Tueday, July 19 (my 70th birthday) the San Diego City Council voted 7-1 to move forward with a Memorandum of Understanding to create pedestrian only, car and traffic free zones in Balboa Park. The council chambers were crowded as over 100 people spoke in favor of or in opposition to a plan developed by Dr. Irwin Jacobs, former CEO of Qualcomm, that would eliminate traffic from core areas of the park. Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO) Executive Director Bruce Coons spoke out against the Jacobs plan basing most of his opposition on the fact that a by-pass bridge would change the historic view of the entrance to Balboa Park from the west. However, at the present time the view of the area where the bridge would be located in entirely obscured by trees and other landscaping. If the bridge were in place now, it would not even be visible from the west. Surely, the same view could be preserved with intelligent landscape architecture after the bridge is actually built. Mr. Coons presented a slide showing the by-pass bridge stickling out like a sore thumb. This need not be the case with intelligent landscape architecture. It could be blended in with existing structures and vegetation, and even be totally obscured if necessary preserving the present "historical" view completely if that were deemed desirable.
Therefore, if on the one hand we weigh the fact that cars and traffic would be completely eliminated from core areas of the park, the fact that several acres of asphalt would be converted to parkland and the fact that every museum in the park would be accessible by pedestrians without having to cross traffic once against the fact that the view from the west of the facade of the park might be slightly altered, I think the scales tilt in favor of the Jacobs plan.
Many citizens spoke out in oppossition to the Jacobs plab based on wanting to keep the park exactly as they remembered it from growing up. But this is a rather selfish attitude because the park is not only a destination for San Diego residents, but it is also a destination for travelers and tourists from all over the world. Already one of the top rated parks in the world, creating pedestrian only zones would place Balboa Park in the highest echelon of park destinations and be the focal point of tourism for travelers. These improvements to the park would catapult it to the top spot in park ratings and would be in keeping with the pedestrianization of parks, plazas and other urban areas that is happening world wide. These changes are necessary to bring the park up to 21st century standards while maintaining historical values, the main one of which is the founders' view that major areas in the park would be for pedestrians and not automobiles. This historical value overshadows the historical value of the park's facade viewed from the west which in fact can be mostly preserved anyway.
Another factor that should be considered is that Dr. Jacobs, who has been San Diego's chief benefactor in recent years contributing money to museums, the Symphony, educational institutions and more, would be putting up most of the money for this project himself along with money raised from other philanthropists. With the city practically broke the only thing that can even keep the park a world class destination and not allow it to fall into disrepair is private money. San Diego is fortunate to have such a civic minded citizen in its midst. There is currently over $200 million in deferred maintenance to Balboa Park. The Jacobs proposal while making major improvements inevitably would also pick up some of this backlog in maintenance. Philanthropists' money has been responsible in getting construction under way on the new Central Library which is being built without any San Dego City money. So San Diego has been able to maintain itself as a world class city not by means of taxpayer money which is pretty scarce right now but by means of private philanthropy. As citizens we owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Jacobs and others that they have stepped forward to make up for the fact that San Diego as a city is flat broke. However, it's our good fortune to have people like Dr. Jacobs among us.
