuses on one challenge – and solves it – so that we can rebuild public trust to solve another challenge, and another after that, upon a foundation of shared responsibility and revitalized cultural connections.
San Diegans are ready to invest in the kind of city that currently only exists in our imaginations. We’re ready to invest in ourselves to create and propel a rich public life. And we are going to have that opportunity on the ballot in 2028 – starting with Balboa Park.
Andy Kopp is the founder of PlatformUS, a San Diego-based nonprofit advocacy organization. He is a U.S. Navy veteran and former member of the defense intelligence community.
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