Special-event parking tickets are on the rise
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Parking tickets abound around Petco. Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
The city has started giving out special-event parking tickets in recent months and is now raking in the money from drivers who broke the rules around Petco Park.
The big picture: The city doled out $223,897.50 in fines across more than 4,100 special-event citations from April (when the effort began) through the end of July, according to an Axios analysis of city data.
Between the lines: Special-event tickets are part of a bigger category of parking meter violations.
- Overall, meter violations were by far the biggest chunk of tickets this year: a quarter of all tickets handed out from January through July.
- Special-event tickets were about 5% of all meter-related citations.
Catch up quick: The increased tickets coincide with the city's new "Special Event Zone" launched last September, a half-mile radius around Petco Park where metered parking costs much more during games or concerts.
Axios' analysis found the most common places to get special-event parking tickets were 13th Street, Fifth Avenue and Island Avenue.
- Unsurprisingly, all around Petco Park.
The idea was to get people to take public transportation instead of driving to Padres games, and raise money for the struggling city budget, according to the city.
- The city also said those higher rates are on par with other big cities' special-event parking.
Fun fact: The fine for special-event parking infractions is $55, the same as a normal parking ticket.
- That led one local TV station to point out that it's almost worth it to risk a ticket at a Petco game — paying $60 to park for six hours is just a tiny bit more than $55.
Special-event parking tickets aren't the only type seeing a boost. Meter-related tickets were up across downtown.
- On Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp, they jumped 145% year-over year from January to July.
- On 13th Street, they rose 94%.