Fast-Food Chain May Ride Into Park on Tram

For the first time, San Diego city officials are hoping to lease a concession stand in Balboa Park to a national fast-food chain--such as McDonald’s or Burger King--as a way to pay for a $500,000 tram system proposed for the park.

City officials said Thursday that they are writing a proposal that would ask major food franchisers to take over the highly lucrative 1,500-square-foot concession stand near Spanish Village if the company would pay for the tram system, designed to shuttle visitors from remote parking lots to the museums and the Prado at the heart of the park.

But they emphasize that their plans do not allow for golden arches or giant neon hamburger signs.

‘Architectural Controls’

“A part of this negotiation process would be architectural controls,” said Dave Twomey, assistant park and recreation director. “It’s not going to be the typical fast-food restaurant in Balboa Park. Nobody wants that, and we don’t, either.”

Twomey added, however, that it is the first time that municipal administrators have crossed a “psychological barrier” by trying to attract such marketing heavyweights as McDonald’s or Wendy’s to sell hamburgers, french fries and soft drinks in the park.

The proposal, which will be presented to the City Council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee for approval Wednesday, was criticized by Councilman Bob Filner, whose district includes Balboa Park.

“I’m very leery of the whole approach, because the park is not just a source of revenue for private corporations,” said Filner, who also serves on the Public Facilities committee. “It’s supposed to be a place for families who live here, tourists who enjoy a park. To turn the park into that kind of commercial thing, I’m strongly opposed to it.

“This sounds like an initial opening for something that we ought to close the door on right now. This just opens the door to something that is going to be horrendous. Then somebody is going to want to put their logo on the trash cans of the building in exchange for something else.”

Filner’s concerns were echoed by a spokeswoman for the local Sierra Club chapter, as well as the current leaseholder of the Spanish Village concession stand.

People, Not Nuggets

“It’s crazy,” said Barbara Bamberger, conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club. “The park is for people, not fast-food restaurants. The food concession now is very compatible with the people in the park. It is understated. . . . But, if you allow McDonald’s in the park, where do you stop?”

Jeff Partrick, president of Peoplefeeders Inc., the company with the existing lease on the Spanish Village concession stand, added that inviting McDonald’s in “would detract from the uniqueness of the park. It would be commercialism.”

Partrick said his business tries to be “nondescript and low-key” by selling food to people who would have come to the park anyway. If McDonald’s moves in, he argues, it will be the start of a “bad trend.”

“People will be coming to the park to eat,” he said.

City park administrators disagree. Partrick is already selling more than $1 million annually in fast food--hot dogs, hamburgers, soft drinks, ice cream and other items peddled from the concession stand and six food carts scattered throughout the park, they say.

What’s the difference if McDonald’s or Wendy’s takes over the lease, which is up in February, 1990?

‘Wholesome, Quality Food’

“We’re talking about people who have the capability to provide a food service,” said Park Director George I. Loveland. “Wholesome, quality food, delivered at a reasonable price and in a clean environment. That’s what fast food is all about.”

The idea to go after a major-name fast-food operator for Balboa Park is a spinoff of the city’s attempts to find a corporate sponsor for the proposed tram system, which officials hope will alleviate traffic congestion around the park’s museums and the Prado.

Instead of leaving frustrated motorists on their own to fight over the 130 parking spaces near the Prado and museums, signs would direct them to remote parking lots, and the tram would then provide a shuttle to the heart of the park.

The system would cost $500,000 to start and $100,000 a year to operate every day between June and September, Twomey said.

City officials were hoping that a large corporation would pick up the tab in exchange for placing its logos on the tram cars. They sent out proposals to the nation’s 25 largest advertisers late last year, but received only two responses.

One of them was from McDonald’s, which offered to pay for the tram system if the city would allow the hamburger giant to put a restaurant in Balboa Park.

Intrigued by Idea

Loveland said the idea intrigued park officials, who now want to send out a second request to see if any other major food franchisers can do better. Loveland said the city will be looking for the fast-food chain that would sponsor the tram system and offer the best deal for the city on a long-term concession stand lease.

Loveland conceded that the request would likely favor big corporations such as Foodmaker, owner of Jack in the Box restaurants, and McDonald’s.

“Certainly, those with more wherewithal have a greater opportunity,” Loveland said. “If you’re a billionaire, you can afford to do what you want. If you are down and out, you can’t afford to fly to Catalina for the weekend.”

But Partrick said the way the city’s new proposal is written--to run the stand and pay for the tram system--discriminates against smaller operations such as his company, which took over the concession-stand lease in February, 1985.

Partrick said he has worked hard to nearly double the sales from the stand, which translates into a direct boon for the city, which takes 20% of the revenues as rent. He said he has been able to increase the city’s annual take from about $53,000 when he took over the stand to more than $200,000 last year.

Adding the cost of the tram would put him out of the running for the new lease, said Partrick, whose San Diego-based company also owns Square Pan Pizza stores in San Diego. “I’m not McDonald’s, with $16 billion in sales,” he said. “I can’t compete.”

SDG&E; Comparison

He likened the city’s proposal to the takeover of hometown San Diego Gas & Electric by Rosemead-based Southern California Edison.

“The city manager’s office wants McDonald’s to come in here and replace me, a San Diego-based business,” he said. “The big boys want to come in and take over after I’ve developed the business here.”

Meanwhile, others had more aesthetic concerns about the city’s proposed venture. Verna Quinn, chairwoman of the city’s park board, said she feels confident that city officials will not allow a major corporation to build a common fast-food restaurant and change the city’s inner-city treasure into a McPark.

“I don’t see anybody giving McDonald’s a lease and let them do what they do any place else,” Quinn said. “I don’t see anyone going along with a new commercial lease that sprouts a new McDonald’s with golden arches.

“Never! Never!”