East Village gets new parking meters
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — On April 11, the City of San Diego started to install new parking meters in East Village.
The city said the new meters will help manage parking and benefit residents and businesses. FOX 5/KUSI spoke with residents, employees and business owners, who said it benefits some but not others.
“I think that’ll be a good idea, there is not a lot of parking out here,” Chelsea Borjorquez said.
Borjorquez chose to live in East Village to avoid paying for street parking, but she say “it’s also hard for people to come to visit me because they can’t find it.”
“Most people I know will take the trolley, they will park over there where there is parking and take it down,” Borjorquez said.
The new meters will be placed in an area bounded by Park Blvd. to the west, Island Avenue to the north, 17th St. to the east and K St. to the south.
For the Chick n’ Cone San Diego restaurant on J St., the owner, Vanessa Hazelwood, said metered parking is the best option for her employees.
“That come from far, and they have nowhere to park. Usually, the parking spaces here are all taken up by workers, and on top of that we have people that come to the restaurant and have no parking,” Hazelwood said.
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In an Instagram post, the City of San Diego wrote the new meters “will help manage parking supply and increase turnover for the benefit of nearby residents.”
However, Alonzo Vang, who lives in East Village said it is of no benefit to him. Vang said he has two cars between him and his girlfriend, but they only have one space at their East Village apartment.
“I have to move my car like every two hours….but luckily I work from home, so it’s not terrible but it’s definitely inconvenient,” Vang said.
Existing meters run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The new meters will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will cost $1.25 an hour with a two-hour limit.
“After 6 p.m. a lot of people, kind of come back downtown park their car, and probably leave it for the night that extra two hours is big, it’s huge. It’s just a sad thing, I don’t like it at all,” said Jason Griffin, who bartends at Basic Bar Pizza on J St.
“I can see how both sides can say that…personally I think it’s more of an issue or challenge than a positive,” East Village resident Judson Fraley said.
Fraley said he walks to most places to avoid finding and paying for parking, especially for those quick in-in-out visits.
“It just makes it harder for people economically, and then there is never enough space, so parking meters is one of the worst options,” Farley said. “But I think they need to look at the cost, look at how they manage it and keep the customer and citizens in mind.”
The city said the revenue from the meters will go to the city and downtown community parking district to be used on mobility projects, such as neighborhood lighting and crosswalk improvements. Some residents like Borjorquez recommend investing in Circuit, the local electric shuttle.
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