Working group presents planning framework to better connect Balboa Park, San Diego High School and downtown

A community‑staff working group on Sept. 8 presented a planning framework outlining ideas to strengthen connections among Balboa Park, San Diego High School and downtown. Chair Michael Stepner and colleagues framed the report as a planning framework — not a formal plan — that compiles long‑standing ideas and priorities: improving Rush and Park Boulevard circulation, exploring pedestrian bridges, leveraging City College parking during off‑hours, prioritizing design review, considering “freeway lids” to reconnect parkland across interstate corridors and enhancing joint‑use educational programming.

Stepner emphasized the project is conceptual and intended to provide a toolkit for future planning and financing: the report suggests a prioritization framework and urges the Belvoir (Balboa) Park Committee to serve as an oversight body. Ross Porter and other working‑group members described stakeholder engagement and potential governance/finance approaches, and the group recommended staff circulate the findings to relevant departments for operational feedback.

Public comment was robust and diverse: some speakers praised the group’s work as a constructive vision to knit the park back into the urban fabric; others raised concerns about paid parking, potential privatization of park land, displacement and the need to address homelessness and safety along pedestrian connections. Council President LaCava and other members stressed that the item is informational only and committed to circulating the report to operations departments for review with a return by the end of the year.