End the Overnight Parking Ban

Tomorrow night, the City Council will consider a move toward repealing the citywide overnight parking ban between the hours of 2:00 and 5:00am.  This is a long overdue and welcomed change that would significantly improve the lives of many Fullerton residents.

I’ve lived in Fullerton my entire life.  Never once have I heard someone complain that a car was illegally parked on a city street in the early morning hours.  The only complaints are from people who have been cited.

The overwhelming majority of us are asleep, at least partially, during those hours and aren’t aware, and couldn’t care less, if a car was left parked on the street.  Our quality of life is not impaired one iota by another person making use of a public asset during the night hours.

In the Agenda Letter, Director of Community Development Karen Haluza provides an insightful history into the overnight parking ban, which dates all the way back to 1924 when Fullerton was converting from dirt to asphalt roads.  Spencer Custodio at the Voice of OC also penned a nice article on this subject.   Both are well worth the read.

The City’s Nonsensical 1970 Findings

Besides having no use apart from generating citation revenue, the irony of the many justifications the City made in 1970 for preserving the ban apply more appropriately to daylight hoursThe findings were as follows:

(a) In that frequent sweeping of litter, refuse and trash from streets is required to
prevent disease and unsightly appearances and such sweeping can be done
most economically and efficiently while vehicles are not parked thereon, and

I’m not aware of any City street sweeping taking place between 2:00am and 5:00am.  As far back as I can remember, street sweeping has been as predictable as trash collection on a specific day of the week during daylight hours.

(b) In that frequent police patrolling of streets is required to deter, prevent and detect
criminal activity and there is greater need for such patrolling between the hours
of 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. than at other times and such patrolling can be done
most economically and will best accomplish its purpose while the streets are free
from parked vehicles, and

There is no “frequent police patrolling of streets” between 2:00am and 5:00am.  Many Fullerton residents out and about during those hours have stories of FPD patrol units parked in inconspicuous locations around town with the officer sound asleep, provided nothing else is going on.

(c) In that the reduction of unnecessary parking on streets during all hours is
required to reduce the injuries to children and other pedestrians entering upon a
street between, or from the front of, vehicles parked thereon and such reduction
will be accomplished by prohibiting the 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. parking of vehicles
thereon and thereby promoting the off-street parking of vehicles during all hours, and

Ha!  Who lets their children linger in the streets at any hour, much less 2:00am to 5:00am?  Children and pedestrians are far more likely to be present on streets or sidewalks when the parking ban is NOT in effect.

Ms. Haluza correctly acknowledges that these findings are weak, and would be difficult to make again today.

Exceptions in place

Despite the signs posted at every city limit declaring no overnight parking, a mess of bureaucratic red tape has made it possible to apply for and receive an exception.  Judging by the widespread prevalence of areas where overnight parking has been permitted, one would hope the City Council gets the idea.

Street Parking to Offset Residential Needs

If repealed, one potential consequence that needs to be prevented — and, as such, put in writing by the City Council to prevent — is that available street parking cannot be used by a developer to circumvent sufficient parking needs in any high or low-density residential development.

Many developers would probably salivate at the possibility of cramming more units into what would otherwise be parking spaces, thus profiting off our public assets — namely, our street parking.

Provided the above problem is addressed, this Fullerton resident supports tossing the Overnight Parking Ban into that flaming dumpster fire ASAP.

I recommend everyone with concerns on this issue attend the City Council meeting — Tuesday, March 21, 6:30pm at City Hall.

23 Replies to “End the Overnight Parking Ban”

  1. I grew up on a block with overnight parking. Some of us neighbors would stick it to each other by calling in when there was a repeating problem and the police made it clear they only come out to write a ticket if somebody calls in first and they will only ticket the street that was called in. One of the aspects of this law has to do with homes who utilze their garage space for other means like to us as an extra addition for roomage and park on the street. Indirectly this law curtails the practice of renting out to too many renters for a single dwelling in a traditional neighborhood.Asthetics is one aspect as some nieborhoods people walk thru and walk their pets at night. Noise is reduced with people using thier alleys to park instead of the front streets which can get noisy on weekends. Overall I think that this rule works because the city has always accomadated an exception if necisarry. Also if you need a few week to park in front of your house you can easily get a temporary permit at the police dept. on a moments notice.

    1. Lived here all my life and the no parking on the street rule from 2:00am to 5:00am works for many different reasons.
      Why does the City Council have to waste time on this ?
      Aren’t there more important matters that need their attention ?

  2. The “no overnight parking” only affects certain areas of Fullerton. Most people don’t have any problem with it. It mainly affects residents near apartments. I have been on both sides of the issue. I used to live where parking was limited and received several citations. But it was my choice to live there. I moved from that area and purchased a home with a driveway and garage. I think that the city should not remove the ban because it puts some sort of control on the number of cars people have. Residents have to double think whether they need an additional car or not. Also, it makes residents use their garage for the intended purpose. It also makes the streets looks nicer and cleaner with less cars parked on them. This ban has been around for a long time and people made a choice to live there knowing that they could not park on the streets between 2:00-5:00 AM.

  3. Pure meanness… you’re impinging on the hobbies of several old ladies who like to call the police about overnight parking

  4. If those residents who live in apartments that lack parking, just look to Whiting street off of Harbor Blvd, allowed to purchase permits to park on streets overnight , then the arbitrary 3 to 5 am parking ban is just another way for the city of Fullerton to financially gouge the good people of Fullerton

  5. Looking at the map, there seems to be a high correlation between approved overnight parking and areas with high amounts of renter-occupied single family homes.

    Those landlords will vote for it. The rest of property owners in Fullerton don’t seem to want it (except for apartment owners.)

  6. There seems to be unfair to people that do not have small driveways to be able to park overnight guests on the street. I have several cars and a car trailer in my driveway, if I have another car park in my driveway then I would be parked over the sidewalk since I have 2 trucks. There is no reason that Fullerton Tax Payers should not be able to park on the street in front of their houses. I have also received several tickets through tout the several years.

    1. Looking at it another way… why should the taxpayers of Fullerton pay for a spot for you to store your excess trucks? Most taxpayers use their own driveways and garages. You seem to have more vehicles than you can store.

  7. Looking at the map for permits shows the have and have nots. West Fullerton and areas closest to the 91 freeway are mixed with apartments, businesses and single family homes are low income areas. The hills of Fullerton dont need permits as they are primarily single family homes with garages and driveways. So those who can least afford it are forced to pay parking fines or parking permits to the greedy city of Fullerton. I wonder how much city revenue is garnered from the arbitrary overnight parking ban and how and where this same revenue is spent by the city.

  8. Fortunately where we live parking is NOT a problem except during the day when school is in session but that is a whole different story. It chaps my rear that we cannot park in front of our house 2-5 am. If there was actual street sweeping on specified days during those hours there would be no issue.
    The REAL problems is too many people and apartments with too few parking spaces. It’s all about the money.

  9. I am on the fence about the whole thing. I like the clean streets at those hours. I also get home around 5am from work. I am one of those people that do not get to sleep normal hours. I have to be especially careful so I do not block my wife’s car. She needs to leave for work in the morning. Being able to park on the street would be nice when I got home, but opening the streets up may cause something else to happen that nobody has spoken about.

    We have a bad homeless situation. Some of them live in there cars. I have seen some of them park on the street by my house. Their vehicles do not move for days. One of the reasons we do not park on the street is to cut down crime. How many of you want mobile dwelling people to pull up residents in front of your house? I have enough strange people riding bicycles all night long in my neighborhood. Things go missing all the time on my street. Why would I want to add to that. But hey if that something you want I can send them to your house.

  10. And if it is rescinded, will they at least ticket on street sweeping days? Because Whiting Avenue is a dump. So many cars parked there all of the time and no way to sweep the streets. Just another way to make our streets even more crowded. Why not just clean out your garage so you can park in it?

  11. I live on corner where there is no overnight parking, cars lined up and never a ticket. I don’t care about the parking, it’s the Trash they leave behind! Condoms, empty arosol cans (used for drug use), fast food wrappers etc. Then there is the big rigs that try to park righ outside my kids bedroom windows…. Revving up and leaving in middle of night. This is a tad disruptive.

  12. Apartment tenants pay taxes and have the right to park on the streets in front of their buildings. Just the same, homeowners pay taxes and should have same rights to park on the streets in front of their homes, without competing for spaces with people who don’t even live on that block.

    1. You do not have a right to store your personal property on public property.

      You rent an apartment. Your bed belongs in your bedroom, not on the sidewalk.

      Your clothes belong in your closet, not strung from a power pole.

      Likewise, your car belongs in a rented garage, not on the public street.

      You are not entitled to preferential access to public property based on the proximity of your broom closet. That’s nuts.

  13. I have lived both sides of this issue. Lived in an apartment with a one car garage available and had two cars. I paid many tickets during the years I lived there. I currently live in a single family home on a culdesac with 13 homes. 12 families manage to keep their vehicles in their garage or driveway without any issue. One family has four adult children and a total of seven cars. They have a two car garage that is crammed full of “stuff”. Their driveway could easily park 4 cars yet most nights has one. So 5 to 6 cars are on our street at most times (not just 2 to 5 am.). They leave trash on the streets and prevent the street sweeper to clean the street. So 12 neighbors have to suffer for the lack of concern of one. This one neighbor has been approached by many of us but his response is always “call the cops if you don’t like it”

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