$9.5 million earmarked for ‘Plaza De Panama’ and other Balboa Park improvements in 2020 budget

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – A call today for Mayor Faulconer and the City Council to keep the money earmarked for the failed Balboa Park Plaza de Panama Project in the FY-20 budget anyway– because it’s still needed for Park improvements.

Gathered in front of a stand-alone public restroom in the Palisades Section of the Park, right by the Air and Space and Automotive Museums, city, civic and cultural leaders, including 3rd District Council Member Chris Ward, said  Mayor Faulconer and the rest of the Council need to appreciate that although the Plaza de Panama Project is dead, the $9.5M dollars for it in the FY-20 proposed budget needs to stay right where it is– i.e.: Balboa Park.

Ward:  “The point of today’s press conference is, and the work we’re advocating for the City Council is to make sure we retain that money in Balboa Park for other capital improvement needs.”

KUSI has done a number of stories recently on the major improvements needed for the Park’s aging buildings and that the philanthropy of organizations like Friends of the Park is only going to go so far.

A perfect example said the people gathered in the rain, of the failure of the City to contribute the money needed to keep San Diego’s Crown Jewel looking reasonably well, as opposed to pristine, is the deplorable conditions of the Park’s bathrooms. Yes, the museums and other attractions, including the Starlight Bowl, are in need of major upgrades, but attention must be called to something as basic as a dilapidated bathroom.

The Mayor’s updated numbers for the FY-20 budget come out next week and  everybody at the gathering said we’ll know a lot more then.