Caution: Sudden Rule Changes

Open letter to Waterfront Parking Office:I have enclosed a check in payment of the above citation. However, I am paying this citation in protest. I realize that my protest will fall on deaf ears and will not change anything, but I feel compelled to comment on it nonetheless.

Two hours after parking in the [Waterfront/Leadbetter Beach] parking lot, following our lunch and a stroll on the beach, we were stunned to find a ticket on our windshield in the amount of $48.00. Reading the citation, we were really perplexed. For too many years to count, you park in this lot, you pay when you leave for the time you parked. Just like the lots at Garden Street on the beach. Just like the downtown lots, except you get 75 minutes free. Why on earth did we get a ticket, and for such an exorbitant amount? Lose your ticket downtown, or park all day, it’s no more than $20, not more-than-double that.

To add insult to injury, we left the lot and had to pay again to exit the lot. Isn’t this double-dipping for the City of Santa Barbara? The City Waterfront Department is a department of the City. Same umbrella. Still the City. Why are they (effectively) charging twice for the same place?

I have gone to the café at Leadbetter Beach for many many years. I have parked in the parking lot, parked in the front row hundreds of times, then dutifully paid the exit fee. I did not notice, nor did I see any new warning signage indicating a change, that there are now 90-minute parking spots in that lot along the front row. When you park in the same place for a very long time, if there is a change, there ought to be some warning of it. I’ve not read about this, nor heard anything about when this change occurred – or why.

I include a link to the City’s webpage for this lot. Nowhere does it say anything about a 90-minute limit being imposed on some spaces.

I don’t expect a response to this complaint. But I will be letting other people know about it.