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Sacramento Cracking Down On 'Park And Ride' Use At McKinley Park

EAST SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A crackdown on parking is coming to Sacramento's beloved McKinley Park.

The place where families go for fun has also caught on as a "free-parking safe haven."

People are parking their own cars there, then taking an Uber or Lyft to work.

Keela Hudson owns a Sacramento business on a street with little available parking. She is one of the many who have started using McKinley Park's free parking while at work.

"That's why I'm down here," Hudson said. "I've been parked here for eight hours. [This morning] I had my little baby in the car and I took a Lyft to work, yes I did."

It's become a "park-and-ride" routine for Hudson, leaving her own vehicle at the park and getting a ride the rest of the way to work. It's a solution she says helps her avoid parking problems while on the job.

READ: Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Placer, Solano Counties May Be Required To Create Homeless Parking Lots

"Every two hours we're like 'oh my gosh, oh my gosh,' we're running outside moving our cars," Hudson said. "I mean, we're fighting with the parking people, it's horrible."

Hudson's McKinley Park "park-and-ride" routine is now about to be ruined.

"It's kind of a Monday through Friday problem," Friends of McKinley Park founder Cecily Hastings said.

Hastings says she has seen fewer spaces available around the park and believes nearby businesses, including surrounding hospitals, are promoting the idea of ride-sharing to work because they have no spaces for their employee's vehicles.

"We're in the midst of really four major employment centers in East Sacramento," Hastings said.

The Sacramento City Council is now set to vote on enforcing "three-hour limits" on parking at McKinley Park, leaving more spaces for people who use the park.

ALSO: New Park At McKinley Village Will Be Named After Tower Records Founder Russ Solomon

"Holding up a parking spot, for eight-plus hours a day, is selfish," McKinley Park visitor Giannie Gibson said.

"So now it makes me feel bad because now that I think about it people want to come to the park, and then all the businesses are parking down here that's gonna suck for them," Hudson said.

Parking problems in Sacramento. What had been a secret parking system, has now been exposed.

"They didn't know, they don't know what we're doing," Hudson said.

"Now they do," CBS13's Steve Large said.

"Now they do, now they do," Hudson said. "Oh man."

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