San Diego Councilmember Proposes 'Targeted' Changes to Parking Fees Around Petco Park, Downtown

Media
Jan 9
2 min read

Photo by Chris Stone | Times of San Diego — Photo by Chris Stone | *Times of San Diego*

Amid widespread pushback to Balboa Park parking fees, another controversial parking payment is back in the crosshairs.

San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo, alongside other downtown stakeholders, proposed an amendment to the special event parking rates around Petco Park during a press conference Wednesday.

Since September, during Padres games and other big events at Petco Park, street parking meters within a half-mile radius around the park jumped to $10 an hour for six hours.

Campillo described the fees as “punitive,” hurting residents, discouraging customers and forcing workers to pay premium prices just to go to work.

Campillo proposed what he called a 5/5/5 Plan: Instead of $10 an hour, meter costs would drop to $5 an hour. Instead of a half-mile, only the five blocks around Petco Park would have special event rates. Instead of six hours, the period of increased rates would last for five hours.

The council member pledged to work with the city attorney to draft amendments to City Council policy and city code guiding the special event rates.

Representatives from the Downtown San Diego Partnership, San Diego chapter of the California Restaurant Association and the San Diego County Lodging Association also spoke out, saying that the fees disproportionately affect hospitality workers employed downtown.

“With the City’s new parking rates spiking during special events, we aren’t inviting people with open arms – we’re greeting them with an entrance fee,” said Betsy Brennan, president and chief executive officer of the Partnership. “We need to keep downtown a place that all San Diegans are able to afford.”