Centennial Celebration co-chair addresses Bankers Hill residents

By Dave Schwab | SDUN Reporter

Ben Clay, co-chair of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration host committee, told Bankers Hill business owners and residents the 2015 event will involve them – not just impact them –  and will be as big or small as fundraising allows.

“The City Council said they don’t just want a celebration with a sheet cake,” Clay said at the Jan. 21 Bankers Hill Residents meeting. The regular monthly meetings are held at the Inn at the Park, located at 525 Spruce St.

“We understand the relationship of this community being next door to the park,” he said. “We’ve got to be sensitive, not only to our neighbors, but to the park itself.”

Though the scope of the yearlong celebration in 2015 is yet to be determined, it is being planned as a milestone in the City’s history, replete with food, entertainment, parades, exhibit booths and a host of other activities focusing the world’s eyes once again on San Diego.

The Balboa Park 2015 Centennial Celebration website outlines the goals for the host committee, offering a history of the park as well. A century ago, the 1915 Panama-California exposition, considered a “world’s fair,” the site states, was held in Balboa Park. The event celebrated “progress, prosperity and opportunity,” and marked the opening of the Panama Canal as well as San Diego’s role as the first United States “port-of-call for northbound maritime trade.”

Clay characterized the task ahead in planning for the celebration as “enormous” and described the undertaking’s scale as “unbelievable.”

“Showcasing this park; that’s a challenge,” he said, noting a core celebration program will involve park museums that “set a high bar” for the host committee. “We’ll work hand-in-glove with them to provide programs.”

As an international event, Clay said he hoped Balboa Park’s exposition centennial would also include participation by Mexico and Panama. Clay and Council President Todd Gloria led a group of organizers to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington to gage their involvement, as well.

Saying the Washington museum considered Balboa Park a “Smithsonian for the West,” Clay added they talked with Smithsonian staff about which travel expositions they would be supporting during 2015. “We were graciously received,” Clay told the Bankers Hill residents.

The host committee is also involved in negotiations with the Seuss Foundation to stage Seuss-oriented events for the celebration, honoring famed children’s book author and cartoonist Theodor Geisel.

Considering infrastructure, Clay said the city has engaged a traffic consultant to study parking and traffic in and around Uptown. The goal, he said, will be to figure out the best way to park guests and transport them into and out of Balboa Park, using the park’s December Nights event as a reference.

“Nothing that we do for the 2015 celebration in the park can be permanent,” Clay said. “We’re looking at tents, temporary facilities, et cetera.”

But in the end, fundraising will be key to what can – and can’t – be accomplished by the host committee and City.

“If fundraising goes right and we get $50 million to $70 million, we’ll put [the opening ceremony] on national TV,” Clay said. “If we don’t get that, we’ll scale it back. We need philanthropic and charitable giving. We need corporate sponsors.”

Clay fielded some tough questions from Bankers Hill residents following his presentation, several of whom questioned the impacts to their neighborhood presented by the special events.

Merchants also suggested, since Bankers Hill is potentially going to be affected by traffic and other issues, that local businesses should benefit tangibly from centennial-related activities in Balboa Park.

“You’re going to need to sit down with your community and tell us things like that,” Clay responded. “That will all go in the report we will present to the City Council.”

For more information, visit the host committee website at balboapark.org/2015/centennial-celebration. For more information about the Bankers Hill Residents, visit bankershillresidents.org.