On February 6, Gloria sent a coordinated message to dozens of San Diego-focused Instagram accounts - including SanDiegoVille, Hillcrest San Diego, San Diego Bucket List, and DaygoTV - announcing a partial rollback of the controversial paid parking program launched just last month. Roughly 30 local accounts were included in the group chat, many of them lifestyle and culture platforms with large, highly engaged local audiences.
For SanDiegoVille, the outreach was notable. Despite more than five years in office, this marked the first direct communication the Mayor has ever sent to the outlet about any issue.
The message framed the changes as responsive governance, stating that Gloria had “heard from residents and from members of the City Council” and was adjusting the program accordingly. But the timing, and the medium, underscore just how politically damaging the original rollout had become.
The City’s paid parking program at Balboa Park officially took effect January 5, introducing fees of up to $20 per day for non-residents and half-price rates for city residents, alongside a new online verification system that required residents to apply, pay a fee, wait for approval, and preselect visit dates. Enforcement was scheduled to run until 8pm daily.
The response was swift and overwhelmingly negative. Within days of the rollout, Balboa Park institutions reported attendance declines ranging from 25% to 40%, with museum leaders warning the policy could cost cultural organizations more than $20 million annually in lost revenue. Families, school groups, seniors, and volunteers cited confusion, delays, and new cost barriers that discouraged visits altogether, while tensions spilled into the physical landscape itself, with newly installed parking meter kiosks vandalized along Sixth Avenue just days before enforcement was set to begin, an early and visible sign of mounting public anger over the city’s paid parking expansion.
A January poll conducted by the San Diego Union-Tribune and 10News found that 80% of San Diego residents wanted the fees eliminated or reduced. Protests were held at the Organ Pavilion, and City Councilmembers publicly broke ranks with the Mayor, calling for immediate changes or full repeal. Facing a scheduled City Council hearing and intensifying media scrutiny, City Hall blinked.
Under the revised plan announced February 6, verified City of San Diego residents will be able to park for free in seven additional lots: Pepper Grove, Federal, Upper Inspiration Point, Lower Inspiration Point, Marston Point, Palisades, and Bea Evenson. However, residents will still be charged in the five lots closest to major attractions, including Space Theater, Casa de Balboa, Alcazar, Organ Pavilion, and South Carousel, at a rate of $5 for four hours or $8 for a full day. Non-resident parking rates remain unchanged.
Parking enforcement will now end at 6pm instead of 8pm, a concession expected to help evening restaurant and theater traffic, including venues like The Prado and the Old Globe.
Crucially, the residency verification process remains intact, meaning residents must still apply online, pay a verification fee, wait up to two days for approval, and select visit dates in advance.
City officials have acknowledged the rollback will reduce anticipated revenue. While the City has collected nearly $700,000 so far, despite not yet issuing citations, Mayor Gloria confirmed that councilmembers have agreed to identify service-level cuts elsewhere to keep the budget balanced.
Institutions say the damage isn’t fixed While City leaders praised the compromise, major cultural institutions were far less enthusiastic.
The Balboa Park Cultural Partnership called the changes “a start,” but warned it would closely monitor whether the rollback reverses what it described as a “dramatic decline in visitors.” The San Diego Natural History Museum went further, labeling the changes “half-measures” that still leave museums and nonprofits at risk. Museum leaders argue that charging county residents while exempting city residents creates new inequities, worsens confusion, and fails to address the core issue: charging people to access their own public cultural institutions.
Against this backdrop, the Mayor’s decision to disseminate the rollback through an influencer group chat, rather than solely through press conferences or public forums, has raised eyebrows. The outreach appears designed to rapidly seed positive messaging across social feeds after weeks of negative headlines, protests, and op-eds. To critics, it looks less like organic communication and more like reputation repair following a rollout that underestimated public resistance.
Mayor Gloria’s Instagram message emphasized that “good governing also means listening.” For many San Diegans, the question now is why that listening happened only after attendance plunged, protests formed, councilmembers revolted, and the policy became a citywide flashpoint.
What’s clear is that Balboa Park parking remains unresolved. Even City Council leaders backing the compromise concede the conversation is far from over.
And now, for the first time, City Hall appears to be testing a new channel to manage the fallout, one DM, one influencer, and one carefully framed post at a time.
Following the publication of this article, Mayor Todd Gloria removed SanDiegoVille from the “San Diego Influencers” Instagram group.
Originally published on February 6, 2026.
