Since the city of San Diego started enforcing the state’s new daylighting law, more than $1 million in tickets have been issued — and people in City Heights and nearby North Park have the unfortunate distinction of being ticketed the most.
City Heights resident Letty Cervantes showed NBC 7 three of the eight tickets she says she’s gotten for multiple infractions, in addition to daylighting, after coming home from work as a bartender after midnight.
“There is no parking. I have no choice other than to park where the damn parking sign is,” Cervantes said.
The $117 daylighting penalty applies to drivers who park within 20 feet of any marked or unmarked crosswalk. The state law is designed to improve visibility to see pedestrians and to prevent crashes.
Cervantes lives off Wightman Street, where city data shows San Diego’s parking enforcement issued 195 tickets from January through August.
But a couple blocks away, cars parked on Polk Avenue were ticketed the most in the city. More than 388 tickets were written on the street that runs from North Park to City Heights.
Debbie Beacham lives off Monte Vista in La Jolla, just a block away from the street ticketed second most in the city: Vista Del Mar. It’s near the entrance to Windansea Beach. The only red zone markings NBC 7 spotted were ones that appeared to be makeshift.
Haylee Rea explained to NBC 7’s Dana Williams that Strong Towns San Diego has chalked curbs before, primarily around schools and places where children are likely to be crossing the street.
According to city data, through August, about $1.3 million in tickets had been written.
“They should take all that money that they’re making from these things and paint the damn curbs,” Beacham said. “Because truly, the curbs, if they’re red, give us a ticket. But this unknowing, maybe it’s this and maybe it’s that, because it’s so unclear, and you’re just supposed to know it. That’s what’s not fair.”
A city spokesperson says the transportation department has painted red curbs at 1,000 of the 1,300 that have been inspected. A city website and social media posts are also available to help educate drivers on how to follow the new state law.
“I think it’s just kind of overreach by the state,” said one La Jolla resident who didn’t to be identified. “It’s one of those things where everybody’s trying to do the right thing, staying outside of the painted area, right? And then you stay outside of the painted area, and then the state says, ‘Gotcha.”
In Normal Heights, for example, there’s a crosswalk in the middle of a block, where the curb on one side of the crosswalk is red, but the other side has only a small sliver painted, reports NBC 7’s Kelvin Henry.
Reasons for higher ticketing in some areas could include people reporting problems and officers arriving to find multiple cars violating the law, a city spokesperson said.
Officers are also assigned to areas where there are metered and time-restricted zones, meaning more officers in places like City Heights and North Park, where parking demand is high.
So far, the city has collected $818,000 in revenue from January to August.
“I owe them $800 dollars. I don’t know who’s paying for that. I can’t pay for it, that’s crazy,” Cervantes said.
She’s urging city leaders to consider the price that late working people will have to pay for their safety.
“I’m not going to park three miles away. I’m a girl. What am I supposed to do? Uber home? Like that’s ridiculous,” Cervantes said.
