The estimates of how much Balboa Park faces in deferred maintenance vary. Some have pegged it around $300 million. Others, including the new CEO of the Balboa Park Conservancy, say it’s closer to $500 million.
But Tomas Herrera-Mishler, who just started in the CEO role last month, and yes, has dropped the “h” from his first name since arriving from Buffalo, knows that maintenance and infrastructure repairs might not be the easiest sell to private donors. Herrera-Mishler, joined by Friends of Balboa Park founder Betty Peabody, told us at our live podcast Thursday that park leadership are counting on some public funding to help take care of the less sexy fixes that are crucial to keeping the crown jewel of San Diego buffed and ready for future generations of visitors.
Herrera-Mishler and Peabody told us some of their other top priorities for the park – access and parking ranked high. Also on the show: the big threats facing Qualcomm and added context for that awkward meeting between the city and a Qualcomm VP, the Chargers stadium environmental impact report and a sad farewell to the Daily Transcript, where my co-hosts Scott and Andy both got their start in San Diego.
This week’s cool jams: “Ties” by Years & Years and “Disparate Youth” by Santigold.
Couldn’t make it to Thursday’s show? RSVP now for our August event, the final live show of our summer series.
Listen to the podcast here, on Stitcher or on iTunes.
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