Plaza De Panama Committee Dissolved: Jacobs Plan Is (Supposedly Officially) Dead!

This week, the committee tasked with raising money for the Jacobs Plaza de Panama Project officially dissolved. They blamed lack of support by Councilman Chris Ward for a revised 2 phase project--essentially "let us build a parking garage and ruin the bridge but we won't do any of the other things we promised to fix the park."

Kind of exactly what SDSU is now doing with the stadium site.

I think Jacobs realized this hot-button issue would stain the mayoral campaign of Todd Gloria, who was disappointingly a huge supporter of the project despite the massive outcry from his constituents. I imagine some new outrageous and unnecessary proposal will arise once Jacobs gets his guy in as mayor. Our council is spineless when it comes to standing up against money. I mean, they were going to allow NAMING RIGHTS. In the park! AYFKM? I wrote about all of this in February but here are some new stories confirming the dissolution of the fundraising committee.

And since these articles can't even try to act like they weren't all in favor of this gross project, let me remind you this plan would (1) build a parking structure (2) remove all parking from the inside of the park to be replaced with PAID parking in said structure (3) cut into the historic bridge (4) allow naming rights for ego-driven "philanthropists," among many other things. And don't get it twisted, the reason the City couldn't go over budget is because once they hit a certain amount of City contribution, it has to go to voters and they know the voters would overwhelmingly vote no.

Voice of San Diego doesn't even try to be unbiased, being that Jacobs is the single largest VOSD supporter: The Plaza de Panama Project Is Officially Dead 

Plaza De Panama Project Dead for Now (NBC)

Official Statement of the Plaza De Panama Committee

In other Balboa Park news...wtf happened to the dragon?? The "Nikigatory" by Niki de Saint Phalle is gone from in front of the Mingei and all I could find was this old article from 2017 about the Mingei's desire to increase their curb appeal. I also found this old proposal from 2009 for The House of Charm, the building which houses the Mingei. If anyone knows the updated deal there, I'd love to know because I've now gone down a three-day rabbit hole of old Council meeting notes and subcommittee minutes which has made me sideline actual work that I should be doing.

Balboa Park Update: Plaza De Panama Jacobs' Plan is Dead!!

I've been working and compiling and digging through photos for this one for a week, so I'm obviously not reporting breaking news, but last week was a momentous week for San Diego. The Jacobs Plan ("Plaza de Panama Plan")--which included cutting into the Cabrillo Bridge and creating a bypass bridge to a to-be-constructed parking garage--was declared dead. Technically, there was a whole bunch of hemming and hawing that it's on hiatus, that fundraising has ceased, that the major donors had pulled out, that construction expenses exploded, that SOHO and other lawsuits were to blame. The way I see it, SOHO should take credit. Balboa Park Heritage Association and Balboa Park lovers like David Lundin should take credit. Everyone who attended Council meetings, planning meetings, took to social media, called their Councilmembers, wrote Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor at all the local rags against this horrific plan-- we should all be CELEBRATING and TAKING CREDIT. 

There were so many things wrong with the plan, not least of all adding a PAID PARKING GARAGE to Balboa Park. Did you think they'd leave all the remaining spots free? People cringe at the mention of Bob Filner, but he was fundamental in getting rid of the Museum of Art lot, throwing down some paint and bollards and patio furniture, and it changed the park for the better. But in addition to this Jacobs plan already manipulating our reps and the aforementioned reasons, it would've removed the Alcazar lot and which is critical for disabled parking and the archery range, dozens of 100 year old trees, and there was all kind of not-quite-as-published information like allowing sponsored naming rights throughout the park and the fact that the City limited their input to $49 million dollars in bonds because any more would require a City-wide vote. Anyway, all that is dead. What a relief. What isn't dead is that the park still has an estimated $80-$120 million in DEFERRED MAINTENANCE. Where's that generosity of Mr. Jacobs and the Plaza de Panama Committee for that??   

Anyway, this is all good news for all of us. If you love the park, consider volunteering or donating or even just following the actions of Balboa Park Heritage Association, who are trying to prevent proposals like this by setting goals like changing the City Charter to ban paid parking in the park FOREVER and get a chunk of TOT (so-called Hotel Taxes) dedicated to all the deferred maintenance. You can also support Save Our Heritage Organisation, whose preservationists were instrumental in saving this beloved gem.

Here are a few of the articles that ran last week:

Voice of San Diego: The Plaza de Panama Plan Is on Hiatus

KPBS: Bids To Remake The Plaza De Panama Are $20M Higher Than Expected

KPBS: Halt To Plaza De Panama Revamp Frees Up $10 Million For Balboa Park

U-T: Balboa Park's no-car project is a no-go

CityBeat: The Plaza de Panama revamp is dead. Let’s keep it dead.

More after the jump.