I was gonna do a full blown diary post, but I'll just do it here, since everything is connected anyway and I'm sleepy. Today I found out that the San Diego Zoo parking lot is no longer a free lot for December Nights at Balboa Park. Even though I was told that Zoo Members will just have to show membership to park free for the weekend, it still feels like I was kind of blindsided by this news. Parking will be $35 for non-members, complimentary if you're a zoo member OR a zoo guest with prepaid tickets for admission for the day. I highly recommend reading the San Diego Zoo's information page here and be prepared.
Parking at the San Diego Zoo on Friday, December 5 and Saturday, December 6 will be $35 per vehicle (debit/credit only). Parking for San Diego Zoo ticket holders and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance members visiting the Zoo during this time will be complimentary.
You can also see the City's outline of Paid and Free Parking and shuttle information. It still baffles the mind that the two main Park Boulevard bus lines will NOT be running to the park, the 7 and the RAPID 215, and in fact, part of the bus lane between President's Way and San Diego High has reverted back to a general traffic lane.
I think this is now the third year that paid parking has been a thing at December Nights, and I get it, the City is broke and there are projections of 300,000+ visitors over this particular weekend, but what really infuriates me is that while the City claims that this was implemented to recover the costs of having the free event, WHY THE FUCK IS THIS OUTSOURCED EXCLUSIVELY TO ACE PARKING?! It feels like "parking and traffic management" should fall under the purview of CITY SERVICES and that this FOR-PROFIT company shouldn't be managing traffic and parking EVER, let alone for this event. I wonder if I can FOIA for the City's contracts with Ace? Because they certainly DO NOT know what the fuck they are doing when they're in charge of Zoo parking management on regular weekends and the clusterfuck I can feel they're going to create when they're operating from 6am-11pm (!!!!) is going to be on the scale of that Big Bay Boom when all the fireworks exploded at once. I'm not worried about me...I've got nothing but time and am a veteran when it comes to navigating the parking around these workers who are functionally undertrained and understaffed for the task they're entrusted to manage, but maybe this can be a test drive and the Zoo can bow out of Ace Parking as managing the parking when it comes to year-round paid parking at Balboa Park and the Zoo. The sad thing is the execs don't even really know or see how bad it is because they use the garage and don't have to experience the green shirts stopping traffic all the way down Zoo Place into Florida Canyon. Pack your patience. Or just go at the end of the night...traffic usually gets back to normal around 9pm, which still gives you a couple hours of December Nights.
We are so fucked.
Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
