Coordinates set at the current statue of El Cid in the center of the Park.
On May 21, 2015, the San Diego Union Tribune (
visit link) reported the following story:
"A STATUE FOR BALBOA IN BALBOA PARK
By U-T San Diego Editorial Board5:06 A.M.MAY 9, 2015
This is the year of Balboa Park – the 100th anniversary of the Panama-California Exposition that began the transformation of the park into what it is today, a crown jewel that for many is emblematic of the spirit of San Diego. But walk through the park and try to find a monument to Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the Spanish explorer who in 1513 became the first European to cross the Isthmus of Panama and lay eyes on the Pacific Ocean, and for whom the park was named in 1910.
You won’t find one. You will probably find the sculpture of horse and rider in the center of the park and think that surely must be Balboa. It’s impressive. But it’s not Balboa. It’s El Cid, whose heroism for Spain is legendary but who never had anything to do with the Americas.
Is Balboa getting short shrift? Shouldn’t there be something in the park to commemorate him and tell his story?
Yes and yes. But that is easier said than done, as learned by a frustrated Jesus Benayas, president of the park’s House of Spain.
On behalf of the House of Spain, Benayas offered a year ago to donate a statue of Balboa for installation in the park as Spain’s contribution to the centennial celebration. The proposal has the general support of Mayor Kevin Faulconer, according to an aide. But it is now more than four months into the centennial year. The prospects for the idea becoming reality seem iffy.
It’s not easy to get a work of art approved for city property, particularly for Balboa Park. That’s as it should be; Balboa Park is special.
For starters, the artwork must be original and must be the work of a professional artist. The sculpture originally proposed by Benayas would have been a replica of a statue that has long stood in the explorer’s hometown of Jerez de los Caballeros in Spain. Beyond that, there are numerous bureaucratic steps that must be followed and public bodies that must review the proposal, including the city’s Commission for Arts and Culture.
Benayas and other well-meaning proponents of the statue are discouraged by the process. Benayas suspects it may have got bogged down by the possibility that San Diego Indian tribes might be offended by a statue of Balboa in the park – according to various historical accounts, Balboa and his men sometimes battled and subjugated the native tribes in Panama, though he also sometimes befriended them.
But there is no real evidence of such political correctness or other city efforts to delay the proposal.
We like the idea of a statue of Balboa in the park. We encourage Benayas to continue pursuing the project. But we also support the many steps that must be taken for placement of any permanent object in such a special public space.
In the end, maybe it is enough commemoration of Balboa that San Diego’s most treasured landmark carries his name."