The alleged fraudulent ticket written by a San Diego Parking Enforcement Officer in downtown’s East Village on December 6 is the latest black eye for Mayor Todd Gloria’s cash-strapped administration.
A couple who parked on Island Avenue to pick up a to-go order from Izola bakery returned to their Tesla to find an $85 ticket. The car’s elaborate Sentry Mode video system recorded a Parking Enforcement Officer chalking their tires two minutes before writing a violation ticket for no apparent cause.
The couple, Vanessa and Donald Pearce, confronted the officer with their video evidence, according to reports. A few days later, after the Pearces posted a social media video that attracted close to a million views, they got word their ticket had been dismissed.
The story drew widespread local and international media attention. The United Kingdom-based newspaper Daily Mail called the Parking Enforcement Office a “corrupt parking cop.”
The San Diego Police Department has not made it clear if the officer will lose his job, or if he was working to fill any sort of quota.
In a blanket statement, the SDPD said: “The San Diego Police Department was recently made aware of this incident and has launched an internal investigation to determine what happened. A citation was issued by a Parking Enforcement Officer; however, we have confirmed the citation has been dismissed. The employee who issued the citation has been working in this capacity for two months.”
Mayor Gloria’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The city ended its last fiscal year with a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar budget deficit.
Some East Village residents, many who already feel beleaguered by a raft of newly initiated parking fees and by neighborhood criminal activity they say does not draw enough attention from the police, feel the alleged fake ticket incident is one more slap in the face.
“Downtown, especially East Village, already has so many challenges with newly instituted and exorbitant parking fees,” downtown resident Phaedra Cook said. “The last thing we need is some kind of an entrapment situation.”
Cook and her husband, Chuck, were exiting Izola with a to-go order much in the same way the Pearces were.
“It’s really bizarre as a tax-paying citizen of San Diego to feel both neglected and targeted at the same time,” Phaedra Cook said. “We can’t seem to get a consistent police presence to deter the meth dealers and the people they prey upon. At the same time, I feel targeted with the parking fees and strict enforcement.”
Another downtown resident pointed out that the SDPD doesn’t have enough staff to respond to her near-daily stream of emails to government officials that include photos of alleged street drug deals in East Village. But there does seem to be enough staff to anticipate or conjure up parking violations.
Cindy Cook (no relation to Phaedra and Chuck Cook), is the founder of the East Village Doers, a volunteer community group. She also is on The San Diego Sun’s list of 2025 SHINING STARS (folks who work extra hard to make downtown San Diego a better place to live, work and play).
In her lengthy email thread filled with stark photos of unceasing drug usage, Cindy Cook regularly pleads for help from Mayor Gloria, District 3 City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, East Village Association District Manager Dominic Li Mandri, Clean & Safe Executive Director Alonso Vivas and SDPD Officer Krystle Jordan.
Jordan is the new Community Relations Officer for SDPD’s Central Division, which includes downtown. Jordan replaced former CRO Larry Turner, who lost in the 2024 general election in an attempt to unseat Gloria in the mayoral race.
One person who has responded to Cook’s emails is Jordan, who previously patrolled East Village for five years.
In late November, Jordan replied to Cook: “We make numerous drug related arrests in the area, as well as arrests for other violent crimes. Right now, we have over 40 indictments coming from the downtown area, which includes East Village.”
Cook believes Officer Jordan is sympathetic to the cause of East Village needing extra attention.
“This is a constant problem and I’m getting fed up, but Officer Jordan does respond to us and I think we can build a good relationship,” Cook said.
However, Cook’s own experiences with Parking Enforcement have been negative.
“I’ve been harassed by them when I was dropping off my dogs, before I got out of the car,” Cook said. “People are smoking crack pipes. I’ve got photos of people downtown with assault rifles. One of my neighbors fears for his life. And I’m the one getting harassed in my car.”
On the issue of the ticketing of the Tesla owners, Cook believes a public servant committing fraud should be fired and/or leadership should be held in account for poor training.
“They should not be in law enforcement,” she said. “We have to be able to trust them. I know the city needs money. But the way they go about it needs to be fair and honest and kind and they have to follow their own rules.”
Cook said city leadership, especially the mayor, needs to be taken seriously. That’s hard to do, she noted, when the mayor’s car spent the majority of 2025 parked in an illegal zone near City Hall, violating the city’s new “daylighting” law (parking within 20 feet of an intersection).
Further on the subject of parking fees, drivers parking their cars at city meters now pay double the fee ($2.50 per hour). On days when the San Diego Padres are playing home baseball games in their East Village ballpark, the metered parking fee surges to $10 an hour, for a period of six hours.
The city council also recently voted to charge for parking for the first time in Balboa Park; to skyrocket fees paid by hotels and companies that offer valet parking; and to begin charging for metered parking on Sundays.
“There’s either poor training or bad motivation at work here,” Chuck Cook said. “We have short-term solutions for revenue generation. These neglect long-term revenue generation by increasing the tax base for businesses. We’re ignoring real, long-term positive investments that take work, and instead just charging more for parking.”
NOTE: The SDPD said if anyone in the community feels that they have received a citation in error, they can appeal the citation online. The appeal information is listed on their citation, or they can visit www.sandiego.gov/parking.” SDSun
