The $1 BILLION CRISIS: How to Save Balboa Park’s Broken Funding Model

Balboa Park is the largest cultural urban park in the United States, but beneath its historic beauty lies a ticking financial time bomb. In this episode of "72 and Sunny," Congressman Scott Peters sits down with Katie McDonald, President and CEO of Forever Balboa Park, to expose the $500 million to $1 billion deferred maintenance backlog threatening San Diego's crown jewel.  From crumbling stucco and broken plumbing to the recent public backlash over city budget deficits and paid parking, Scott and Katie dive deep into why the 100-year-old general fund model is completely failing our public spaces. Learn how private-public partnerships, volunteer power, and lessons from New York’s Central Park and St. Louis’s Forest Park can rewrite the business model to save Balboa Park for future generations. Plus, stick around for the second half of the episode where Rep. Scott Peters answers listener questions on the massive political and economic hurdles of upgrading America’s outdated, 150-year-old electric grid, the permitting reform bottleneck, and how the explosive rise of AI data centers is forcing us to double our national energy transmission capacity.  👉 Learn more or become a member: https://www.foreverbalboapark.org If you enjoyed this conversation, please SUBSCRIBE and click the notification bell so you never miss an episode!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.