From a bird’s eye view, Ewing Street in the College Area looks like your typical San Diego neighborhood.
Mike Philyaw has lived in the College Area since 2013 and described it as a nice and quiet neighborhood. Although that changed about eight years ago when a new neighbor moved in across the street, he said.
“He immediately began bringing like, 20, 30, 40 vehicles that he purchased at those insurance auctions where they sell wrecked cars,” Philyaw said. He went on to tell NBC 7 Responds the neighbor started repairing those cars in the driveway, which is against city code.
He described the noises as, “Air impact hammers that are a very loud decibel, sledgehammers and just all kinds of just ungodly noise day and night.”
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So who's the person behind all this noise? Philyaw and his neighbors said it was a man named Buck Johnson.
NBC 7 Responds confirmed in state filings he’s the owner of Jonsey’s Automotive Inc. DMV records show he has up-to-date California dealer and transporter licenses.
But it’s not just the noisy work upsetting neighbors. They told us Johnson is also causing another problem on the street – the lack of parking.
“He steals the entire resource for the entire neighborhood for himself,” said Damien Mercado, another Ewing Street resident.
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Other neighbors like Susan Grant described being deeply frustrated about the situation. Vicky Mayhew said she had to park in her front yard which caused her water pipe to break.
Philyaw said he’s compiled dozens of videos and photos over the years and submitted them along with complaints to the city. He said he’s reached out to code enforcement, and parking enforcement, and even filed requests on the “Get It Done” app. He added that the response from the authorities had been minimal.
After failing to get the city's attention, neighbor contacts NBC 7
Not knowing where else to turn, Philyaw contacted NBC 7 Responds.
He showed NBC 7 Responds photos of vehicles he claimed belonged to Johnson; some, he said hadn’t moved in months. Many of the cars have disabled license plates, meaning they don’t need a residential parking permit, which is required in the neighborhood.
“Somehow, he has acquired a supply of handicapped disabled plates, and he uses them to evade parking enforcement,” said Philyaw.
NBC 7 Responds went to Johnson's house to ask him about the neighbors’ complaints. He said all the cars were registered under his name. NBC 7 Responds asked him to come out of his house and talk, but he refused. Before he closed the door he said:
“I’m not going to talk to you guys, but everything's registered in my personal name here on the street. I collect cars. It's not the end of the world. The city has come by here. They've inspected the house a couple of times and really, that's it. I passed inspection every time.”
About those inspections, the city’s code enforcement website shows there have been seven requests for investigation about the auto repair work.
NBC 7 Responds filed public records requests and learned the first complaint in February 2016 ended with a warning for violating the residential code. Five others were closed without action.
“Code compliance would come out, and they wouldn't see any activity. And then they say they closed the complaint,” Philyaw said.
The seventh complaint from last August is still active. We also confirmed neighbors called the police at least 25 times last year to report illegal parking or noisy repair work being done in Johnson's driveway.
According to the “Get It Done” data NBC 7 Responds reviewed, there were 27 reports of illegal parking on the block in 2023.
Since Johnson didn’t want to talk to us, NBC 7 Responds reached out to his landlord. Norman Dewitt owns the house on Ewing Street and insisted Johnson isn’t doing anything wrong.
“Well, this is not being operated as an automotive repair facility. The city has opened an investigation. This goes back to September or October and they've been here many times. They've met with me here twice, and each time, at the end of it, they say, 'Yeah, there's nothing to see here,'” said Dewitt.
As NBC 7 Responds was interviewing Dewitt, Johnson arrived home and stood beside our team, listening to the conversation. Again, he refused an interview but talked to us off-camera and continued to insist that he was not doing any auto repair work out of his driveway. But remember, his neighbor’s security camera showed work taking place as recently as the end of December.
Dewitt blamed the lack of parking on new Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) on the street.
“I have ADUs on either side of me, on the other side of the street, which was endless noise, endless trucks, and now, endless tenants. There's no parking here anywhere,” Dewitt said.
Johnson confirmed to NBC 7 Responds that the vehicles with out-of-state disabled license plates were his. We noticed some of them had expired tags, and he told us they were up to date despite not having the latest stickers.
The towing begins
A few days later, the San Diego Police Department towed at least three of Johnson's vehicles off the street. We asked the police why they were towed, but they haven’t gotten back to us.
Just two days after that, code enforcement posted a Civil Penalty Notice and Order on Johnson's front door.
The City of San Diego's response
The City of San Diego refused an interview with NBC 7 Responds, but sent the following statement:
Following several visits to the address on Ewing Street, the Building & Land Use Enforcement (BLUE) Division of the Development Services Department was able to confirm evidence of auto repair work being done at the address on December 15, 2023.
The CPNO is an administrative notice that outlines the violations and corrective action needed per SDMC section 12.0804. The CPNO also notifies the responsible party that if compliance is not met within a certain time period, the City may pursue an administrative hearing for financial penalties and recoverable costs. The penalties and administrative fees in the notice will not need to be paid by the responsible party unless the case is taken to a hearing. At the hearing, the judge will determine if all or some of the penalties from the CPNO will be imposed based on the severity and duration of the violation.
NBC 7 Responds contacted the homeowner, Norman Dewitt, again and he said they were surprised by the order and that Johnson would be moving out.
Philyaw and the neighbors we spoke with said they haven’t seen this much action from the city in all the years they’ve been complaining, and credited NBC 7 Responds calls and emails to the city for getting the attention of the right people.
“I just want to thank you again. I'm glad to see some actions finally be taken and maybe we can have a better neighborhood for all here,” Philyaw concluded.
