A Game With Only a Few Winners : Parking Roulette Played at County Center

Shortly after noon one day last week, two San Diego County employees stood on the steps outside the County Administration Center pondering where to go to lunch.

“Feel like going over to Horton?” one asked.

“Naaahh. I would, but I’m afraid if I move my car, I’ll never find another space,” his companion replied. “Let’s just walk across the street.”

Nearby, a man who had been circling in the parking lot for about 10 minutes, unsuccessfully searching for a spot, pulled up next to a security guard and plaintively asked, “What can I do?” Unfortunately for the driver, as he spoke to the guard, a vacated space in the next row was snared within seconds by one of the nearly dozen other drivers trapped in the parking lot limbo. Cursing to himself, the driver resumed his search.

So it goes in the two parking lots flanking the bayfront county government building, where an infuriating automotive version of musical chairs is played out daily by county employees and the public that, by comparison, makes finding a parking space on Prospect Street in La Jolla on a Saturday afternoon seem leisurely.

No Room for Visitors

A single set of statistics outlines the dimensions of the problem: There are 1,148 parking spaces, but 1,825 employees in the County Administration Center and adjacent Health Services building. Add to that the hundreds of others who visit those buildings daily and the result is a formula for what county security coordinator Mike Luikart describes as “major-league frustration.”

“It’s disastrous--it has become a real zoo over there,” said lawyer J. Michael McDade, a frequent attendee at county meetings. “When you’re in a rush to get to a meeting, it can be pretty aggravating. It doesn’t create a very favorable first impression for citizens going to deal with their government.”

Indeed. How can you fight City Hall--or “county hall,” for that matter--if you can’t even find a parking space?

As a series of factors conspired this spring to worsen the already acute shortage, the parking crunch got talked about as much--and sometimes more--than the official business of the county. AIDS programs, growth-management, budget woes--such controversies usually are talked about one day and forgotten the next--but as a conversational topic with staying power, none can match that &*--!! parking problem .

County employees whose workday begins with a maddening 15-minute search for a space routinely grumble about it as they dash into their offices. People paying their taxes or dropping off records frequently spend more time finding a parking space than they do conducting their business.

Added Woes

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when the Board of Supervisors meets, the parking problem is dramatically exacerbated by the influx of dozens of visitors. As they wait for the meetings to begin, lobbyists and members of the public commiserate with each other in the hallways, trading parking horror stories.

Later, those who were forced to park on the surrounding streets--and considered themselves lucky to find even those spaces, which disappear rapidly on board meeting days--can be seen dashing out to put money in the meters.

“You can understand how some people get frustrated and just give up,” said Jack Wireman, a Fallbrook activist who often addresses the board. “It’s a big enough problem just to take time off to go to a meeting. Then, when you get there, you usually can’t even find a place to park. Not many people are willing to come back for meeting after meeting to go through that hassle.”

Admittedly, as life’s frustrations go, the occasional inability to find a parking space probably does not rank near the top. But for many who work or conduct regular business at the county, the normally simple act of parking has become a daily headache.

“If you don’t get in by 8:15, forget it,” said John Woodard, an aide in Supervisor George Bailey’s office. “After that, it’s a real mess.”

The parking problem has been compounded recently by the county’s AIDS testing program, which not only draws dozens of additional people to the lots daily, but also has resulted in the elimination of about 15 parking spaces to make room for the van where the tests are conducted. About the same number of spaces disappeared when another van--where county documents are being recorded on microfiche--was placed in the north lot.

Perhaps the most aggravating sight for members of the public who visit the county building is that normally, the few parking spaces that are available during business hours are reserved for county employees and various top officeholders and administrators. (Frequent visitors also complain that, in recent months, the staff spaces have gradually encroached into former public parking areas.)

169 Slots for the Public

Of the 1,148 spaces in the two lots, 775 are staff spots reserved for county workers on a first-come, first-served basis, and 169 are public slots--theoretically limited to two hours’ parking. But the choicest, most conveniently located spots are the nearly 150 spaces reserved exclusively for the supervisors, department heads and other top administrators, official county vehicles and others, including the press.

For drivers making endless and fruitless loops through the few rows of public parking spaces, it is especially grating to continually pass spaces boldly painted “reserved,” with an abbreviated job title marked on the curb. Those who, out of frustration, park in a reserved space often are rewarded with a $15 ticket.

“Normally, in a place where the public is being served, employees park on the periphery,” noted Dot Migdal, who monitors local government for the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. “At the county, they take the opposite approach. The question is, are they serving the public first, or worrying about themselves first?”

Prompted by a growing number of complaints, county administrators plan to take steps this summer that they hope will ease the problem, starting with crackdowns aimed at people who park illegally--and, in some cases, regularly--in the county lots.

Though the lots are intended to be used only by those who work in or have business at the county building, numerous other drivers, tempted by the free harbor-front parking, routinely park there. The most common scofflaws, county officials said, include guests at the adjacent Holiday Inn Embarcadero, patrons of nearby restaurants and tourists.

With only two guards periodically patrolling the sprawling lots, it is all but impossible, county officials say, to single out the illegally parked cars.

“Unless they’re taking luggage out of the trunk, how do you know?” security officer Gene Moore asked jokingly. “When you see an empty car, you don’t know if it belongs to someone inside at a meeting or someone having lunch across the street.”

New Signs to Go Up

But after years of leniency in which warnings were more common than tickets, county officials plan to post new signs soon specifying that the lots are reserved for official county use. Future violators not only are more likely to receive tickets but, for the first time, also may be towed.

Another category of violators includes former county employees who kept their county parking permits after accepting other jobs--and who apparently feel that free monthly parking makes the long walk to most downtown office buildings worthwhile.

“I just know there are permits floating around with people who left the county five years ago,” security coordinator Luikart admitted. However, there are no expiration dates on the current permits, so it is difficult to weed out those people.

That, too, will change this summer. Within several months, the county plans to issue new parking permits that will have to be renewed annually. The renewal process also is expected to uncover county workers who initially receive special car pool stickers, which guarantee reserved spaces for cars carrying at least two people, and continue to use them even though they drive to work alone.

In addition, some San Diego County Courthouse workers who now park in the bayfront lots--taking advantage of what one official termed “a real gray policy area”--may be relocated by summer’s end, further helping to reduce the volume of cars.

Somewhat defensively, some county officials argue that their parking problems are no worse than those found elsewhere. City Hall doesn’t offer free parking to visitors, they point out. And to expect to find an open space in front of the county building 10 minutes before a meeting begins, they say, is as unrealistic as slipping easily into a convenient space at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium minutes before kickoff at a Chargers’ game.

“Parking’s a problem everywhere,” said Jim Hatcher, the principal assistant to Chief Administrative Officer Norm Hickey. “We can do some things to improve the situation. But there’s probably no way to eliminate it entirely.”

“When you’ve got about half as many spaces as you need, there’s no easy solution, other than putting up a four-story parking structure,” Luikart added. “And, for reasons of time and money and space . . . that’s probably never going to happen.”

Aware that the immediate outlook is for only slightly improved parking conditions, some frequent visitors to the County Administration Center already have adopted new tacks to deal with the problem.

“I’ve started loading up on quarters whenever I head over there in case I have to end up parking on the street,” lawyer McDade said. “I jingle when I walk . . . but there’s less stress.”