A key San Diego panel deadlocked 2-2 Wednesday on a proposed ballot measure that would have let city voters decide this June whether parking should be free in Balboa Park for everyone on every day of the week. The deadlock essentially kills the proposal because San Diego City Council policies stipul ate that three votes from the five-member panel – the Rules Committee – are needed for a proposal to move forward. The two council members who voted against the proposal – Joe LaCava and Kent Lee – said their votes were based on preference for an alternate proposal on Balboa Park parking scheduled for a Feb. 9 council debate. That alternate proposal – unveiled Tuesday by LaCava, Lee and Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera – calls for suspending paid parking in Balboa Park for city residents but continuing to charge non-residents. The competing efforts come amid increasing public backlash against paid parking in Balboa Park, which began Jan. 5. A recent poll of San Diego residents showed 80% want the fees eliminated or reduced. The ballot measure considered Wednesday was an amended version of a proposal by activist Shane Harris. The version submitted by Harris would guarantee free parking in the park only on Sundays, but Councilmember Raul Campillo expanded that to every day and was joined by Councilmember Vivian Moreno in support. Campillo, Moreno and Councilmember Stephen Whitburn have been the only three members of the nine-member council to oppose paid parking in Balboa Park since it was first debated last year. Campillo reiterated Wednesday his complaints that San Diego started charging parking fees in Balboa Park without studying how much people were willing to pay and how the fees would impact museums and businesses. “It never made sense to hope that we could get that revenue without affecting visitation,” he said. Moreno said she supported Wednesday’s proposed ballot measure because San Diego shouldn’t be solving its financial problems by hitting residents with fee increases and new charges. “We cannot be balancing the budget on the backs of our residents,” said Moreno, who called for better fiscal responsibility at City Hall. She said it’s particularly frustrating that paid parking is hurting museums and institutions focused on arts and culture. Museums and other park organizations said last week that declines in park visits since Jan. 5 have ranged from 20% to more than 50% and that overall annual revenue could drop $20 million to $30 million. In response, LaCava argued that his alternate proposal takes a more targeted approach to the problem by suspending paid parking only for city residents. The ballot measure would make parking free for everyone, not just city residents. LaCava stressed that park organizations say tourists have continued to visit the park in nearly the same numbers since paid parking began. “The non-residents are actually showing up at Balboa Park in the numbers they’ve traditionally been doing,” he said. “It’s the locals who are not showing up.” Campillo objected to that rationale, contending residents of nearby cities shouldn’t be treated the same as tourists or characterized as rich freeloaders for visiting Balboa Park as non-residents of San Diego. “My parents, who live in El Cajon, are being treated like they live in the Hamptons,” Campillo said. Lee said he prefers the alternate proposal partly because the city budget the council approved last June avoided unpopular cuts by relying on new revenue from paid parking in Balboa Park. Maintaining parking fees for non-residents would provide some of that revenue. Nearly two dozen people spoke on the proposed ballot measure, with all but two in favor. Many complained about how paid parking has affected low-income residents and seniors on fixed incomes. The Rules Committee vote was 2-2 because the committee’s fifth member, Elo-Rivera, was absent from the hearing. Harris, who initially proposed the item last fall, said he supported expanding his ballot measure from free parking on Sundays in the park to free parking every day, which would essentially be a full repeal of paid parking in the park. ...read more read less