Almost every person living in a city can relate to any traffic related issue — more specifically, parking hassles.
San Diego is a large city with 1.4 million people living in it as of 2016. Although not all those people have cars, most have to battle it out for the limited amount of parking spaces different establishments offer.
So with all these people driving around — why don’t places in San Diego make parking less of a hassle for everyone by providing more spaces? This is a large issue at BLVD63, an apartment building located a little more than one mile from the San Diego State campus. Because of its proximity to SDSU, BLVD63 is home to many students. With 332 apartments and about 1100-1500 residents living in the complex, there are always a lot of people around — with a lot of guests.
The issue with the amount of people and the guests they have is the lack of guest parking spaces.
Guests have limited options. They can either park on El Cajon Boulevard which has very few spaces and signs that read “15 minute parking from 8 am- 6 pm,” which is the majority of the day. Or they can find a side street to park on where it is highly unlikely to find open spots as everyone is vying for them.
With such a lack of options, the most convenient location to park is the Rite Aid across the street. However, parking there is just as much of a hassle — but not because of limited spaces. There is a sign in the Rite Aid parking lot that states it is a tow away zone and that parking overnight is not allowed, as well as a sign that reads the parking is for customers only and all cars in the lot after hours will be towed. Rite Aid closes at 10 pm, which leaves guests very little “after hours” parking options.
Tow away signs can seem like an empty threat a lot of the time — Rite Aid wasn’t kidding.
My car was towed twice from that parking lot in the last week alone. Of course it’s my fault for having parked there when I’m technically not allowed, but what am I supposed to do when I’m visiting BLVD and have nowhere else to park? And why is Rite Aid so quick to call the tow truck when I parked there for half an hour past the allotted time that isn’t even explicitly stated on their sign? The sign simply states no after hours parking, not what those after hours are.
I paid more than 400 dollars total to the tow company because I had no other choice for parking. BLVD63 is full of residents that go to SDSU and it’s made almost impossible to visit them because of the lack of parking. More designated parking spots for guests visiting BLVD63 are necessary, with time restraints that aren’t so absurd.
