A trillion-dollar company turned a slice of San Diego's Crown Point Shores into its own private loading dock, and city leaders want it to stop immediately. Amazon confirmed it used the Mission Bay Park site as a package transfer and distribution point, parking a box truck across multiple spaces while workers loaded hand carts to complete deliveries on foot nearby.
The setup was first captured on video by California Labor Federation President and former state Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, who posted footage in mid-August showing an Amazon Logistics Ryder truck ringed by blue cones, a cooler, and a worker's desk at the popular bayside park, according to SanDiegoVille. Gonzalez Fletcher publicly questioned why a major corporation was allowed to run what amounted to a private logistics network on public parkland. Amazon spokesperson Austin Stowe attributed the arrangement to a miscommunication tied to the company's newly launched Walker program in San Diego, in which a central truck parks in a dense area so couriers can finish deliveries on foot, as reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Council President Demands Amazon Stop Using City Land
San Diego Council President Sean Elo-Rivera held a press conference at Mission Bay alongside union leaders to demand that Amazon immediately cease using city land for its operations, per the Union-Tribune's report. Elo-Rivera said Amazon used public land to worsen an already uneven competitive playing field, and he criticized the company's use of the park as unfair to local businesses, especially small ones that must pay for permits Amazon never sought. He did not mince words, saying parks are for people rather than profit, and that Amazon should not turn San Diego's public parks and public right-of-way into a private distribution network.
Elo-Rivera also said he doubted Amazon's explanation that the park use was accidental, suggesting the company intentionally calculated its distribution operation would go unnoticed. He said Amazon should find private distribution sites instead of relying on city property, and confirmed the company did not compensate the city for using Crown Point Shores. The council president urged anyone who spots Amazon using city land for distribution to call his office at 858-236-6699.
Labor Union Calls It a Public Subsidy
Todd Walter, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 135, joined Elo-Rivera in criticizing Amazon's use of public parking as a makeshift distribution site. Walter called the arrangement a public subsidy, arguing that Amazon avoided the cost of securing legitimate distribution space by instead using land maintained by taxpayers. Chris Walker, co-founder of The WinYL Club, said public parks should have more accessible ways for the public to use them, a comment that underscored the broader tension between commercial encroachment and everyday park access.
What the Walker Program Actually Requires
Amazon's on-foot delivery model requires distribution sites where workers load push carts with goods from trucks before fanning out to complete deliveries by hand. Job listings reviewed by ZipRecruiter show Delivery Service Partners hiring foot couriers at $17 to $20 an hour to haul carts loaded with up to 50 pounds of goods, with no driver's license required. The program was originally built for dense urban markets like New York City, where navigating and parking large delivery vans creates major operational bottlenecks, according to accounts shared on Reddit's r/AmazonDSPDrivers community. Amazon has said the on-foot approach aims to reduce noise and traffic congestion caused by double-parked delivery vans, and Elo-Rivera said he supports that underlying concept of avoiding street blockage — he simply opposes doing it on parkland.
Elo-Rivera also supported a broader crackdown on Amazon vehicles that double park in residential neighborhoods, saying the company's business model relies on making San Diego streets more dangerous. He noted double-parked Amazon vans can cause crashes. An Amazon delivery truck was seen parked in Bankers Hill on the same day the Union-Tribune report published, illustrating the kind of street-level parking friction that has drawn council scrutiny even beyond the park incident.
City Attorney Reviewing Fines and Permit Rules
Crown Point Shores sits within Mission Bay Park, a 4,235-acre aquatic park that is the largest man-made aquatic park in the United States, comprising roughly 46% land and 54% water, according to city park guidance. Under the municipal code updates implemented in June 2024, any business or instructor offering commercial services on city parkland or beaches must secure a park use permit, with unauthorized commercial activity subject to code enforcement citations. City Attorney Heather Ferbert is exploring whether Amazon can be fined for using Crown Point Shores and what steps could prevent the company from staging similar operations at other city parks, per the Union-Tribune.
Elo-Rivera said he opposes Amazon even seeking a formal permit to use city parks for distribution going forward, arguing the practice has no place on land meant for the public. Amazon told SanDiegoVille it corrected the park-use error and added safeguards to prevent future staging at parks, and the company said separately that it plans to expand drone delivery into suburban areas across hundreds of U.S. cities. The city's 1994 Mission Bay Park Master Plan has long recommended shifting large group events and heavy vehicular uses away from Crown Point Shores to avoid traffic congestion and conflicts with nearby residential communities, a policy that predates Amazon's current expansion by decades.
Amazon uses local delivery service operators to run much of its last-mile logistics in San Diego, and the company said it launched on-foot delivery in the region only in recent weeks. Whether the city attorney ultimately issues fines, and what specific safeguards Amazon puts in place at its other San Diego staging locations, remain open questions as officials continue reviewing the incident.
