The addition of new bike lanes at the expense of parking spaces in the Convoy District is getting mixed reviews.
The city of San Diego said bike lanes will be added sometime in the first half of 2023 along a stretch of Convoy Street where repaving is planned
Traffic on Convoy Street is generally bumper to bumper. Both sides are crowded with businesses, many of them restaurants. Making a buck there is dependent on customers securing a parking spot.
“It’s very tough. We have a lot of clients that complain to us,“ restaurant owner Luis Gonzalez said.
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Gonzalez took a chance last year by opening El Viejon, a Mexican seafood restaurant in the middle of the Convoy Asian Cultural District, but business has been good, Gonzalez said.
“They walk like three or four blocks away and they tell us, 'We couldn’t find parking, but we really like the food,'” Gonzalez said.
There are side street parking spaces, a parking garage and street parking, but to many visitors, it never seems like enough.
The bike lanes would eliminate 288 spaces on Convoy Street. The city’s study indicates that most people park on the side streets, but on a Friday during dinner hour, Convoy Street spots are at a premium.
“Even for disabled parking, it’s hard to find,“ visitor Marisa Palaganis said.
Palaganis and her son Leon come here monthly from Temecula to pay their rent.
“Parking is always a nightmare here. I will usually have to park somewhere else across the street,“ Leon Palaganas said.
They usually make a day of it which includes dinner.
Fewer parking spaces could be the spoiler.
“Maybe they are trying to alleviate traffic or whatever. How much traffic, though, are they alleviating in exchange,“ Leon said.
Negotiating traffic on Convoy Street is tricky for some cyclists. Parked cars force them out into fast-moving traffic.
District 6 city councilperson Kent Lee said that area of Convoy Street has to become more bike and pedestrian friendly.
“It’s going to have a very negative impact to our businesses for sure,“ said Gonzalez, who has just two known customers that ride their bikes to his restaurant and sees very few other cyclists in the area.
While Gonzalez welcomes all, on two feet, two wheels or four, he doesn’t want to sacrifice the many for the few.
To make up for the lost parking spaces the city plan calls for converting side street parking spaces from parallel to angled parking.
