San Diego public parking subverted by floods

During the recent heavy rainfalls and floods in San Diego County, cars were swept away and moved to other locations, parking meters were not correctly functioning, and streets and city parking lots were inaccessible, losing available parking. Consequently, in the last couple of weeks, some San Diegans received parking tickets because of the impact of the rainfall. Some vehicles were impounded.

"Hello everyone, I just want to give you some information I just received from Roberto Marin, community representative for Mountain View," posted Lucero Samano on Facebook on January 25. "No one should be getting any parking tickets. If you have gotten one, send me a picture on messenger, and I will forward it to him so that the city can remove it."

Vacation Isle in Mission Bay. Every time it rains, the parking lot gets flooded because water cannot properly run into the pond due to blockages in all four drains in [the] parking lot.

Other vehicles moved by the flood waters to different locations and illegally parked were towed, and the owners were responsible for paying for the impound fees.

"In a state of emergency, if there are cars that are blocking an intersection, then the city is going to have to get that car removed," said San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott in a January 25 CBS8 story. "So that could be happening. But we do want to make sure that there's a fair price there."

The city posted a storm preparedness page on their site of flood-prone areas, including Mission Valley, Chollas, Sorento Valley and Tijuana River Valley — and to report clogged storm drains and flooding.

Other areas within the county were hit as well.

City parking lots and street parking were flooded, making it even more difficult for residents and visitors to locate parking spots. On February 1, someone on the GetItDone app reported a clogged drain inlet at Vacation Isle across from Ski Beach off Ingraham Street.

"Please clear parking lot drains at Vacation Isle in Mission Bay. Every time it rains, the parking lot gets flooded because water cannot properly run into the pond due to blockages in all four drains in [the] parking lot. Please send a Vactor to flush the lines."

Since the January 22-23 floods, there were over 770 stormwater reports and 514 streets flooded reports. There were 2120 parking violation reports, some of which were due to the clogged stormwater drains and flooding , which moved the cars to illegal parking spots. 

"So where will people park?, wondered Dee Dimack from Mission Bay. There's hardly any parking before the floods. What are the people going to do, sue Mother Nature?"

Last week, Dimack sent me a photo of a parking meter at the front of the San Diego County Administration Center on Pacific Highway. "I approached the meter maid and asked her what was up with the 30-40 parking meters; they were all cloudy. She argued, "They worked; either they flash a red or green light."

"I approached the meter maid and asked her what was up with the 30-40 parking meters; they were all cloudy."

The parking meters were cloudy because of the heavy rains, Dimack said. The problem is that the motorist cannot see the remaining time when the window displays are cloudy.

Dimack added that "the meter maid was giving out tickets."

The SDPD Parking Enforcement's Yelp is rated at a 1.5.

Another app San Diegans use, Park Smarter, is flooded with bad reviews. Local Enis V. said in part: "If you're so proud of your parking app you advertise it on every single meter, make sure the fuckin' app works, would you? I can't just excuse myself from my job ten times a day to walk ten blocks to feed 25 cents into a meter now that everything is open and there's no parking to be found."