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Goleta Beach Parking
updated: Sep 14, 2012, 2:32 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

Does anyone actually monitor Goleta beach parking to prevent UCSB students from taking up all the parking space on the west end? I know it's supposed to be for beachgoers, but it seems like it's always packed with students (yes, I see them park and walk up the hill with their backpacks). It's not like it's a huge problem, I'm just curious.

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 320020	2012-09-14 02:35 PM
I've heard of them doing it, but I never got a ticket the handful of times of I did. I tried to be a bit less conspicuous about it and park a little further away, though.
COMMENT 320021	2012-09-14 02:40 PM
Pretty hard to enforce. Anyone can park there and leave with a backpack and walk along the beach, then go up the staircase. Just another reason to ride a bike though I guess.
COMMENT 320022	2012-09-14 02:42 PM
Parking on campus is such a hassle, even with the paid permit, that if I were still attending and able to walk that distance, I might do that. At age 75, it it is highly unlikely that I will.
COMMENT 320025	2012-09-14 02:43 PM
Hey. If anyone is fit enough to haul their carcass and backpack up that hill to UCSB, I say "More power to 'em!" It's a seasonal problem, it seems. How would it be enforced? Through use of County Sheriff's? I parked there once, to avoid having to circle around and try to find the proper visitor's space for my vehicle. Didn't want to pay. Was very sneaky about it all. Sweated bullets, but no ticket.
COMMENT 320042	2012-09-14 03:09 PM
I believe there are signs posted on the west end that state no UCSB parking.
DILLYDALLY	2012-09-14 03:20 PM
When I went to school there I couldn't afford rent in IV. I also couldn't afford a parking permit. I got about a ticket every other week parking at Goleta Beach and that was by far the cheapest option for me to attend class. Officials would use binoculars to watch for students then go over and ticket a whole bunch of cars at once.
COMMENT 320062	2012-09-14 03:38 PM
I have seen many vehicles ticketed for parking there and hiking up to UCSB. Had to chuckle as signs clearly state that you will be ticketed but yet again students didn't seem to think it applied to them.
MACSCIDOR	2012-09-14 03:42 PM
There are signs posted _and_ they do monitor. We were at Goleta Beach last year and talked with the gentleman assessing cars and giving tickets. By observation they know all the tricks: he even mentioned people parking at the East end -- trying not to be obvious about heading to UCSB. Nice guy.
COMMENT 320110	2012-09-14 04:53 PM
I like when it's raining and you see 25 cars parked at the UCSB side of the beach,where could all their owner be?
COMMENT 320142	2012-09-14 05:38 PM
NOAA and Santa Barbara Land Trust watch that parking lot like peregrine falcons.
COMMENT 320212	2012-09-14 08:18 PM
They need to put a boot on their cars. I think this would be most effective. Tow and impound would just get to expensive.
COMMENT 320318	2012-09-15 08:13 AM
Wow, there are so many much worse problems to solve. I wish law enforcement would spend more time on public safety and crime solving and less on parking issues. I wish you would, too.
COMMENT 320327	2012-09-15 08:35 AM
Funny how many older people must be posting on this EdHat thread. They've certainly forgotten what it once was like to be a college student themselves. If I were the age of the students parking their vehicles, I too, would be looking at ways to cut down on the high cost of tuition, the high cost of books, the high cost of parking at UCSB. The costs for a university education have only risen in the last 40 years, my friends, they haven't gone down. Have a little compassion, won't you? Or is ours the "I've got mine, your turn to suffer" generation? Social Darwinism operating here at the beach?
COMMENT 320333	2012-09-15 08:52 AM
Not to worry ! When the current County Plan called Goleta Beach 2.0 is implemented due to the California Coastal Commission dictate, the two West end parking lots ( 29% of parking spaces) and 1250' of protective rocks are removed ( subjecting 25% of grass and turf to Winter storms ), Goleta Beach Park will no longer be the Park we know and love today ! If you disagree with this plan, let you're objection be known to your County Supervisor.
COMMENT 320405	2012-09-15 11:06 AM
It's A PARKING LOT. People of all kinds can PARK there.
COMMENT 320410	2012-09-15 11:23 AM
Since they don't collect parking fees they don't have the extra staff resources to monitor such activities regularly. Smaller government, remember? Can't have it both ways. As a UCSB student in the 80's I frequently parked there.... it wasn't even paved then but the signs were posted against students parking there even then .... and sympathize with those who park there today. There is tons of room for everyone else so this kind of gesticulating is rather petty.
COMMENT 320428	2012-09-15 12:01 PM
There is so much parking at Goleta Beach, have a little sympathy on those who park there. They probably have a reason they dont have a parking pass or the like, maybe they can't afford it. I'm a student up at UCSC and the nearest in town public parking area was about 2 miles from campus. I was willing to do it because I did not want to pay an additional nearly $400 permit to park in a crappy lot. Needless to say, someone in the neighborhood I was parking in had no sympathy as some of the people on here, and I got a big Orange sticker in my window telling me to not park here. A PUBLIC street... Had to fork over the cash for the permit. Have some sympathy people! It's not as if the trek from Goleta Beach to UCSB is some casual walk, they most likely have a reason to do so.
COMMENT 320536	2012-09-15 03:43 PM
how many of the commenters who think it's ok for ucsb students to park free actually ever use goleta beach? yeah, they can't afford it... meanwhile streaming pandora on their iPhone as they walk up the hill....
COMMENT 320746P	2012-09-16 11:23 AM
320327 _There is more than one way to get to UCSB *without spending $$$ on parking.* A lot of daily commuters take the many buses available (with student and staff bus-pass programs) and some of these bus-riders park at (free) street spaces near bus lines. Some ride bikes. Of course, these methods of getting there take more time. I took the bus because my bus stop was one mile from home and I wanted to add that exercise (& sometimes bike riding) to my travel every day.
HAROLDM	2012-09-17 12:37 AM
All UCSB students pay a fee so that ALL of them can ride ALL MTD buses for free, anytime. If a student lives too far to bicycle in--and that is what the campus is designed for--then it is usually possible to find an expedient bus. Sure it would be nice if they could use Goleta Beach in a pinch, but not enforcing the rule would quickly lead to an overfilled lot blocking access to recreational users.
COMMENT 321070P	2012-09-17 11:31 AM
i often parked at goleta beach as a student when i had classes or business on the south east end of campus. never got a ticket but i'd always arrive early and spend a half hour on the beach before heading to school (best part of being a student at UCSB or SBCC: beach access!), sometimes if it was really nice out or there were waves at campus point i wouldn't make it to class at all.

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