Save Balboa Park Update

On May 17, the San Diego Park and Recreation Board voted unanimously against the Jacobs Plan that would destroy Balboa Park in the name of removing cars from the Plaza de Panama.  On May 18, the San Diego Historical Resources Board also voted against the Jacobs Plan.  A week earlier, the 6,000-member House of Pacific Relations in Balboa Park voted against the plan.

All three organizations favor the pro bono William Lewis Plan, a well-conceived, far less invasive and less expensive plan that will achieve the same goal—ridding the Plaza de Panama of traffic.  The Lemon Grove Historical Society also favors the Lewis Plan, as do hundreds of thousands of city and county residents.

The Jacobs Plan design team now projects that cost will escalate from $40 million to $45 million and that construction won't be completed by the 2015 centennial of the park.  This is unsurprising given the massive nature of this intrusive plan.

Notably, the National Park Service and Wayne Donaldson, the California State Historic Preservation Officer, have protested the Jacobs Plan as jeopardizing the park's National Historic Landmark status—and the federal funds that go with it.

The San Diego City Council is expected to vote on Jacobs on July 9 at 2 p.m. Members are under tremendous pressure from Mayor Sanders and the Jacobs team to support the plan.  Please express your support for the Lewis Plan by Emailing:

For more information on the Lewis PLan, visit www.sohosandiego.org.  Together, we can save our county's crown jewel from destruction.