SAN DIEGO – The Pacific Beach Community Parking District and its governing board will soon be gone, but Garnet Avenue parking meters are here to stay.
That was the news revealed at the Pacific Beach Town Council’s Sept. 17 monthly meeting about the city’s latest cost-cutting move to pare down its projected $258 million budget deficit for FY 2025-26.
If approved by the San Diego City Council, the move will redirect approximately $1.8 million in parking meter revenue to city-managed infrastructure projects like sidewalk and streetlight repairs.
Reacting to the proposed elimination of the community parking district in the beach community, Sunny Lee, executive director of Discover PB, the community’s business improvement district, said: “The city’s decision to eliminate community parking districts is a setback for Pacific Beach. Our community worked hard to advocate for meters so that the revenue could be reinvested into mobility projects and neighborhood improvements.
“That dedicated funding is now gone, and with it, an important tool for making Pacific Beach safer, more accessible, and more connected….
“What’s most disappointing is how this change was handled, Lee added. “City staff were not communicative or community-focused during the process. Instead of working with neighborhoods to address concerns and find solutions, they chose to shut the door on the possibility of communities continuing to operate their parking districts.
“This decision disregards the voices of residents and businesses who believed in the promise of local investment for local needs.”
An audience member at the PBTC meeting noted that the City Charter, which has yet to be changed, requires that a portion of funds from community parking districts is supposed to go back to the communities that they represent.
In his president’s report to the Pacific Beach Town Council on Sept. 17, Charlie Nieto, also a member of PB Community Parking District’s advisory board, said this latest cost-cutting budget move by the city didn’t come as a total surprise.
“I can’t say that I’m shocked because the series of events that have transpired over the course of this year was leading up to this moment,” he said. “The new budget the city was proposing with the budget deficit, their way of closing that (revenue) gap was to temporarily suspend community funds.
“The PB Parking District was owed a certain amount of funds, and, for this fiscal year, we weren’t allowed to spend any of that. And then next year, we were going to be able to spend those funds. That was Step 1.
“Step 2 was that the parking district program on meters was supposed to be a one-year temporary pilot,” Nieto added. “The past couple of months, the city has put extra caps and restrictions on what you could spend (parking district funds) on. It used to be really broad, including all kinds of enhancements, beautification.
“Now we’ve found out that while the parking districts and boards are going to be dissolved, the meters and all the funds are going to be collected by the city and that’s going to go back into the general fund.’”
Nieto cited the shuttle beach bug program as one example of how parking district funds were spent previously in PB.
Community activist and longtime local planner Scott Chipman, speaking for himself, spoke out on Sept. 17 against the city’s plans to eliminate community parking districts, referring to that propose move as a “bait and switch,” an illegal sales tactic where customers are lured with an advertisement for a low-priced item, only to then be sold a different often more expensive product.
“About 10 years ago or more, a few people in the community thought, ‘Let’s bring some (parking) meters in, we can raise some money and we can improve the business district,’” Chipman said.
“This was roundly opposed by about 100 people who showed up at Discover PB. Then, during COVID, it was brought back up with a very questionable approval process. Then the city said, ‘We’ll share the money with you.’ That became virtually impossible for several years.
“And now we’re stuck with parking meters, and the city plans to take all the money themselves. Add that to the (increased rates of) parking in Balboa Park and the trash (new fee), this city’s leadership is out of control,” Chipman said.
“This is another example of them covering up their malfeasance. (There’s been) a 35% increase in the city budget over the last five years,” Chipman added. “The population of San Diego hasn’t increased at all. That’s why we’re in a budget deficit. And that’s why they (city) feel the need for stealing the parking money.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
