Times Poll : Most Would Pay to Fix Up City’s Aging Balboa Park

Three-fourths of San Diego residents would be willing to pay to renovate and upgrade Balboa Park, but more of them--particularly those who use the park the least--prefer a minimal parking or entrance fee over an annual tax to restore the city’s premier park, a Times poll shows.

The poll also indicates that people who use the park most frequently are less willing to pay user fees to improve it than those who visit it less often. However, frequent park-goers are more supportive of a tax to finance park improvements than people who rarely use any of the park’s facilities.

When asked to identify the most important problem facing Balboa Park, more than one-third of the respondents listed crime, followed by the presence of homeless people in the park and insufficient parking.

Polled 736 Residents

The Times poll was based on interviews conducted March 19 with 736 City of San Diego residents. The poll’s margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The bulk of the respondents, 70%, said that they visit Balboa Park at least once a year. Of those, 34% said that when they do visit the park, they usually go to the zoo, while 22% use the museums and 14% use the park for jogging. About 12 million people a year visit the park, according to the city.

Sixty-six percent of those questioned, believe that in the past three years, the condition of the park has remained the same or has improved.

The poll also showed that people who feel that the park’s overall condition has deteriorated over the past three years are more likely to say they would not pay for improvements.

The San Diego City Council is scheduled to review a new master plan for Balboa Park next month, and council members face a daunting array of decisions, ranging from proposed sweeping changes that would alter the face of the park to how to finance those changes and badly needed renovations to the sagging structures along its historic Prado.

Last November, San Diego voters provided less than the two-thirds support necessary to pass two proposed propositions to authorize as much as $93.5 million in bonds to underwrite improvements at both Balboa Park and Mission Bay Park. Both of those propositions, however, drew strong majority support, with the $93.5-million measure gaining 58% of the vote and a less-expensive proposal calling for $73.9 million in bonds receiving 61%.

Willing to Pay

Nearly five months after that election, the poll shows that most San Diegans still are willing to pay to help upgrade and maintain Balboa Park, though they differ in their preferred method of payment.

Given an opportunity to choose among a possible $1 park entrance fee, a $1 parking charge, a $1 increase in user fees for athletic facilities or an annual tax increase of about $25, 14% of those surveyed oppose all of those options, and about 11% said they are uncertain.

But 75% of those questioned said that they would be willing to pay in some form to improve the park, with the top preferences being a parking fee (26%) or an entrance fee (18%). A citywide tax to finance improvements is supported by 17% of those polled, and 14% favor increased athletic facility fees.

Those statistics suggest that most San Diegans prefer to finance park improvements through discretionary methods, such as parking or entrance fees, which would be paid only by those who use the park, rather than through a mandatory across-the-board tax. Moreover, the poll shows that individuals’ willingness to pay for park improvements stems in part from how frequently--or rarely--they use the park.

Among individuals who said they visit Balboa Park less than once a year, only 5% support the idea of an annual tax for park improvements, while 25% and 24%, respectively, favor parking and entrance fees. In short, people who rarely use the park appear to view a tax as a method that would force them to pay for park improvements that would be enjoyed primarily by others, while entrance, parking and user fees would more directly link payments to park usage.

“A tax would affect a whole range of people who never use the park,” said Mike Swetman of South San Diego, who said he visits Balboa Park about once a year. “An entrance fee seems a fairer way to do it . . . because you pay when you use it.”

Skeptical of User Fees

Some City Council members, however, remain skeptical of user fees as a primary method of financing park improvements, expressing doubt over whether the nominal charges could generate sufficient revenue. The council has also raised philosophical questions over the pay-as-you-go approach.

“When it comes to a major public resource, which is what I think Balboa Park is, I’d be very concerned about how user fees affect those who can use it,” said Councilman Bob Filner, whose district includes the park. “If you applied user fees in other areas, there would be those who couldn’t afford parks, schools, beaches or other public facilities. . . . Last year, a majority of people voted for the bonds, even though they didn’t get two-thirds. But that is a political issue, and I would be inclined to try to reconvince people that is what is needed.”

Meanwhile, the poll showed that people who use the park at least once a year--including some who use it weekly--favor a parking fee over a tax by a slight margin, 27% to 23%, with 14% saying they would support an entrance fee. Even so, the 23% support figure for the tax is nearly five times higher than that found among those who rarely visit the park.

“If you go (to the park) once a week or more, you’re less willing to pay anything to help improve it, but you’re more willing to pay a tax,” said I. A. Lewis, the Times’ poll director. “But if you go less than once a year, you’re more willing to pay an entrance fee, but not a tax.”

Robert Arnhym, vice chairman of the city’s Park and Recreation Board and the head of the board’s Balboa Park subcommittee, added: “If you use the park regularly, you would see yourself as paying the lion’s share under a user fee system. If you jog through the park every day and would have to pay $1 to get in, you’d say, ‘Absolutely not!’ ”

Condition of Park

There also is a relationship between an individual’s perception of Balboa Park’s overall condition and his support, or lack thereof, for the various possible methods of paying for improvements, according to the poll.

Of those interviewed, 21% said the the park’s overall condition has gotten worse in the past three years, 46% said it has remained the same, and 20% said it has improved. Those who said the park has gotten better were considerably less resistant to paying a tax to finance improvements than those who believe that the park’s condition has remained relatively unchanged or declined since 1985.

The top problem facing Balboa Park in San Diegans’ minds, the poll shows, is crime and drugs, which was cited by 37% of the persons interviewed by The Times. Problems related to the increasing number of homeless persons found in Balboa Park were mentioned by27% of those polled, followed by a lack of parking facilities (15%), crowding (13%) and traffic (9%).

Arnhym interpreted the poll figures on insufficient parking, crowding and traffic--which, to a certain extent, are symptoms of the same problem--as an indication that Balboa Park is rapidly ap

proaching a critical mass in terms of the expansion of its museums, theaters, the zoo and other facilities.

“It shows that the institutions cannot continue to expand forever without destroying the park for everyone,” Arnhym said. “There is a point in time where that expansion is not in the best interests of the other institutions or of the park user.”

A variety of other park problems were also identified by the poll respondents, ranging from the presence of homosexuals to increasing commercialism.

For the park’s future, most people said they would like to see more room devoted to cultural activities, open space and parking, in that order.

WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR PARK IMPROVEMENTS The Times San Diego poll surveyed 736 City of San Diego residents on March 19. Respondents were given a list of ways that the city might raise money to improve Balboa Park and were asked to say which, if any, they would be most willing to support: a $1 entrance fee, a $1 parking fee, a $1 increase in user fees for athletic facilities, a tax increase of about $25 a year. Their willingness to pay for improvements is broken down by how often they go to the park.

Go to park at Go to park Go to park Payment least once between less than per month once a month once per year and once per year Parking Fee 33% 24% 25% Tax 30% 20% 5% Athletic Fee 12% 18% 11% Entrance Fee 7% 17% 24% None 11% 14% 14% Don’t Know 7% 7% 21%

BALBOA PARK PROBLEMS

What, if anything, would you say is the most important problem facing Balboa park? (Respondents could list as many as three problems.)

Crime / Drugs 37% Homeless 27% Not Enough Parking 15% Crowds 13% Traffic 9% Rundown condition 6% Other 12% Don’t know 20%

Source: Los Angeles Times Poll