SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Residents in a Rancho Penasquitos neighborhood are still shaking their heads over a bike lane that unexpectedly appeared on their street.
Jennifer, who lives on Azuaga street said, “We got a notice of a no street parking in the end of March on that night. Woke up the next morning and this bike lane was painted.
She told ABC 10News that people who live on her street were not told that these lanes would be coming to their block.
Initially, there was confusion with the lanes being where people typically park.
“We reached out to the police department to ask if we were still allowed to park here. We reached out to the City Council to ask what we would do since it’s a white curb, bike lane, and we still had signs that said park parallel and the answer was no idea,” Jennifer said.
But later on, there was a physical answer to their question.
“Last weekend, Saturday night, overnight -- again, overnight -- signs came up, no parking. First thing Monday morning, PD was out here issuing tickets,” Jennifer said.
And the parking situation is now tough.
“Now, you’re fighting for parking or you’re parking where you can still park across the street, up the hill where it’s not lit,” Jennifer said.
Jennifer said she and other neighbors reached out to City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert’s office about the issue.
“Unfortunately, my office was not notified about the bike improvements on Azuaga Street, neither were the residents,” von Wilpert said.
The councilmember said her office requested a meeting with the city’s Transportation Department to find out what happened and find a solution.
“While we were happy to see safe biking infrastructure in our district, we really need to make sure that this is done in a way that residents are given adequate notice, there’s still adequate parking, and proper signage is used,” von Wilpert said. “We’re having a lot of calls from residents who didn’t see the no parking signs because they weren’t placed in viable areas.”
As city leaders look to figure out a solution, Jennifer wishes more said about the lanes.
“If we were able to have had more communication and open dialogue about what was going on; what the intent was, I think this would’ve been handled a lot differently,” Jennifer said.
