The San Diego City Council backed off from yet another proposed fee on San Diego residents Tuesday, dropping the idea of charging for parking on Sundays in downtown, Uptown and Mid-City.
The idea to charge city residents $141.50 annually to park in those neighborhoods on Sundays proved so unpopular, even those who reluctantly voted for it in committee denounced it as unfair.
"I certainly prefer not to have paid parking on Sundays," City Councilman Stephen Whitburn said when the proposal met with immediate opposition from other council members. "I believe we should also reconsider the Balboa Park parking fees."
Whitburn, who chairs the council's Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee where the proposal was approved, said he only wanted to charge for Sunday parking if residents had a deeply discounted or free parking pass.
The $141.50 proposal would have indeed been a discount — compared to the $1,560 annually it would have cost a person without said pass to park at a meter all day every Sunday for the duration of the year -- but one that Council President Joe LaCava said was too broad, considering residents in more affluent areas such as Bankers Hill would pay the same price as those in less affluent City Heights.
Fehr & Peers, a traffic engineering and transportation planning consulting firm, conducted a traffic survey at the behest of the city in 2024. It found that Sunday was the day with the highest percentage of parking space occupancy by far.
In the downtown area, 91% of parking spaces were occupied at any given time on Sundays, compared to 74% on Thursdays and 76% on Fridays. Uptown saw 80% occupancy on Sundays, compared to 66% and 69% on Thursdays and Fridays. Mid-City was the most dramatic, showing occupancy of 88% on Sundays compared to just 57% and 59% on Thursdays and Fridays.
(photo: abc 10)