At Golden Hill Cafe, the lunch and breakfast crowd has been thinning out, and staff say they know exactly why: construction crews building a new apartment complex down the block have been parking their trucks and vans in the street spaces customers used to count on. Trudi Erickson, who has worked at the cafe for 36 years, put it bluntly: “My customers can’t find a place to park.”
The complaint centers on the Alüm project at 1101 25th St., a mid-rise development that broke ground near the cafe’s corner at 25th and C streets, according to Times of San Diego. Cafe staff told the outlet they noticed public parking spots disappearing around the time construction began, and that customer traffic has declined as the work has continued. Workers have been leaving cars, trucks and panel vans in the street spaces right in front of the diner, and some customers have reportedly given up on finding a spot and skipped breakfast altogether.
Not every neighboring business has felt the squeeze. Krisp market and Panchita’s Bakery have been largely unaffected, the report notes, because their customers can park in a private lot instead of competing for street spaces.
Staff Say Enforcement Seemed to Pause
Beyond the parking crunch itself, cafe employees told the paper they noticed something else: parking enforcement officers appeared to stop chalking tires and issuing tickets in the timed zones out front. That observation prompted Times of San Diego to ask the San Diego Police Department and the office of Councilmember Stephen Whitburn why tickets seemed to have dried up. Whitburn’s office did not respond to the inquiry, per the same report.
Police gave a different answer. Ashley Nicholes, communications manager for Police Chief Scott Wahl, said there was no order to pull back. “There was no direction given to not enforce parking restrictions in the area,” she said. Nicholes pointed instead to staffing changes, noting the department has hired several new parking enforcement officers and suggesting that a natural transition of employees could explain any shift in how the area was being patrolled.
Police Say They're Watching the Block
Nicholes said officers have since spoken with the cafe’s manager and employees, telling them the department would keep an eye on the area and encouraging staff to report future violations through the city’s Get It Done app. Police also said they contacted construction crew members directly about following parking rules, and that the crews assured them they would pass that guidance along to their employees.
On the ground, that message appears to have reached at least one foreman. Joe Garza, the on-site foreman for the Alüm project, said he had spoken with some area store owners before construction began but not with cafe workers directly. After hearing about the complaints, Garza said he texted other foremen instructing that their employees should only park in the area for two hours at a time. He noted there are five parking information signs posted in the public parking area in front of the cafe, one of which spells out the limit: two-hour parking from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The project drawing the extra trucks and vans is no small build. Alüm is a CAST Development project planned as an eight-story, 113-home mixed-use complex with ground-floor retail, a restaurant and a cocktail bar. Construction continues even as the parking dispute plays out at street level.
A Citywide Pattern of Contested Parking
Parking enforcement is a bigger business in San Diego than a single Golden Hill block suggests. A KPBS analysis of city data found the city issued more than 5 million parking citations over a 10-year span, generating nearly $300 million for its general fund, with Gaslamp and Mission Beach accounting for more than half of all tickets written between 2012 and 2022. Thursdays were the single most ticketed day in that period, making up 19% of citations, per the same analysis.
Enforcement itself has drawn scrutiny before. In December 2025, SDPD opened an investigation after video appeared to show an officer ticketing a Tesla even though its driver had paid for parking; the citation was later dismissed, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. That report also noted the city employs 65 parking enforcement officers, each required to complete six weeks of training.
Under the city’s municipal code, the City Council can prohibit or limit street parking during specified hours by resolution or ordinance, but such restrictions only take legal effect once appropriate signs are posted to give drivers adequate notice, according to San Diego’s municipal code. For now, Golden Hill Cafe is left watching the curb outside its door, hoping the existing signage, foreman texts and police attention translate into open spots for its regulars as construction continues.
