SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Some museums and volunteers said that they’re seeing fewer people at Balboa Park as local leaders continue to push for the paid parking at Balboa to end.
It's been a week of paid parking at Balboa Park.
"For this past week, what I noticed when I was here on Wednesday, at 4:30 p.m. I arrived and was like really kind of half alive,” Orysya Barua, a board member of the House of Ukraine, said.
"It doesn't help that nobody really wants to pay for parking in Balboa Park,” Jim Kiddrick, President & CEO of the San Diego Air & Space Museum, said.
Some of you've paid for it, heard about it, or seen the signs throughout Balboa Park with payment hours and details.
"I was here on Sunday,” Barua said.
Barua was at the international cottage last weekend and says things were slower than usual.
"I arrived at 11, and usually it's like already packed at that time. There were a few cars here at 11 o'clock. The weather was nice, and people kind of showing up like mid-afternoon, like one o'clock, there was some visitors, but still they came, and they still complained they had to pay,” Barua said.
Complaints in week one are being counted by those in the museum community at Balboa, too.
"I know that the Natural History Museum and some of the others have already pointed out reduced attendance on a normal free day, and that's significant because we don't see this as a good thing, you know, for Balboa Park that it is going to challenge access a lot,” Kiddrick said.
The backlash from paid parking is already felt at city hall, with some council members calling for delays, repeals, and speaking on their prior votes.
A week in, the calls from activists to local organizations are getting louder.
Those who work and volunteer here are worried about what the future weeks of paid parking will bring.
"We'll see less people, OK? That people will be deprived of an opportunity to attend these world-class organizations. Well, I just mentioned we're bringing in a brand-new special exhibition. We'll do less of that,” Kiddrick said. “We won't have the money to do it, so we'll bring in less opportunities for our community and our region.”
The City of San Diego told ABC 10News that, to date, more than 1,700 people have applied for parking permits through the online portal and been approved. That includes people who have not yet actually purchased the pass.
