May Day aka May 1st immigration protests and Cinco De Mayo in San Diego? (Los Angeles: home, taxis)

[citizensadvocate]

I have a question for those who live in San Diego city or County. Since now is the first week of May I would like to ask How disruptive are May Day Immigration protests and Cinco De Mayo within San Diego city and County areas. Given San Diego is very close to Mexico here.

I remember back when I lived in San Jose, the first week of May is a nightmare for those who are going about their daily lives anywhere in San Jose, as one can be trapped by such protestors or revelers anytime during that week with no warning whatsoever. In other words they have no schedules so you cannot plan around them. Its not uncommon for street and freeway traffic to be girdlocked for hours and often police would detour or close streets or even divert an entire freeway to get crowds under control or quarantine the disorderly behavior, but consequentially those just trying to get home would get trapped with many rowdy and often intoxicated revelers in hours of completely stopped traffic. Worst of all it appears unlike other events that causes major traffic delays a sig alert is never issued in this case, nor are electronic signs turned on to warn drivers approaching the city, apparently the city works with the CHP and Caltrans to keep road closure info a secret and it takes a long time for news radio to get any info of what roads are closed or detoured.

[Jenkay]

How disrupted was your life yesterday?

[RosieSD]

Cinco De Mayo is mainly celebrated by tourists and gringos looking for an excuse to drink, not by people from Mexico. (Even in Mexico, it's not a major holiday or anything).

Stay out of Old Town and you'll be fine.

[citizensadvocate]

Originally Posted by Jenkay

How disrupted was your life yesterday?

Sorry I should have asked this question earlier in April.
How is San Diego compared with San Jose or LA in terms of May Day protests and Cinco de mayo traffic? I am also trying to find out which parts of San Diego are considered troublespots avoid for the first week of May to avoid getting stuck in very heavy traffic. I read that old town has large festivities.

Based on my experience back in San Jose, I would strongly suggest anyone heading to or through San Jose this week but are not partaking in the activities, to avoid going to the eastern half of the city if all possible, that includes anything east of I880, south of route 237, and north of route 85. Especially avoid traveling on freeway(s) 87, 280, 680, 101 within San Jose's borders anytime from Friday to Monday morning, and any city streets in that immediate area. Particularly avoid traveling at late night hours. If you must travel in that area make sure your gas tank is full and be prepared to spend hours in your car in traffic and program the gps to find you new routes to your destination in the event police or chp shuts down your intended route and/or directs you to an unfamiliar area. Best if you carry a paper San Jose map as well.

Those headed from SoCal to the sf Bay Area to destinations north of San Jose from SoCal. I would suggest taking 580 instead of 152 from i5. Even if you are headed to towns west of San Jose I suggest coming down from 580 best if you can cross the Dumbarton bridge. If you do take 152 or come up from 101 all together its best to take 85 north to get to destinations in south or west San Jose or cities west of San Jose.

[Axxlrod]

What are you talking about?

There wasn't even a blip on the news about any protests. Protests? Here?

But there will be some traffic in Old Town this friday night. Lots of margarita seekers.

[hitman619]

Originally Posted by citizensadvocate

I have a question for those who live in San Diego city or County. Since now is the first week of May I would like to ask How disruptive are May Day Immigration protests and Cinco De Mayo within San Diego city and County areas. Given San Diego is very close to Mexico here.

I remember back when I lived in San Jose, the first week of May is a nightmare for those who are going about their daily lives anywhere in San Jose, as one can be trapped by such protestors or revelers anytime during that week with no warning whatsoever. In other words they have no schedules so you cannot plan around them. Its not uncommon for street and freeway traffic to be girdlocked for hours and often police would detour or close streets or even divert an entire freeway to get crowds under control or quarantine the disorderly behavior, but consequentially those just trying to get home would get trapped with many rowdy and often intoxicated revelers in hours of completely stopped traffic. Worst of all it appears unlike other events that causes major traffic delays a sig alert is never issued in this case, nor are electronic signs turned on to warn drivers approaching the city, apparently the city works with the CHP and Caltrans to keep road closure info a secret and it takes a long time for news radio to get any info of what roads are closed or detoured.

Do you Live Here in San Diego?
There were protest all over, but nothing like you were describing above.
Except for the occasional blocking of the freeway or streets, were pretty tame here

[SanSav]

Nobody here cares about Bay Area driving habits or recommendations and obviously there was not much "action" down here.

If you're really worried about traffic then use your smartphone. Its that thing sometimes used to troll.

[citizensadvocate]

Originally Posted by hitman619

Do you Live Here in San Diego?
There were protest all over, but nothing like you were describing above.
Except for the occasional blocking of the freeway or streets, were pretty tame here

I am glad to hear that as I am now within San Diego County but just out of the city proper. I know San Diego is very big so obviously only parts of it would be affected i just want to make sure which parts. Since this my first year down in San Diego, I would like to inquire locally, as back in San Jose Cinco de Mayo is just a living nightmare for us residents living anywhere on the eastern side of the city, its not uncommon to take an hour just to drive one mile in that part of SJ during Cinco De Mayo weekend. If you think you can just use a traffic app or listen to news radio to get out of traffic jams think again. The police and CHP in San Jose would often block intersections and off ramps for "crowd control" so if you get caught in that be prepared to sit for hours beside many buzzed rowdy revelers being channeled where the police want you to go and all the exits you can find blocked. The information on road closures except for a few exits where the main event is strictly police classified and is implemented randomly depending on traffic conditions in order to confuse the disorderly crowds, so you will not be able to know ahead of time nor will traffic news do any good nor provide any reliable information.

It's true that Cinco de Mayo is mostly regional and only crazy in some cities whether it's North or south of the border. In Mexico the large citywide parties are mostly limited to Puebla, Mexico City, and Border towns. In US the largest parties happens to be in Los Angeles, San Jose, and Denver. While other US cities may have large Mexican populations the celebrations are mostly limited to small restaurant parties.

[malcorub16]

Originally Posted by citizensadvocate

I have a question for those who live in San Diego city or County. Since now is the first week of May I would like to ask How disruptive are May Day Immigration protests and Cinco De Mayo within San Diego city and County areas.

Not disruptive one bit, nothing in San Diego to report. It doesn't look like anyone organized anything in SD.

From news reports I found online...Tijuana had a few protest by Taxi Drivers for "Dia Del Trabajo" or Labor Day which is on May 1st, but nothing big or out of the ordinary as protests are common in Mexico....certainly nothing to do with immigration.

[citizensadvocate]

Thats good to hear, Guess I can say I am glad to be out of San Jose.
For those heading up there this Friday and weekend just brace for the worst.

As for the protests I hope the gas price protests in TJ are a thing of the past as I am going to going on a trip there soon, but not this weekend of course. Not that I support Mexico's "deregulation" of prices and allowing it to skyrocket, I can understand their anger as now they have to pay California pump prices for the same old inferior gasoline since the government ended the long standing gas subsidy policy. Gone are the days when people could fill up for very cheap down south. This also appears to have caused a ripple effect on spiking gas prices north of the border as well since December. There was another city data tread on this.

As for the taxi protests I hope its now safe to ride an uber in Tijuana. I read that protesting taxis had attacked Uber cars about a year ago.