Way back in March, the city of San Diego decided to make one thing BETTER during the coronavirus pandemic better: parking.
Now people could dash into local businesses and meter enforcement officers could stay home, and that one thing -- not getting a parking ticket/not feeding a meter -- made a difference to many people.
Since then, San Diegans have only had to follow the regulations for Sundays and holidays. That is until Monday, when, thankfully, San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer gave city drivers another reprieve, this one good through the end of September.
"The city has suspended citations for vehicles violating street-sweeping parking restrictions, metered parking, time limits and yellow commercial zones," said a news release issued Monday morning.
Yellow zones are for commercial deliveries and allow trucks to park for 20 minutes -- but with few deliveries and few shoppers, they were unnecessary.
So, San Diego, remember the parking rule of red, white and blue: If you see a curb painted one of those colors, you can't park there unless you're a first responder (red), dropping someone off or picking them up (white), or are handicapped (blue).
But why would you need to park in a red, white, blue or yellow spot, anyway? The city was, for a while, seemingly teeming with open spots. Lately, though, hundreds, perhaps thousands of parking spots, have been taken over by the outdoor operations of businesses, parking's tight again some places. So look for those yellow curbs if you can't find a spot.
Local
Unfortunately, all this free parking comes at a cost -- with all the meters dry, the local agencies that turn that cash into good works are going without, as is the city, which usually writes 42,000 parking tickets a month.
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