BARRIO LOGAN (KGTV) — The Port of San Diego held a community meeting Wednesday evening to allow Barrio Logan residents to play a role in designing the next upgrades to Cesar Chavez Park.
"It holds a lot of good memories for me going back to when I was really young," said Gabe Gonzalez.
The park you see today is not what Gonzalez saw growing up in Barrio Logan — because it didn't exist.
"It was a tuna cannery, so you can just imagine the really strong fishy smell back then when I was little," Gonzalez said.
The park opened in 1990. At first, it was known as Crosby Street Park.
Since then, it has already undergone several upgrades, as the Port of San Diego listed on the Improvements Project page of its website.
- 2024: Restoration of the park's recreational field with improved sprinkler system.
- 2023: 20 new colorful and flowering trees planted for shading and improved air quality.
- 2016: Additional lighting added in the park for evening activities.
- 2016: Picnic tables, benches, shading, and telescopes added to César Chávez Park Pier.
Now, the Port of San Diego, which owns the land, is ready for more.
"We want to make sure we enhance and maximize all of our recreational opportunities along the waterfront," said Lesley Nishihira, Assistant Vice President of Planning for the Port of San Diego. "We want to make sure that we do that in a way that it's a reflection of the community's desires and needs."
That's why they hosted the meeting at Barrio Station Wednesday, inviting people who live in the area to help build the vision for the future by selecting the types of activities and amenities they'd like to see.
"These are just ideas that we draw from around the world," Nishihira said, "as a way to provoke thought and to gather the input and feedback that we're looking for."
They'll use that feedback to create a design concept and bring it back to the community in another meeting in the summer.
Gonzalez knows what he'd like to see included.
"That's one thing that's missing in this area is the ability to, you know, contact the seawater, whether it's a bay or an ocean," he said. "It's something that's gonna be really nice to see. I'm excited for that."
The Port of San Diego plans to present a final decision by mid-2026 and put shovel into ground by late 2027 or early 2028.
Before the first design is drafted, developers want to hear more from the community.
There's a survey you can take to share your input. It'll be open through May 15.
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