General Reports

[Baxter Slade]

Good points and this was along the lines of my thinking. I just haven't had the opportunity to test it out like you. Though I'll admit, even if I had the opportunity, it might not have dawned on me to try it. Then again, the last time I was at the Palm Avenue station this past weekend, I consciously looked for signs that explicitly stated a 24 hour parking limit and didn't see any. But I didn't do an exhaustive search either.

As I mentioned the only sign I saw at Palm ave. Was a warning about parking in a handicap spot. After parking there for 5 days with no issue I'm pretty sure the only thing they care about is a car being abandoned there. So if your car starts to get filthy and spider webs on the tires and it gets that I haven't been moved in over a month look you probably need to worry.

[BrotherMouzone]

Good points and this was along the lines of my thinking. I just haven't had the opportunity to test it out like you. Though I'll admit, even if I had the opportunity, it might not have dawned on me to try it. Then again, the last time I was at the Palm Avenue station this past weekend, I consciously looked for signs that explicitly stated a 24 hour parking limit and didn't see any. But I didn't do an exhaustive search either.

It says it on the MTS website that parking at trolley stations is in theory limited to only 24 hours: https://www.sdmts.com/transit-servic...tation-parking.

I assume they have signs about the time limit in the lots, though could be difficult to find depending on the lot. I nearly always park at the Palomar St. Trolley station (1 stop north of Palm Ave.) as I've gotten comfortable parking there. Have not once had any issues.

[Jay0940]

Getting the conditional approval for Global Entry isn't too bad as long as you have a relatively clean record. If you do have any convictions for anything be sure to tell them. You can get approved with minor issues. I had a drunk driving well before my application date and I did get approved. But do not lie. If they find an unreported conviction you will be immediately denied.

The bad part about Glibal Entry is getting the interview scheduled and completed. There are very few places where they conduct the interviews and scheduling is a challenge. If you are renewing you can use the interview on arrival when you arrive at an airport from an international flight. I don't believe that is available for first time applicants.

For Global Entry you can do the first interview at any entry point. Luckily I was flying into JFK from MDE and they were slow. The agent saw I had a conditional approval and asked if I wanted to do the interview right there. Took about 10 extra minutes.

[HardDrive]

I called about 9 months ago. It was over an hour wait time. I probably should call again. At that time they said the wait had gotten to 9 months. Now I have seen it said the wait is 12-14 months.

Considering other areas of my life I do not think there will be a problem with my past but who knows. If there is a problem will I be in a forever approval status or will they just deny me?

Getting the conditional approval for Global Entry isn't too bad as long as you have a relatively clean record. If you do have any convictions for anything be sure to tell them. You can get approved with minor issues. I had a drunk driving well before my application date and I did get approved. But do not lie. If they find an unreported conviction you will be immediately denied.

The bad part about Glibal Entry is getting the interview scheduled and completed. There are very few places where they conduct the interviews and scheduling is a challenge. If you are renewing you can use the interview on arrival when you arrive at an airport from an international flight. I don't believe that is available for first time applicants.

[Hadez]

From past discussions on the GE it will allow you to use the Sentri but I'm not sure the process would be any faster. Have you been trying to contact anyone for an idea on why so long? I seem to remember others posting here recently that it o my took a matter of weeks and this was during COVID. You might have some questionable things in your past that is making it more difficult for them to approve you.

I called about 9 months ago. It was over an hour wait time. I probably should call again. At that time they said the wait had gotten to 9 months. Now I have seen it said the wait is 12-14 months.

Considering other areas of my life I do not think there will be a problem with my past but who knows. If there is a problem will I be in a forever approval status or will they just deny me?

[ParallaxView]

As I clearly stated, NextDoor is in fact anecdotal. So get off your high horse, dude.

The problem isn't with my claims, but yours. I backed up my claims with a link to a non-anecdotal source, but you didn't bother looking at it.

Oh, well. Denial is the biggest river in Egypt!

Wait. The problem isn't with your anecdotal claims that have no basis in facts but mine? What claims did I made besides being rightfully skeptical of what you wrote? You backed up no claims but simply plopped down a link which I'm wondering if you've even looked at yourself. Weird logic, "dude".

You provided no facts when questioned but expected me to do all of the work for you instead of you actually providing the requested facts. Pretty easy to conclude that you have no real idea. No shame in admitting it, but I understand if you're trying to deny that. No shame in admitting that, just disappointing that's the way you'd go about it. In any case, I would like to visit Egypt. And Tijuana once again, and soon.

[ParallaxView]

It might seem "easy" on the surface but you've got several hundred cars that go in and out of those trolley lots every day. It's just not practical for MTS to sit there monitoring which cars have been there for more than 24 hours and which haven't and honestly, it's poor customer service to dole out tickets to cars that have been there a little over the 24 hour limit. All that does is discourage people from using the lots (thus putting more cars on the street and increasing traffic congestion) and I think MTS realizes that. There's a reason why those lots are free. The city of San Diego wants as many people as possible to use them. MTS also recognizes that there are cases where a car parked in the same area actually wasn't there for 24 hours straight. It might just be a driver who commutes to work via trolley and likes to park in the same or similar spot in the trolley lot every day (I'm sure there are numerous numerous examples of this).

Good points and this was along the lines of my thinking. I just haven't had the opportunity to test it out like you. Though I'll admit, even if I had the opportunity, it might not have dawned on me to try it. Then again, the last time I was at the Palm Avenue station this past weekend, I consciously looked for signs that explicitly stated a 24 hour parking limit and didn't see any. But I didn't do an exhaustive search either.

[BrotherMouzone]

Thats a bad way to view it. Law enforcement wants the smallest fish to fry, particularly when they have a car to give a ticket to. Do you think law enforcement wants to pull up to the trolley station and witness a gang beating. Or. Pull up and give some tickets to cars? They don't want to see or get involved with any crime. They want safe, no hassle. And I do see tickets on cars and I've seen many cars towed away from the trolley station. I guess the Importent question is, How much exactly is the ticket? Its possible its under 50 bucks. My only ticket in sd was $55. If its $55 and under, you probably won't get towed if its just 3 nights. You probably wouldn't get the ticket till day 3 or 4 anyway. So you can just do it and factor in the ticket at 17 dollars a day cost to park on the car in weekends that's pretty good.

It might seem "easy" on the surface but you've got several hundred cars that go in and out of those trolley lots every day. It's just not practical for MTS to sit there monitoring which cars have been there for more than 24 hours and which haven't and honestly, it's poor customer service to dole out tickets to cars that have been there a little over the 24 hour limit. All that does is discourage people from using the lots (thus putting more cars on the street and increasing traffic congestion) and I think MTS realizes that. There's a reason why those lots are free. The city of San Diego wants as many people as possible to use them. MTS also recognizes that there are cases where a car parked in the same area actually wasn't there for 24 hours straight. It might just be a driver who commutes to work via trolley and likes to park in the same or similar spot in the trolley lot every day (I'm sure there are numerous numerous examples of this).

I've personally never seen any tickets or cars towed but my guess is the vast majority of those cases are the cars that have been there an inordinate amount of time (e. G. , a week or more) where the MTS staff patrolling the lot couldn't help but notice that the car had been there all week so in that case had to do something. But highly doubt they do anything or even care about cars that've been there for like 2-3 days, at least in my experience.

[WombatEd2]

Apologies, but Nextdoor is about the opposite of a reputable data source and exactly the anecdotal accounts that don't bear much weight. Besides the fact that Nextdoor, in my lone opinion, is the absolute bottom of the barrel of the internet.

As I clearly stated, NextDoor is in fact anecdotal. So get off your high horse, dude.

And no, I won't do your work for you in proving your claims right or wrong by going to a website. I'll take the fact that you referenced Nextdoor as a reputable website that you don't know what is going on regarding crime nor have any basis to back up your claims.

The problem isn't with my claims, but yours. I backed up my claims with a link to a non-anecdotal source, but you didn't bother looking at it.

Oh, well. Denial is the biggest river in Egypt!

[Dogers69]

I've been hypersensitive about this but I'm grateful you've tried it out and wrote about it. And I'd have to think you're right. They have bigger fish to fry and parking lot enforcement sounds like a very time consuming task which probably may not ultimately yield the city all that much money. After all, I wonder how many people would really leave their car at a trolley parking lot for multiple days. Who knows, I probably shouldn't assume; maybe I'd be surprised.

Thats a bad way to view it. Law enforcement wants the smallest fish to fry, particularly when they have a car to give a ticket to. Do you think law enforcement wants to pull up to the trolley station and witness a gang beating. Or. Pull up and give some tickets to cars? They don't want to see or get involved with any crime. They want safe, no hassle. And I do see tickets on cars and I've seen many cars towed away from the trolley station. I guess the Importent question is, How much exactly is the ticket? Its possible its under 50 bucks. My only ticket in sd was $55. If its $55 and under, you probably won't get towed if its just 3 nights. You probably wouldn't get the ticket till day 3 or 4 anyway. So you can just do it and factor in the ticket at 17 dollars a day cost to park on the car in weekends that's pretty good.

[Clone8884]

I been waiting for 18 months now for my approval. I hear the pass use to take about 6 weeks before all the COVID stuff happened.

I am talking about the Sentri pass.. Maybe I should apply for Global Entry. Will it allow me to drive in the Sentri lane?

Yes, global entry allows you to register your car and use sentri.

[ParallaxView]

I live in Mira Mesa, which is a very low-crime district in the city of San Diego, and there's a horrific amount of chatter on NextDoor.com, along the lines of, "somebody stole my catalytic converter" or "some random wierdo tried to walk into my house." And the post usually ends with, "and I called the police, and they didn't do squat!

Of course, this stuff is all anecdotal. If you want really reliable data, you might want to try CrimeMapping.com. That's how I found my low-crime home in Mira Mesa.

Apologies, but Nextdoor is about the opposite of a reputable data source and exactly the anecdotal accounts that don't bear much weight. Besides the fact that Nextdoor, in my lone opinion, is the absolute bottom of the barrel of the internet.

And no, I won't do your work for you in proving your claims right or wrong by going to a website. I'll take the fact that you referenced Nextdoor as a reputable website that you don't know what is going on regarding crime nor have any basis to back up your claims.

[WombatEd2]

Out of curiosity, any reputable data to support this claim?

I live in Mira Mesa, which is a very low-crime district in the city of San Diego, and there's a horrific amount of chatter on NextDoor.com, along the lines of, "somebody stole my catalytic converter" or "some random wierdo tried to walk into my house." And the post usually ends with, "and I called the police, and they didn't do squat!

Of course, this stuff is all anecdotal. If you want really reliable data, you might want to try CrimeMapping.com. That's how I found my low-crime home in Mira Mesa.

[SeaBeeJoe]

I imagine that this was to be directed to Dogers, now he does exaggerate on things but many thefts are going by with law enforcement not doing anything to look for them. Just because a law is on the books it doesn't mean anything if the criminals are not going to be prosecuted. So law enforcement knows this and thus has given up on many thefts since it's basically a waste of their time.

The Police are over worked in the US and most petty thefts will never be investigated or prosecuted. Still any theft is against the law so you always take that chance when a person steals. I believe in karma and I think if I do evil yo others evil things will also happen to me, but that's my opinion. I was raised not to steal things from people and to also return things you borrow in the same or better condition.

[Dogers69]

Sometimes I go to Tijuana at the last minute use the trolley, , start drinking and get back to car at midnight, and can't drive yet. I either sleep two hours, and then drive or sleep 6 hrs but. I don't recommend it. If someone's breaking I to cars or stealing them, or taking the cat converters and sees you it could be dangerous. At dawn the police show up, and look at registrations. I heard them talking a;out the car next to mine while I was sleeping. I beleive they saw me sleeping I forget. I could have gotten a ticket for sleeping. But these lots are a dead zone by 1 am till 6 am. Its a long 5 hours of nobody in them. I did see undercover cops at 8th st station once watching cars when I slept in that station the 1 time. But basically I wouldn't park in these spots unless your car is empty of belongings. My car looks so bad, it fits in oerfectly in San Diego and Chula Vista even would look perfect for Tijuana. I would not try and use my car in Florida or NYC suburbs the police would be staring at it and start following me. They don't like poor looking beaters in nicer places.