Connect with us

San Diego, CA

190-space safe parking lot for people living in cars to open near San Diego Aiport

Published

7 months ago

on

190-space safe parking lot for people living in cars to open near San Diego Aiport


A former first-responder training facility near the San Diego Airport is set to open this weekend as a repurposed safe-sleeping parking lot for unhoused residents.

The H Barracks site off North Harbor Drive between Kincaid and McCain roads will provide 190 parking spaces for use by individuals and families living in their vehicles. The site will be managed by the nonprofit Jewish Family Service of San Diego, who operates the program at other locations across the city.

“The individuals and families served through the Safe Parking Program are our neighbors, and many are experiencing homelessness for the first time — needing just a little bit of help to get back on their feet,” Mayor Todd Gloria said when the new site was approved in mid-April. “Programs like Safe Parking give us a chance to intervene early and get folks on a path back to housing, and with the H Barracks site, we’ll be able to help hundreds more struggling San Diegans.

Jewish Family Services CEO Dana Toppel said the program is intended to provide additional services that can provide residents a “pathway to stability.” Their sites include restrooms, housing navigation, mental health services and job training, and participants work with case managers to create individual housing goals, according to the city.

Advertisement

The additional parking spaces will bring San Diego’s Safe Parking Program to about 400 spaces. H Barracks also includes space for recreational vehicles.

The city’s director of the city’s Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department, Sarah Jarman, said the program targets a different need among San Diego’s unhoused population.

“We know from the latest Point in Time Count that the need here has grown and not just for cars, but for oversized vehicles too. Investing in multiple types of sheltering options is key to meeting people where they are,” Jarman said previously.

The city has filed a permit application for a 600-bed facility at the H Barracks. NBC 7’s Omari Fleming reports some residents are questioning the city’s transparency about the project. 

Some members of the nearby Point Loma community opposed the location for the new site while others agreed action should be taken to provide people a path toward housing.

Advertisement

According to a city staff report, just within the last year, JFS has served more than 1,000 individuals across all four safe parking sites. Of those, more than 800 exited the program with more than 250 of them moving into permanent housing.

The H Barracks were previously military barracks and served as a police and fire department training facility, but the crumbling buildings were torn down earlier this year. The area is the future site of a San Diego Pure Water treatment facility. Paving was completed last month at the location and mobile office trailers for program staff have been added, with electrical work and lighting upgrades to be completed soon.

The site could be open through 2029. The city has four one-year options to renew the agreement before the Pure Water facility begins operations.



Source link

Advertisement
Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

San Diego, CA

Mayor Gloria defends Balboa Park paid parking, blames council for rocky rollout

Published

7 hours ago

on

January 9, 2026

By

Mayor Gloria defends Balboa Park paid parking, blames council for rocky rollout


San Diego will put off issuing citations for paid parking in Balboa Park for about one month while improvements are made, but Mayor Todd Gloria says the new system is functioning well and being “actively adopted.”

In a long and harshly worded memo released Thursday, Gloria said recent calls by City Council members to suspend the program were politically motivated and examples of bad governance and erratic decision-making.

Gloria also deflected blame for the chaotic way enforcement began Monday, when city officials raced to put stickers about resident discounts on parking kiosks and lobbied a vendor to deliver crucial missing signs.

The mayor said the council had “shaped, amended and approved” paid parking in Balboa Park and contended an accelerated timeline chosen by the council made it hard for his administration to implement it flawlessly.

Advertisement

The mayor’s memo came in response to a Tuesday memo from Councilmembers Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera in which they called implementation of paid parking “haphazard” and “not ready for prime time.”

Lee and Elo-Rivera said the process for city residents to get approved for discounts was so complex, cumbersome and confusing that Gloria should waive fees for residents until they have had time to adapt and learn.

While Gloria rejected that suggestion in part of his memo, he later said “enforcement remains focused on education, not punishment, during this early phase, to ensure park users are aware of the new parking fees.”

Dave Rolland, a spokesperson for Gloria, said Thursday that no specific date had been set for when the city would shift from education to enforcement. But he added that “about a month” would be an accurate timeline.

City officials have already corrected one key mistake: Signs that were missing Monday — alerting drivers that the 951-space lower Inspiration Point lot is free for three hours — have since been installed.

Advertisement

Lee and Elo-Rivera in their memo decried “an inadequate effort to educate the public on how to use this new system.”

They said San Diegans had not been clearly informed about when a portal for city resident discounts would go live or how to use it.

And they complained that residents weren’t told they couldn’t buy discounted parking passes in person, or when enforcement with citations would actually begin.

City residents must apply for discounts online, pay $5 to have their residency verified, then wait two days for that verification and choose the day they will visit in advance.

Lee and Elo-Rivera called the city’s efforts “a haphazard rollout that will surely lead to San Diegans missing out on their resident discount and paying higher parking rates than they have to.”

Advertisement

Gloria said the city collected $23,000 in parking fees on Monday and Tuesday and another $106,000 in daily, monthly and quarterly passes — mostly from residents who get discounts on such passes.

“Early data shows that the program is functioning and being used,” he said. “These are not the metrics of a system that is failing to function. They are the metrics of a system that is new, actively being adopted, and continuing to improve as public familiarity increases.”

While Gloria conceded that some improvements are still necessary, he rejected calls from Lee and Elo-Rivera for a suspension, citing his concerns it would jeopardize city finances and confuse the public.

“Your proposal to suspend paid parking for residents two days into the new program would have immediate and serious fiscal consequences,” Gloria said. “This reversal could introduce confusion among park users and would disregard investments already made to establish the system, potentially compromising the program’s effectiveness.”

Paid parking in Balboa Park is expected to generate about $3.7 million during the fiscal year that ends June 30, but revenue is expected to rise substantially when the fees are in place for a full fiscal year.

Advertisement

Gloria said the money is a small part of the city’s overall solution to recurring deficits it faces of more than $100 million per year.

“What we will not do is reverse course days into implementation in a way that undermines fiscal stability, creates uncertainty, and sends the message that addressing a decades-old structural budget deficit that has plagued our city is optional because it is politically uncomfortable,” he said. “That kind of erratic decision-making is not good governance, and San Diegans deserve better.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo said Thursday that paid parking there has continued to go smoothly since it began on Monday.

The zoo, which is using Ace Parking for enforcement, opted for immediate citations instead of an educational grace period.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

San Diego, CA

Barricaded individual in custody following police response in Mission Valley

Published

20 hours ago

on

January 8, 2026

By

Barricaded individual in custody following police response in Mission Valley


SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego Police responded to a barricaded individual in the Mission Valley area Thursday afternoon, prompting a heavy law enforcement presence.

  • The Nexstar Media video above details resources for crime victims

The department confirmed around 1 p.m. that officers were on scene in the 1400 block of Hotel Circle North, and are working to safely resolve the situation. Authorities asked the public to avoid the area and allow officers the space needed to conduct their operations.

Police described the incident as a domestic violence restraining order violation. At this time, it’s unknown if the person is armed.

No injuries have been reported.

The suspect was taken into custody within an hour.

Advertisement

Further details about the barricaded person were not immediately released. Police say updates will be shared as more information becomes available.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

San Diego, CA

Padres roster review: Luis Campusano

Published

1 day ago

on

January 8, 2026

By

Padres roster review: Luis Campusano





Padres roster review: Luis Campusano – San Diego Union-Tribune


















Advertisement




Skip to content

LUIS CAMPUSANO

  • Position(s): Catcher
  • Bats / Throws: Right / Right
  • 2026 opening day age: 27
  • Height / Weight: 5-foot-10 / 232 pounds
  • How acquired: Second round of the draft in 2017 (Cross Creek HS, Ga.)
  • Contract status: Will make $900,000 after agreeing to a one-year deal to avoid arbitration; Will not be a free agent until 2029.
  • fWAR in 2025: Minus-0.4
  • Key 2025 stats: .000 AVG, .222 OBP, .000 SLG, 0 HRs, 0 RBIs, 0 runs, 6 walks, 11 strikeouts, 0 steals (10 games, 27 plate appearances)

 

STAT TO NOTE

  • 1 — The number of plate appearances for Campusano while in the majors between June 1 and June 13 and the one at-bat resulted in a weak, pinch-hit groundout against a position player (Kike Hernandez) on the mound in mop-up duty. Campusano was recalled to the majors four times in 2025 but did not get a real opportunity get settled after he went 0-for-6 with four walks and a strikeout in three straight starts as a DH in early May. Of course, hitting .227/.281/.361 with eight homers over 299 plate appearances after getting the first real chance to start in 2024 likely informed how the Padres viewed his opportunity in 2025.

RevContent Feed

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending