The days are numbered for car owners who hang a “for sale” sign on their vehicles along Rancho Bernardo Road and other busy city streets, which will soon be off-limits to the curbside commerce.
By a unanimous vote, the San Diego City Council voted yesterday to impose a ban on parking cars for sale along stretches of 23 city streets from Rancho Bernardo to Midway to Lomita.
The law is likely to go into effect in late January or early February. Council members said the ban will make streets safer and remove impromptu car lots that they say are eyesores.
The same issue has come up in Encinitas, Escondido and Chula Vista, and it has run into constitutional concerns with seller's free-speech rights. San Diego says it has found the legal formula to make regulation work this time.
It doesn't sit right with Rick Sherry, 65, a retired teacher who is selling his white 1988 GMC truck that is parked along Rancho Bernardo Road. The Rancho Bernardo resident said he hopes to part with his second vehicle to get some extra cash to cope with the slumping economy.
“Don't stand in the way of commerce – especially now in these bad economic times,” Sherry said in a phone interview after the council's vote yesterday. “If money is changing hands, that's good.”
Sherry's truck was among more than a dozen vehicles for sale yesterday on Rancho Bernardo Road near Bernardo Oaks Drive – a display that will be illegal after the ban.
City Councilman Brian Maienschein has been working on the crackdown for much of the eight years he has represented Rancho Bernardo and other communities in the northeast part of the city. Finally, in Maienschein's last week on the City Council, he succeeded.
Prevented from running for re-election by term limits, Maienschein will be replaced in District 5 by Carl DeMaio on Monday.
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DETAILS
These streets are affected by the ban. Go to uniontrib.com/more/polblog to see which specific segments are affected.
District 2: Rosecrans Street, Sports Arena Boulevard, Midway Drive.
District 3: 33rd Street, Adams Avenue, El Cajon Boulevard, Meade Avenue, University Avenue, Wightman Street.
District 4: Home Avenue, Euclid Avenue, Cardiff Street, Logan Avenue.
District 5: Bernardo Center Drive, Paseo Lucido, Rancho Bernardo Road, Stoney Peak Drive.
District 6: Boyd Avenue, Clairemont Drive (north side), Convoy Street, Moraga Avenue (west side), Morena Boulevard.
Online: Read past coverage, the city staff report and the full list of road segments at uniontrib.com/more/polblog
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“This issue is very important to the people of my council district and elsewhere in the city,” Maienschein said before the vote. “These sellers turn these streets into car lots. They're eyesores and cause public safety issues.”
Maienschein said he has received many complaints from residents over the years decrying the slowing of traffic as passing motorists and pedestrians ogle the used vehicles.
“I've seen a lot of near misses,” he said. “It won't be long before someone is struck and killed.”
City officials hope to prevent accidents in the 23 areas that have been designated off-limits by posting signs notifying the public that it will be illegal to park vehicles there for sale.
Initially 347 signs will be posted in Districts 2 through 6 at a cost of $56,700. The most signs – 141 – will be in Maienschein's district at a cost of $23,000.
Money for the signs will come from public works funds set aside for each council district.
In addition, Maienschein committed another $2,500 from his office to cover the costs for a new database that police can use to track violators.
Violators will be fined $40. If the vehicle is not moved within 24 hours, it can be impounded.
Currently, cars can be ticketed or towed if they are parked in the same spot for more than 72 hours.
Cities beyond San Diego County have been grappling with how to crack down on ad hoc dealerships – but also respect free speech – for years.
In 2001, the Los Angeles City Council had to repeal a law that banned residents from putting “for sale” signs on their cars, after the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the ban in federal court.
The ACLU argued that the ban infringed on free speech because other signs on parked cars were allowed, including bumper stickers and ads.
Chula Vista, however, forbids privately owned vehicles with “for sale” signs on public or private property and fines violators.
Escondido allows the signs, believing a ban would be unconstitutional.
Deputy San Diego City Attorney Michael Calabrese said the city's ban complies with state law, which allows a prohibition along roads that are heavily congested or constructed in a way in which the public could be harmed.
Calabrese said the ban honors a car-sellers' right to “commercial speech” because the curbside sales are only forbidden on designated streets and does not apply citywide.
Once the ban is in place, additional streets can be added to the no-sale zones by a council vote.
Ronald W. Powell: (619) 293-1258; ron.powell@uniontrib.com
