Fast-Food Franchise Off Balboa Park Menu

Reluctant to commence the “commercialization” of Balboa Park, a San Diego City Council committee temporarily rejected a proposal to lease a concession stand to a major fast-food franchise in return for the $500,000 needed to finance a tram system that would carry visitors through the park’s congested core.

Instead, the council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee Wednesday gave city staffers 60 days to conduct a wide search for a major corporation that would sponsor the tram in return for the right to advertise on its five cars.

“This kind of trade-off crosses a line we haven’t crossed before,” said Councilman Bob Filner, whose district contains Balboa Park. “ . . . We could end up selling off the park piece by piece. I don’t think we should start down that road.”

“I’d like to see the tram (funded) without commercialization,” said Councilwoman Judy McCarty.

The committee was responding to a proposal from the city’s Park and Recreation Department to solicit bids from major fast-food chains interested in taking over a 1,500-square-foot concession stand near Spanish Village that is now operated by the locally based People Feeders Inc.

Search for a Sponsor

The idea evolved after McDonald’s Corp. responded to the Park and Recreation Department’s national search in September and October for a tram sponsor willing to put up the $500,000 start-up cost and $100,000 needed to operate the system each year. Instead of asking for advertising rights, McDonald’s offered to sponsor the tram in return for the right to open a restaurant in the park.

Park and Recreation Department officials decided to explore that concept by asking other fast-food chains to bid on the deal. But the council committee, in a 3-0 vote, had another idea.

The committee instructed Dave Twomey, assistant park and recreation director, to conduct a wide search of major corporations that might be interested in paying for the tram. During the earlier search, Twomey sent letters to 25 corporations with large advertising budgets, including Pepsi, Coca-Cola, RJR Nabisco and Kellogg’s.

This time, Twomey said, he will focus on regional companies with a connection to tourism, such as hotel chains and major financial institutions.

The fast-food restaurant trade-off idea is not dead, however. If Twomey’s search fails to yield a sponsor in 60 days, the committee has agreed to discuss it again.

Although Filner, McCarty and Councilman Bruce Henderson expressed strong support for the council’s goal of establishing a tram system, Filner delighted in lampooning the possible ramifications of allowing fast-food providers to gain a foothold in the park.

Noting the Old Globe Theatre’s plans for an expansion, Filner worried about the production of “Burger King Lear.”

“The Casa del Prado. Think of it: Casa del Taco,” he added.

Criticized by Sierra Club

The idea also was criticized by Sierra Club Conservation Coordinator Barbara Bamberger, who said the park is “the only place a resident can go to get away from the commercialization that surrounds us constantly” and by People Feeders President Jeff Partrick.

City officials praised Partrick’s operation of the concession stand, noting that it yielded $208,087 in rent payments to the city, almost quadruple the $53,000 he paid when his company took over the stand in February, 1985.

William Immenschuh, president of the San Diego Aerospace Museum & Hall of Fame, praised the tram concept on behalf of the institutions in the park’s core that would profit from increased traffic from outlying parking lots.

The tram is envisioned as a free service that would take park visitors on a 3-mile loop to various drop-off points from the 1,200 parking spaces now available at Inspiration Point, site of the old Navy Hospital, reducing vehicle congestion in the park’s core and opening surface lots to pedestrians. City officials hope to start operating the tram next summer, Twomey said.