SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego's special event parking zone around Petco Park has been in effect for a year now, and new data shows that in the last few months alone, the city has issued tens of thousands of dollars in citations.
The city implemented the special event zone parking to help generate revenue, increasing meter rates to $10 an hour within the zone, starting two hours before a baseball game or major event and continuing for four hours after the event's start time, six hours total.
City data shows that from April to July, they've issued $223,000 in citations, not the amount collected.
The data also shows special event parking fines rose from 366 to 1,380 during that same time frame.
For workers in the Gaslamp Quarter, the new rules have created daily challenges. Tracie Isbell, general manager of Gaslamp Breakfast Company, said employees have struggled to find affordable parking near work on event days.
"They show up late to work because there's no parking and they don't want to pay $10 an hour to park, and then some of them, when they do park close by during events, they like I had a guy who was just towed the other day," Isbell said.
Not everyone in the area shares those concerns. At the Blind Burro, business has remained steady, and employees have adapted to the new parking landscape.
Ana Heydari, bar manager at the Blind Burro, said her staff found ways to work around the higher rates.
"In the past year they've all kind of adjusted. They have been prepaying for parking, finding garages nearby that you prepay for your spot," Heydari said.
Heydari said the $10-an-hour rate is reasonable compared to other major cities.
"I think $10 an hour is perfectly fair. That's what it goes for in New York City, in San Francisco, anywhere else you try to bring a car, you have to pay for it," Heydari said.
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