Paying for more parking with change, a credit card or the app doesn’t excuse the need to move your car when the time limit’s up, reports NBC 7’s Allison Ash.
San Diego is a city of 5,300 metered parking spots, and those metered spaces have time limits.
Feeding the meter to buy extra time may be a waste of money, because you can still find an $85 parking ticket on your windshield.
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WATCH HEREAn NBC 7 employee learned this the hard way. The unnamed employee parked at a downtown meter and paid for two hours via the city’s parking app, and then, before the two hours were up, he paid again. He was surprised when he returned to his car to find a ticket for $85.
San Diego Parking
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SIGN UP NBC 7 asked the city why he had been charged twice — once through the app, and the second time with a hefty fine. A city of San Diego spokesperson told us via email, “Continuing to pay the meter beyond the max stay limit does not make it legally parked.”
That’s also true in other areas of the city where there are no meters but there are signs that state the two-hour time limit. Oscar Ortiz found out about it the hard way in Little Italy.
“I went up to get my stuff and they got me, I guess,” Ortiz said after removing a parking ticket from his windshield.
Ortiz had been ticketed after a parking enforcement officer chalked his tires at 9:10 a.m.
The ticket was issued at 12:03 p.m.
Even though Ortiz was not in a metered parking spot, he told NBC7 he was a bit confused by the signage on the street, something a San Diego County Grand Jury recently criticized in its report on the state of parking in San Diego, which suggested that the city “improve and standardize signage related to metered public parking.” It noted the signage is especially confusing in areas surrounding Petco Park, where there is no parking on days when the Padres have home games.
Other recommendations included more parking meters and higher rates for those meters. Right now, the top rate for metered parking in San Diego is $2.50 per hour. The grand jury also recommended “dynamic parking," extended parking hours and turning free lots into lots that charge a fee.
San Diego plans to respond to those recommendations in early June, when the city council will address proposed changes.
