New parking meter rates went into effect on February 1 in “high-demand areas” like downtown San Diego. Commuters will now have to pay twice as much to park after the San Diego City Council voted to double the hourly rate from $1.25 an hour to $2.50.
The goal of the increase is to bring in an extra $9.6 million annually to chip away at the city’s quarter-of-a-billion-dollar budget deficit. City officials also hope the increase will lower parking demand; making it easier for drivers to find spots.
Visitors and commuters polled by The San Diego Sun said the new rates made their lives more difficult.
Despite walking to her serving job in the Gaslamp Quarter, Gabriella Vasquez sympathizes with her coworkers who have to shell out even more of their tips to pay for parking.
“We have to take care of it during our shifts and we use the app,” Vasquez says, referring to the ParkSmarter app. “When we saw the increase, we were like, ‘$3?’ During this slow season, sometimes the bare minimum is $50 [in tips], if that. Then, the servers have to tip out everyone that was working, and then you have to pay almost $16 [for parking]…so you’re walking away with maybe $15 in tips on a slow day.”
Others said their downtown jobs don’t cover parking – making it an out-of-pocket expense. Because of this, Chula Vista resident Baco Sanchez gave up on parking for his coffee shop job in the Columbia District a long time ago.
“I usually don’t park there because I have to pay a lot,” Sanchez says. “Sometimes, if I park there – I have no time to move my car and I get a ticket. “For me, just to come to work here, I think [paying for parking] is unnecessary.”
Edgar Labrador commutes to his downtown clients often for his insurance business, and expressed frustration with finding and paying for parking.
“I hate it,” he says. “[At] a lot of buildings, now, there’s no parking space and now you’ve got to pay for everything. And now they’re charging Sundays… It’s Sundays and it’s all the way until 9 [pm].”
Though there are no reports on extending meter hours, San Diego city officials are considering ending free parking on Sundays or enacting dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing alters meter rates based on parking demand – which increases depending on certain times, days and events of the week.
For his job at First Legal in the Columbia District, Point Loma resident Greg H. avoids metered parking due to the in-and-out nature of his work. However, he has noticed the change and criticizes the city’s decision.
“It affects me when I’m in different areas and, of course, I can see the increase,” he says. “I think [local officials] are being really greedy…I think there’s a lot of different ways that they could close the deficit. They took the easy route by choosing to increase the price on the meters.”
The parking rate increase is just one of many changes San Diego officials are expected to make for this fiscal year, as it is only expected to close 3.7% of the budget deficit.
Mayor Todd Gloria will present an official outline of his budget plan on April 15, though some immediate measures such as hiring freezes and spending pauses have already been enacted. SDSun
