Comment Log Display

San Diego, CA has the following requirement in the Municipal Code.

. Subject: Revision to Parking Code – 86.23(G) SDMC



Please helpin epealing or modifying the subject parking code. 
This code reads as follows:

86.23	Use of Streets for Storage, Service or Sale of Vehicles or
for Habitation.
Prohibited
(g) No person shall store or cause to be stored any vehicle upon
any street.  A vehicle shall be considered stored when it has been
left standing on a street without having been moved more than
one-tenth 1/10 of a mile within a seventy-two (72) consecutive hour
period.

The requirement to unnecessarily move any vehicle at least every
72 hours is incompressible. particularly in view of the
environmental pollutants exhausted when driving, the shortage of
gasoline, the traffic congestion, and traffic safety.   The code
should be deleted or revised to a more reasonable time period (at
least two weeks or more), or motor homes exempted.

In my particular case, I own a motor home which I park on the
street (no other space available).  The motor home is not being
stored on the street.  It is used on occasion for tailgating,
towing boat to go fishing, long vacations (up to two months each
year), short visits to the desert, beaches and Arizona, etc.  The
motorhome is also moved frequently to comply with the law.  To move
the vehicle, I must drive around a long block, a distance of
approximately 0.6 miles, make 4 left turns and cross 2 streets, and
then park it right back where it was!  What has been gained? 
Nothing!  But what has occurred – pollutants, from the exhaust,
have been added to the atmosphere, rubber has been added to the
streets, gasoline has been wasted (not to mention the wear and tear
on a cold motor) and the vehicle movement has added to the traffic
congestion and safety.  When the vehicle is a motor home, the
result of these occurrences is probably tripled.  My motor home
consumes about 1/12 of a gallon for that 0.6-mile trip around the
block.  Multiply this by a minimum of 121 moves per year, a
significant amount of gas is wasted and a significant amount of
pollutants is added to the already taxed atmosphere.  If every
vehicle in San Diego complied with the 72-hour standing or parking
limit, our smog would be far worse than it is and we would have
more traffic congestion.  On the contrary to this law, people not
driving their vehicles, unnecessarily, should be AWARDED, NOT
PENALIZED!

Bill Newbery