Some homeowners in Rancho Pensquitos are calling recent parking enforcement in their neighborhood borderline harassment.
Joseph Malabanan says parking can be a challenge on his street, but for him that’s not an excuse for the “out of control” parking tickets.
“There are laws that need to be enforced…but come on let’s not go over the top here!” he told NBC7.
Malabanan and his neighbors said that recently, they have had to be extra careful on how and where they park.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that Malabanan says he parked in front of his driveway to help his father, who is disabled, get inside his home. Despite only being gone for 10 minutes and leaving the handicap sign hanging in his car, he says when he came back out, he found a ticket.
When he appealed and explained the situation to the city, he said, it did not change anything. He ended up having the pay the fine.
“It's almost like a type of harassment,” Malabanan said.
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He isn’t the only one who thinks so.
“After living here for 20 years and no tickets and all of a sudden they're enforcing everything on our street,” resident Barbara Barker said.
She remembers getting upset at authorities from the parking enforcement division when they ticketed a car for parking too close to a fire hydrant. It’s a difficult call since most fire hydrants in their neighborhood don’t have a painted red curb showing drivers where not to park.
But after that incident, Barker and others complained and asked the city paint the curb in front of the fire hydrant closest to their home, which they did.
All of that said, Malabanan and Barker both understand people with parking enforcement have a job to do and they support it. They also admit that people do sometimes park illegally.
Still, they feel the way it’s been recently is too picky.
“It’s not like we're complaining about the car being here,” Barker said.
