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So, your company finally has arrived, and the office is relocating to Downtown. Or maybe you’re ready for a night on the town at the heart of America's Finest — perhaps you and your significant other want to go for a romantic stroll along the waterfront, followed by an evening of cutting it up in the Gaslamp Quarter. Or maybe you are planning a day with the family at Downtown’s varied museums, art galleries and retail shops.
While Downtown is rich in public transit options, most people still come by car. Good thing there's plenty of parking. Following are tips from the experts on how to find one of the Centre City's 58,000 spaces that’s right for you.
Practical Tips
Chances are you'll find an abundance of available parking within a few blocks of your destination, says Paul Chacon, general manager of Five Star Parking. Surface lots run by his and two of San Diego’s other top parking providers, Ace Parking Management and Allright Parking, run anywhere from $2 to $8 during the day and $3 to $7 per evening. Many of the lots are patrolled by a professional attendant.
The parking companies also run garages inside office buildings where rates average $1.50 per half hour, with a $10 to $15 daily maximum, says John Baumgardner, president of Ace Parking. These garages are the most convenient for daytime business parking.
"Your best bet is to drive directly to the garage you want to park in and just park," Baumgardner says. "Most of the tenants of the buildings will validate your parking." If validation isn’t possible, cheaper spaces are available.
"If you’re going to be a long time, it’s a little bit cheaper to park two blocks away," says Baumgardner. If you go four to six blocks away, outside the building core, the rates are as low as $2 a day."
On weekend evenings, office structures like the Home Federal and Great Western buildings sell spots in their garages for about $3 to $5.
"If you’re coming Downtown and not very familiar, look through the Thomas Guide," suggests Jose Hernandez of Allright Parking. "The parking lots closest to where you want to go are always going to be the higher-priced ones. If you go back a block or two, you'll notice a significant drop in the rates." This strategy applies to daytime as well as evening parkers. Chacon recommends an attended, well-lit lot for nighttime outings.
"San Diego has relatively low crime rates, and people shouldn't really be afraid of walking at night," Hernandez says. "The San Diego Police Department has a tremendous presence out on the weekends — you’re not going to get hurt by walking an extra block."
Still, while walking that extra block at night, Hernandez recommends the buddy system for safety's sake. If you must go alone, ask the parking attendant or a police officer to escort you. So for a night on the town, bring your pepper spray and your male compadres, girls! (Hint: as you merge into the more peopled areas of the Gaslamp, stash your pepper spray deep into your purse before you hit your final destination, as a meaty guy named "Butch" will likely seize it at the door for fear that you'll open fire inside.)
Construction on the San Diego Convention Center expansion also will impact Downtown parking. Chacon says the 2,500-stall convention overflow lot will disappear, pushing convention business into southern Gaslamp spots. Not to worry, though, because Five Star's got six lots within two blocks of the center.
"Our commitment is to keep as many; lots; as we can available to Gaslamp patrons," says Chacon. "There's still very much ample supply."
Additional parking also is part of the ballpark measure, Proposition C, that goes before voters next month. "With the ballpark proposal, there's a very large parking garage as part of the development," says Chacon. "I really don’t think that it would be a negative; it wouldn't take parking away from the Gaslamp." Laurie Black, president of the San Diego Downtown Partnership, says that this parking can be utilized at other times as well.
On The Street
The 3,739 metered street spaces Downtown are a very important part of the Downtown parking equation. The daytime two-hour maximum at most meters results in the constant turnover that’s important to providing spots for daytime visitors. Parking at metered spots is enforced six days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. During other hours and on Sundays it is free, unless otherwise specified by a sign.
"Absolutely, positively, please read the signs when you get out of the car," says David Colon, senior parking enforcement supervisor of the Parking Management Division. "The signs take precedence many times over the meters. If you’re a visitor, it’s inevitable that you’re excited — you have a propensity to leave the vehicle and get to enjoying the surroundings. Unfortunately you may be parking in front of a 'No Parking Anytime' sign. Failure to read the signs is the one thing that catches people the most."
And what does it mean when people pull up to the curb and find it painted with a catchy shade of color? The rules vary depending on the color of the curb, the time of day, the day of the week and the length of time you want to park. In general, red means never, white is for passenger loading, blue is for handicapped and yellow is for commercial vehicles during working hours. "My advice to anyone parking in Downtown San Diego, or anywhere for that matter, is that if you’re not sure about something, don’t take a chance parking," says Colon. "If you see a parking enforcement officer, approach them. They are probably one of the renowned experts on parking in the Downtown area."
The toughest place to get a metered spot is between Ash and Market streets from Third to Sixth avenues, says Colon, while those spaces in ample supply are located between Ash and Market streets along Ninth avenue.
With a little common parking sense, your day at the office, night on the town or shopping and cultural adventures will be all the more enjoyable. "It’s a really dynamic time for Downtown, with the convention center, entertainment and all the residential and retail projects that are planned," says Chacon. "There's a ton of very well-planned development and growth on the horizon. I don’t believe the public should be afraid of that from a parking standpoint."
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