Community group Escambrón Unido held a demonstration near the Hotel Normandie in San Juan’s Isleta neighborhood and proposed to Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo a trolley system connecting peripheral parking lots, arguing a planned multi-story parking garage is unnecessary. Spokeswoman Gradissa Fernández said parking shortages occur only on holidays, some summer days, and weekends with marathons, not year-round.
She cited underused lots that could be activated, including the Department of the Treasury (Hacienda) lot, closed on weekends; the Puerto Rico Supreme Court lot; Paseo Caribe; and the T-Mobile District. Fernández argued such changes would let Romero Lugo build a city oriented toward climate change, noting that parking lots raise urban heat and traffic, since more parking leads to more cars.
She said the group shared its proposal with the mayor before he signed Ordinance 4 on Friday, but he did not adopt it. Ordinance 4 grants the company Smart Parking System a 60-year surface right over the current parking lot, laying the groundwork for a multi-story garage with up to 950 spaces, in a structure limited to one additional level above its current footprint, located just steps from the beach.