A San Diego family says for the first time in decades the city of San Diego cited them for parking their car feet from their own front door.
"This is how we've been parking our vehicles since the home was purchased," said Michelle Andrews.
Andrews said her family has owned the San Diego home for 43 years, but last week, they got a surprise on their windshield.
"We're like, 'What is this?'" she said. "Is this a joke?"
The family receives a parking citation from the city saying their vehicle was blocking the sidewalk. In the remarks, the ticket noted pedestrian access impeded.
"We were just shocked because, like I said, we've never had this issue before," Andrews said.
She acknowledged the back end of the vehicle was in the sidewalk.
Andrews told Team 10 parking in their driveway makes for easy access for her mother-in-law, who has an approved disabled person parking placard.
Andrews pulls the vehicle up as far as it can go, adding, "I've hit the garage a few times."
Andres said her neighborhood is old and many of the driveways aren't long enough to accommodate the vehicles parked there.
It wasn't hard for Team 10 to spot others also sticking out into the sidewalk.
Andrews said many vehicles in the neighborhood are consistently blocking the sidewalk, but she claims her family was the only one to get a parking ticket.
"Why would you just single us out?" she said.
On the city of San Diego's website, under parking enforcement rules, it does say parking is prohibited on a sidewalk or parkway.
The California vehicle code also says parking on the sidewalk is illegal, saying, "On any portion of a sidewalk, or with the body of the vehicle extending over any portion of a sidewalk, except electric carts when authorized by local ordinance, as specified in Section 21114.5. Lights, mirrors, or devices that are required to be mounted upon a vehicle under this code may extend from the body of the vehicle over the sidewalk to a distance of not more than 10 inches."
Andrews questions after four decades why the sudden enforcement. She said she doesn't want to block people from being able to pass the vehicle but wants to know where the city would like her to park.
The Andrews family has appealed the ticket
The San Diego Police Department told Team 10 parking enforcement officers issued three citations, including the one Andrews received, for blocking the sidewalk on October 11, 2016.
A department spokesperson said the vehicle can be parked in the driveway as long as it does not block the sidewalk.
If one of the residents has a disabled placard, they could contact the city and pay to have a disabled stall put in front of their residence.
