Put Brakes on Car Museum

In the coming months, a debate will begin over the future of Balboa Park, leading eventually to decisions that will mark for decades the way San Diegans relate to one of their most precious assets. At the core of the discussion will be this question: To what extent should the park be treated as a tourist attraction with an emphasis on generating a high volume of people, and to what extent should it be considered a resource for those of us who live here?

A preview of what lies ahead when the 1983 Balboa Park Development and Management Plan moves center stage for consideration can be seen in the current controversy over a proposal to displace cloggers and square dancers from the park’s Conference Building in favor of an automotive museum.

The draft of the Balboa Park Plan prepared for the city by the Pekarek Group is a provocative study, chockablock with controversial recommendations that will no doubt be hotly debated as the planning process moves through the city bureaucracy and the City Council. We’ll have more to say on the broader picture as the process unfolds.

As for the Conference Building, it’s a rather forlorn structure across a parking lot from the Municipal Gymnasium. Turning it into a museum is consistent with Pekarek’s proposals. The backers of the San Diego Automotive Museum say they would be adding a popular attraction to those that already exist in the park; the dancers simply want to continue what they say is wholesome recreation.

To our way of thinking, the issue here is not which is the more worthy activity--both are perfectly commendable endeavors--but whether the effort should be made to draw more people with more cars to yet another museum in the park. We think not.

We don’t deny that Balboa Park has developed into the cultural heart of the county. And we wouldn’t want to change that. But it would be a mistake to lose sight of the fact that it does remain a park, a place where people should be able to retreat from the hustle and bustle of their lives. If it is viewed primarily as a tourist center like, say, Sea World, the park will eventually reach a critical level of development beyond which the typical experience of San Diegans who use it will begin to deteriorate.

We strongly support San Diego’s tourist industry. We’re happy it has cultural institutions such as the Old Globe Theatre, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Aerospace Museum and others in the park to bring tourists to town. An auto museum--elsewhere in the county--would be a welcome addition.

But when it comes to nibbling further into a scarce resource such as Balboa Park, there comes a time when local residents are entitled to say: “Stop! Enough is enough. This, after all, does belong to us.”

When the Park and Recreation Board takes up the auto museum proposal Thursday, it should join the Balboa Park Committee in rejecting it. At a minimum, the plan should be deferred and considered in the overall context of the future development of the park. It makes no sense to approve it now.