Although Santa Ana City Council voted earlier this week to reduce prices of parking citations to encourage a business-friendly environment, some residents claim unfair parking enforcement is driving business away.
"We want people to come to Santa Ana because it's a welcoming community, there's a vibrant arts scene, there's great restaurants, but if they get a $56 ticket on top of that, it's like they're being mugged," said Victor Payan, a Santa Ana resident.
Payan recorded an interaction with a parking enforcement official who was preparing to issue him a ticket while the parking meter was still flashing green.
"We saw this officer about to give us a ticket on the green, and because I had gotten a ticket at 7:59 p.m. at a meter that stops at 8, I was not going to let this happen," Payan said.
One Santa Ana business owner said a parking enforcement employee issued her business partner a ticket while she was moving her car, and while the meter still had time left.
"He was there waiting and literally photographing the license plate as she was in the car trying to move it," April Malina Niedle said. "He was so, such a jerk. We couldn't believe it."
Another business owner, Jason Niedle, had a similar experience.
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"There was a ticket on my car, but it was dated it was timed about 15 minutes after I'd parked my car," Niedle said. "But that's actually impossible, I paid with a credit card, the least amount of time you can pay I believe is an hour and 20 minutes," Niedle said.
Despite such claims, the Santa Ana city manager said he frequents downtown Santa Ana daily, and hasn't seen anyone get a ticket who shouldn't have.
Yet, City Councilman Vincent Sarmiento had his own negative parking meter experience, and shared it at this week's city council meeting.
"We stopped there just for a few minutes, and a person on a meter came up behind us and before we could even do anything or explain, our ticket or our citation was written up," Sarmiento said at a public hearing.
While the city council voted this week to reduce parking citations from $56 to $40, there has been no action as of yet regarding parking enforcement.
