A La Jollan painted a curb red and painted in white over the illegal red paint, "Don't ever park here."

San Diego was proclaimed the worst city in the U.S. for parking in November by a Finn.com study..

How does that play out for ordinary people?

"My wife has a condition that makes it difficult to walk long distances," Bob LaRose told me in a recent interview. "So she has a handicapped placard, so she can try to find a designated handicapped space when they are available."

Bob LaRose: "She has a handicapped placard, so she can try to find a designated handicapped space."

LaRose and his wife Joan are in their 70s; when handicapped parking is not available in their North Park neighborhood, LaRose drops off his wife, scours the area for parking, then parks the car, sometimes far away. The LaRoses — like many other San Diegans who are handicapped — see cars parked in handicapped spots with no placards on display.  

In 2021 alone, 3,480 citations were issued for drivers who parked in handicapped parking spots without a placard, according to the city of San Diego. That same year, the city said that they collected more than $1.5 million in fines; each citation costs the driver $452.50; officers issued 637 citations at $826.50 apiece for misusing disabled placards totaling more than $500,000 in tickets. Many of those 637 citations involved people who borrowed the placards from a disabled person. They then misused them for the convenience of parking near their destination.

"Those Jack Rabbit e-bikes are small enough to fit in my Prius's trunk."

Another parking scheme on the NextDoor app is when drivers paint red-colored curbs back to gray, hoping parking enforcement gets duped.

Then there's the vice versa scenario for residents tired of vehicles' bumpers blocking part of their driveway entrance. "There is an easy solution, but technically, it’s not so legal," Julie C. commented. "I got so tired of the same problem that I eventually just painted 3 feet of the curb on each side of my driveway with red paint. Worked like a charm." In 2020, a La Jollan painted a curb red and painted in white over the illegal red paint, 'Don't ever park here.'"

Parking spaces for rent on Neighbor.com

Then there are the motorists whose households own two or more vehicles, which they purposely park about eight feet away from a home's driveway entrance. They wait for their housemate or roommate to arrive, and then they move the vehicle forward to make space behind for another car.

When I attended college a few years ago, and parking was unavailable, we'd pick up other students and drive them to their cars in exchange for the parking spot. We weren't alone.

A surfer, Ankole, suggested, "Most of the time at La Jolla Cove, you have to sit there and wait till somebody pulls out and grabs that spot."

Jay Smith lives in Normal Heights. "Parking here has gotten so bad. I'll find parking about a mile away and skate home or get an Uber ride home."

People are using small foldable bikes, like the locally made Jack Rabbit mini bike, after parking on safe streets about 5-10 miles away from their homes.

Smith continued, "Those Jack Rabbit e-bikes weigh only 20 pounds and are small enough to fold and fit in my Prius's trunk."

Another option for locating parking spots in San Diego is on Neighbor.com; it's an app where home and property owners rent a space for you to park a vehicle. A 20-foot by 20-foot spot on 49th Street with a security camera rents for $109 monthly, while most are $200 and up monthly. The Finn.com study states that the cheapest monthly cost in San Diego to park is about $200 per month, "one of the highest prices in the U.S."

Spot Hero is an app that shows parking spots in the vicinity for short-term hourly parking.