With budget season in full swing, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed spending plan for the 2024-25 fiscal year includes creation of a new division in the city Parks & Recreation Department to care for shoreline parks.
Though the change is largely internal to the department and therefore would cause minimal public changes, the new Shoreline Parks Division would “result in the transfer of staff and non-personnel expenditures, along with maintenance and operations of multiple regional parks, including 13 miles of beaches consisting of Ocean Beach, Dog Beach, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Windansea Beach and La Jolla Shores beach, from the existing Developed Regional Parks Division,” according to the draft budget.
Shoreline parks include those adjacent to the ocean, such as Scripps Park in La Jolla, Law Street/Palisades Park in Pacific Beach, Sunset Cliffs Natural Park in Point Loma, Tourmaline Surfing Park just south of the Pacific Beach/La Jolla border and Torrey Pines City Park (Gliderport) in La Jolla.
Staff will work with local planning groups and nonprofits such as Friends of Windansea Beach, La Jolla Parks & Beaches, La Jolla Shores Association and others.
Staffing is to be allocated from the previous division, said city spokesman Benny Cartwright. “While the changes do not necessarily mean more staffing or resources, the existing staffing and resources will be better structured,” he said.
Employees in the new division will “manage daily landscape maintenance, park facilities, comfort stations, navigational and safety buoys, coastal access and coastal bluffs for Mission Bay Park and over 13 miles of beaches,” Cartwright said. “Beach management activities include turf maintenance, sand management, trash removal and restroom cleaning.”
The change is proposed as local groups, including in La Jolla, have been pleading for more attention to beaches and shoreline parks.
La Jolla Parks & Beaches President Bob Evans called the reorganization a “positive” move and said “I believe the city’s objective is to better align and focus within the beach communities and the needed services while being more efficient overall as a coordinated department in the city.”
He said the LJP&B board “looks forward to stronger working relationships and partnering with the new Shoreline Parks Division.”
Other La Jolla leaders were not immediately available for comment.
According to the city, Gloria will formally present his proposed budget to the City Council on Monday, April 22. That will be followed by several weeks of department-level public hearings leading to the release of a revised budget on Tuesday, May 14, that incorporates council and community .
The City Council’s final consideration of the budget will take place in mid-June. The new fiscal year begins Monday, July 1. ◆
