Council Expands Permit-Only Parking District Near SDSU

Siding with college area residents in one of the city’s perennial town-gown disputes, the San Diego City Council on Monday enlarged the size of the permit-only parking district adjacent to San Diego State University.

The 8-1 vote will remove 280 public parking spots from parts of 10 streets where student commuters and homeowners have been jockeying for curb space as the SDSU student population has soared above 35,000 in recent years.

Residents of those streets will enjoy permit-only parking from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, joining neighbors within a one-mile radius of SDSU who were granted the privilege in 1984. That council decision removed 1,700 parking spots from a 30-block area around SDSU. The university added 1,400 spaces to compensate.

Student leaders, who brought about 60 students to Monday’s council meeting to fight the extension of the parking district, predicted that commuters will simply push into more distant neighborhoods in their search for a place to park.

“It’s ridiculous. They’ve solved nothing,” said Larry Emond, president of the SDSU student government. “They’ve just proliferated the problem.”

Streets Added to District

The council decision adds parts of Gary Street, Gary Court, 63rd Street, Montezuma Road, College Avenue, College Gardens Court, Hewlett Drive, Arosa Street, Soria Drive and Drover Drive to the parking district. Requests by residents of several other streets for inclusion were not considered.

The students asked the council to put off a decision on the extension and create a task force of students, residents, city officials and university officials to come up with long-term solutions to the perennial parking problem at SDSU, where 27,123 students with university parking permits vie for 8,994 student spaces. They were supported by two area residents who suggested that the parking problem is not as severe as others were describing it.

District 7 council member Judy McCarty, who represents the area, included the creation of a task force in her successful motion, but said that area residents should be granted relief now because they have been asking for inclusion in the district since 1986.

“I have told every one of you that I don’t think this is the solution to the problem,” said McCarty, who mentioned better use of mass transit, and more housing and parking near SDSU as better long-term solutions. “On the other hand, people have a right to park in front of their houses.”

Area residents testified that students have usurped the parking near their homes, making curb-side spots a precious commodity.

“It has gotten completely out of hand, to the point where I can no longer park in front of my own house without getting up at the crack of dawn,” said Herbert Pepper, a Montezuma Road resident. “If I should move that car, within minutes that space is gone for the day, or even longer.”

“We do not believe that we should be required to sacrifice our neighborhood and our standard of living to provide parking for the students of San Diego State University,” said Christopher Turner, a Soria Drive resident. “The students park in (our driveways). The students park us out. And every time a semester begins, our front porches are pilfered to provide plants and knickknacks for the students of San Diego State.”

But students also cited crime as a factor in their arguments, claiming that the number of rapes and aggravated assaults has increased since the 1984 creation of the parking district forced women students to walk longer distances to day and night classes.

Only District 8 Councilman Bob Filner, who has taught at SDSU for 17 years and lived in the area for 15 years, opposed Monday’s decision, saying that personal experience has shown him that parking on those streets is not in such short supply.

Filner attempted to win time for the task force to meet before a decision was made, but was turned down when none of his colleagues supported his attempt to amend McCarty’s motion.