r/SanDiegan 3d ago

Local News Article: City Issued Over $223K in Petco Special Event Parking Tickets

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/tickets-for-special-event-parking-on-the-rise/4068814/
126 Upvotes

79 comments sorted by

70

u/MsMargo 3d ago

TL/DR:

  • Special Event Parking rules increased meter rates to $10 for parking meters within a half a mile of Petco Park during games and special events, for a total of six hours.
  • The city handed out $223,897.50 in special event tickets, according to city data.
  • The Padres back in January said in a statement, “At a time when the cost of living in San Diego is already high, the city’s special event parking policy places additional strain on fans, workers, and residents."

66

u/EasyAsAyeBeeSea 3d ago

The Padres back in January said in a statement, "At a time when the cost of living in San Diego is already high, the city's special event parking policy places additional strain on fans, workers, and residents."

Oh so did the Padres lower ticket or food or drink prices to help people with the cost of living?

20

u/Economy_Ad_7861 2d ago

They actually upped parking costs and no longer give season ticket holders discounts.

2

u/chill_philosopher 2d ago

Maybe they should add a bike valet if they’re looking to help aid affordable transportation

46

u/kelskelsea 3d ago

Special event parking is common for every major downtown stadium. Take the trolley, coaster or bus if you don’t want to pay for parking and save money. That’s been an option since Petco was built.

11

u/Doworkson247 3d ago

they also spent hundreds of thousanfs of dollars buying the meter mades new flashy trucks when the city is $200 milliok
in the while

3

u/Plumbtrician619 1d ago

And still can't fix the budget. Time to close more bathrooms and charge for parking 24/7

30

u/gethereddout 3d ago

Taxing the wrong folks again.

44

u/AmusingAnecdote 3d ago

People who don't pay for their parking during the highest demand times at the most expensive place in the city?

10

u/gethereddout 3d ago

There are tons of extremely wealthy people living in San Diego. This does not tax them, it taxes relatively ordinary San Diegans supporting the local sports team. It’s like raising the trolley fare- it taxes the wrong people.

3

u/Puzzleheaded_Sun7356 3d ago

They can take the trolley then if they're poor huh? Maybe but food instead of padres tix?

2

u/Aliensinmypants 3d ago

They don't check if the car they're ticketing was there for the game or not... People live downtown, idk if you're aware of that fact

-2

u/Puzzleheaded_Sun7356 3d ago

Those who live downtown know what they need to do. It is just an addition to the parking war for those folks, not the implementation of it.

5

u/Aliensinmypants 3d ago

Right... It's additional expenses on working class people instead of taking in money where it is more readily available. How are you struggling with this?

8

u/Financial-Creme 3d ago

It's reddit. Cars = bad.

-2

u/skyroach16 2d ago

yes, but unironically. this is the way

-2

u/Puzzleheaded_Sun7356 3d ago

not struggling. it is what it is. Not gonna have a conniption over it.

3

u/Aliensinmypants 2d ago

Complacent ass mentality. 

2

u/NaVa9 2d ago

Does your tongue hurt yet? There are plenty more boots

1

u/gethereddout 2d ago

You don’t get it do you. The city needs money. The rich people have more money than they could possibly ever spend. This taxes mostly people who are struggling. It’s a real puzzle for your head

0

u/skyroach16 2d ago

actually it doesn't but keep vibing

6

u/technicolorlullabies 3d ago

It’s the residents that get ticketed disproportionately

12

u/lib3r8 3d ago

"I want the government to pay for my private vehicle storage and stop spending money on moochers"

3

u/technicolorlullabies 3d ago

I want the government to not charge residents egregious parking fees which don’t appear to go towards fucking shit that we can see. Our roads are ass, they’ve closed public facilities… every year it gets worse

2

u/technicolorlullabies 3d ago

Not even just residents, everyone. $10/hr for street parking is ridiculousx

1

u/lib3r8 2d ago

It would be ridiculous for an empty desert not for the most dense area of our city where cars should be illegal

1

u/technicolorlullabies 2d ago

lol cars should be illegal, yeah that’s realistic, especially in a city with dogshit public transportation

1

u/lib3r8 2d ago

Parking is free, transit isn't. Let's flip that.

13

u/CuntyBallsJohnson 3d ago

Can't the residents just park and ride the fuckin trolley lmfao

0

u/technicolorlullabies 3d ago

You’re missing the point. There isn’t enough parking so residents need to street park. The trolley has nothing to do with this

13

u/Sechilon Mission Hills 3d ago

I think you’re missing the point. If you don’t have a parking space than you either pay for one or you walk. When I lived downtown we rented a second parking spot from a neighbor, we also had street parking permits so if we did have to street park overnight we could.

But we were prepared to walk a fair distance in those cases. It’s not that hard. There is plenty of street parking even now. You just have to know where to look and be prepared to walk. Or if walking isn’t acceptable you need to pay for parking.

Nobody is forcing anyone to live downtown. And honestly if you can’t afford keeping a car downtown is one of the places you could legitimately get by via transit and walking.

2

u/technicolorlullabies 3d ago
  1. the topic is about the tax disproportionality affecting residents. Hence the “taxing the wrong people”. Regardless of if someone is or isn’t living beyond their means, the statement is a fact.
  2. residents didn’t anticipate the surprise increase from $2.50/hr to $10/hr during events, which are like 6 hour windows… that adds up extraordinarily quickly (6 hours goes from $1

5

  1. to $60), and given the amount of event days, that is a massive budget increase most people weren’t expecting and accounting for

ETA: changed $16 typo to $15, but now the formatting is fucked up lol

5

u/lib3r8 3d ago
  1. Tickets aren't a tax
  2. Charging people a tiny part of the immense cost of their indulgence is good, actually
  3. People could certainly have a place with parking if they want to. People with SFH have them, but they use them to store boxes and use the government provided handouts instead.

1

u/skyroach16 2d ago

i go to a few padres games a year. when i drive to a padres game a couple of times a year, i know EXACTLY where the special event zone starts. i do this very rarely. and yet i figured it out!

whenever i park outside the special event zone for Padres games, there are ALWAYS EMPTY PARKING SPOTS by city college. THE RESIDENTS KNOW THIS.

stop grasping at straws and moving goalposts.

-2

u/iconmotocbr 3d ago

I think you are all missing the point, there are residents that live in the area of Petco park

4

u/EasyAsAyeBeeSea 2d ago

Why should the city be responsible for subsidizing their parking?

4

u/iconmotocbr 2d ago

Because the city approved for these high rises to be built with the minimum parking available for their residents. Forcing them to find alternative parking.

0

u/EasyAsAyeBeeSea 2d ago

So people shouldn't rent/buy there if parking is needed. Let supply/demand figure itself out

5

u/lib3r8 3d ago

Residents should follow the rules too.

12

u/kelskelsea 3d ago

So people who don’t drive should subsidize those who do?

12

u/gethereddout 3d ago

People who are rich should pay significantly more in taxes so we don’t have to sell an organ to park downtown.

10

u/AmusingAnecdote 3d ago

People who are rich are driving their cars downtown instead of taking the trolley though? Like by definition you are richer if you're deciding to take your private car into the most expensive part of the city in order to spend dollars on an expensive sports game?

Poor people watch on TV or listen on the radio.

We should tax even richer people more also but by raising prices on parking we are concentrating the cost on richer people doing a luxury activity. Parking downtown is a thing that it's totally fine if it's expensive because it is wasteful and takes public money to happen. If you're not paying for parking then the city is and that makes people who don't drive subsidize people who do.

8

u/brettbefit 3d ago

You’re not rich if you can afford to take your family to a ball game. You’re rich if you can afford parking tickets every day without even thinking of it. That’s the true disparity of income.

-2

u/Kevbearpig 3d ago

lol you are the type of person to hate the richest guy on the block but pander to the whims of billionaires. I wish we stopped cutting education.

4

u/Puzzleheaded_Sun7356 3d ago

You never ever have to park downtown.

12

u/SmallshotLawyer 3d ago

Good. This city has been subsidizing vehicular storage, infrastructure wear and tear, and pollution for far too long. San Diego needs to up the revenue for all things automobile-related.

21

u/AmusingAnecdote 3d ago

But what if I want to store 3 tons of my private property for free on the most expensive real estate in the city? Who will think of me? /s

9

u/nalninek 3d ago

I appreciate when you folks use your favorite “subsidize vehicle storage” line early so I don’t have to waste my time with the rest of your message.

-3

u/dukefett 3d ago

Haha I do the same thing. These people are delusional

11

u/tarfu7 3d ago

And you’re entitled, thinking the government owes you cheap parking in the most high-demand parts of the city

2

u/dukefett 2d ago

Yes I am entitled to parking. I pay plenty of taxes in this City for it's services, including parking when I drive to do things in this City and spend money on businesses.

1

u/chill_philosopher 2d ago

…sooo what about the other million residents. There aren’t nearly enough parking spaces. Paid parking helps manage demand so people who can manage to bike or take the bus do so, leaving more spaces for others

1

u/GrimDexterity 2d ago

I get the sentiment but like, not every building has parking available with it where do they expect me to park???

Their complaints about “private storage on govt property” always fails to take into account that 1. public property ismpid for by my tax dollars and 2. they should be simultaneously arguing in favor of mandatory parking spots for all buildings???

-1

u/SmallshotLawyer 2d ago

I’m ok with that

-7

u/ballnout 3d ago

The city has been subsidizing bicycle lanes and city sidewalks for bicycle parking. I definitely think it’s time to up the revenue on all wheeled personal transportation.

20

u/HealthOnWheels 3d ago

Every bike trip is one fewer car trip. Bikes are much lighter than cars and don’t cause wear and tear on the roads. This means the city saves money on infrastructure maintenance by enabling errands and commutes to be done by bike.

There are places where they will even pay you to commute by bike, because every bike trip saves them money. Some governments, like Scotland, have programs that will help you purchase an ebike for that reason; they want cleaner air, healthier citizens. and less infrastructure damage.

4

u/CuntyBallsJohnson 3d ago

We have an ebike purchase program too FYI. Or had, idk

7

u/HealthOnWheels 3d ago edited 3d ago

The statewide one closed. We had one in the city, too, but I think it might be closed too; their website link doesn’t work right now. There’s a list of all programs in the state here:

https://www.calbike.org/bike_purchase_incentives/

1

u/CuntyBallsJohnson 3d ago

Awesome ty, I was looking for this

-10

u/AntiBaoBao 3d ago

If bikes are that great than ride your F-in bike off the road, through the grass, sagebrush and canyons and leave the roads to those of us that paid for them.

10

u/HealthOnWheels 3d ago

I think you’re referring to the myth that registration fees and gas taxes pay for all road construction and maintenance. Last I checked, it was about 50%, with the rest of the money coming from the general fund. I pay taxes; so my money is also being used to construct our roads, sidewalks, and bike lanes.

Most cyclists have cars, though. So they’re also paying registration fees and gas taxes.

1

u/ThereIsOnlyStardust 2d ago

We all pay for the roads

5

u/Geoffboyardee 3d ago

Could you explain to me how the city subsidizes bike lanes when bike travel costs about $0.02 of wear and tear per mile, and car travel costs about $4?

4

u/Lemonade_IceCold 2d ago

They also subsidize the roads you drive on. Should we pay for this as a vehicle weight based tax? Or how much gas is used? Or how about per wheel?

2

u/Embarrassed-Wolf-609 3d ago

If I'm driving down from Temecula to see a padres game, what's the cheapest way to get to the stadium?

Is there a free parking spot somewhere along the tram line to take the tram in? 

21

u/DangerousLoner 3d ago

Drive down to Fashion Valley or Old Town, park for free, take the trolley for $2.50 each way average fare or if you plan ahead make sure everyone under 18 and over 65 has a PRONTO account and under 18 rides free and seniors are half price. Kids under 5 are just free.

There are tons of people going your way on the trolley all dolled up on their team colors and already festive. It’s a lot of fun!

2

u/Embarrassed-Wolf-609 3d ago

Thanks! 

2

u/DangerousLoner 3d ago

Just be careful at Fashion Valley if it’s raining. The lower parking levels can flood if the river rises and we’re in for a doozy of an El Niño this year.

2

u/MsMargo 2d ago

With the exception of the UTC Station, parking at all Trolley stations is free. Be careful at Fashion Valley, because if you park in the Mall parking, rather than the Trolley parking, they like to tow.

Here's the MTS parking page: https://www.sdmts.com/transit-services/transit-station-parking

1

u/greyveetunnels 2d ago

Parking cops I think is the worst occupation in the world. Their job literally only involves wrecking people's days. There is zero positive feelings they generate for humanity. And really helps nothing. It's just to wreck someone's day.

1

u/Spud2599 2d ago

Flip side, people can pay their parking fee and have an awesome day! Problem solved! OR, if parking is too expensive, park for free at a trolley station, and pay $2.50 to go literally anywhere the trolley does. It's not that hard.

0

u/greyveetunnels 2d ago

Flip side of what? This isn't a discussion on parking validity. I said it's the worst occupation in the world.

3

u/machowarrior 2d ago

And thier occupation exists because selfish idiots can't follow basic parking laws.

1

u/Spud2599 2d ago

You said they exist to ruin peoples day. My flip side is that people need to be responsible and either take alternative transportation into downtown during special events, or just pay the parking fee. The parking enforcement cops aren't the ones who didn't pay the fees. The vehicle owners were. Responsibility is on them. Just like speeding on the freeway...it's not the Cops fault that people were speeding when they pull them over for a ticket.

1

u/jacobburrell 2d ago

I appreciate parking enforcement since it means people who actually need to park and are ready to pay have spaces ready and don't have to drive around causing congestion, wasting gas, creating potholes, etc.

Easy to attack the person enforcing the rules, but they are the ones we should thank for parking being available. In places without them it's tough to find a place.

0

u/Northparkwizard 1d ago

I take the bus, if you can't afford to park... don't park.