SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Johanna Rehnvall’s daughter worked through high school so she could buy a Ford Escape.
She named it Thor and kept a bobblehead of the Avenger character in the car. Rehnvall said her daughter asked for an oil change for Christmas and planned on taking Thor to get a “spa day.”
“I’m going to run this car until it doesn’t want to drive anymore,” she told her mother.
Rehnvall said her daughter attends Sacramento State University and lives at the Wexler Apartments on 67th Street, an off-campus housing complex generally regarded as student housing for Sacramento State. It is unaffiliated with the university.
Due to a lack of parking at the Wexler, Rehnvall said her daughter parked Thor on Q Street between 65th and 69th streets on Dec. 30, 2023. She discovered Thor had been torched the morning of Dec. 31, 2023.
A gas can was found next to the vehicle, Rehnvall said.
“Someone took it upon themselves to torch that car,” Rehnvall told ABC10. “Someone had a gas can and decided to gas a car. It’s unbelievable. It’s really scary to have my daughter down there.”
Rehnvall said when her daughter began living at the Wexler, she always locked her car doors and never stored valuables in the car. She said the family was at worst expecting someone to break in; she never expected someone to light her daughter’s car on fire.
Parking at or around the university and its surrounding neighborhoods is difficult for many on- and off-campus tenants. Rehnvall and many students expressed that damages and break-ins are common.
Wexler charges $160 per month for access to a reserved parking garage spot, garage clicker and a vehicle decal, according to Lavanna Harris, a Wexler spokeswoman. Harris said the Wexler will raise its parking fee to $175 per month in August.
The Wexler offers roughly 330 parking spots. It can house between 700 and 800 residents, Harris said.
Rehnvall said reserved spots at the Wexler were unavailable for her daughter and her daughter’s roommate when they moved in. She said this has led her daughter to park in places she widely regards as unsafe — like Q Street.
“We don’t suggest residents park anywhere around here,” Harris said. “We advise them to park wherever they feel most comfortable.”
Where should residents park?
Sacramento State’s University Transportation and Parking Services (UTAPS) only allows students living in on-campus housing to park on campus overnight, Lanaya Lewis, a university spokeswoman told ABC10.
“Overnight parking is provided to Sacramento State students living in on-campus housing and for short-term business travel with prior authorization,” Lewis said.
Even if tenants could park at the college, the university is roughly a mile walk from the Wexler.
Harris said street parking is a frequent concern Wexler tenants bring up.
“That’s a main concern we handle here,” she said. “How do we handle it? Renew your parking spot as soon as possible, and get on the waitlist.”
The Wexler attempted to build an additional parking garage closer to campus, but city laws and environmental concerns prevented it from happening, Harris said.
Why isn't there more parking?
ABC10 took parking concerns to the city of Sacramento’s community development department.
Department spokesperson Kelli Trapani said residential development projects are required to provide a minimum amount of parking consistent with the Sacramento city code.
Factors that affect the requirements include if the project is affordable housing or if it is located within a quarter mile or half mile of a light rail transit station.
“Much of the housing around (Sacramento) State falls into these categories,” Trapani said. “Parking structures are expensive to build and can be an impediment to the construction of new housing, so shared parking opportunities, transit and biking (and) walking to campus are encouraged by these developments.”
Trapani said the amount of parking a building is required to provide on-site depends also on its proposed use.
“There is no special parking requirement for student housing,” she said. “Development must comply with the parking regulations in the code, but there is no requirement that every person leasing an apartment unit have a parking space.”
Parking at Sacramento State
Michael Partridge is in his fifth year at Sacramento State, and he has lived in on-campus student housing at the Hornet Commons for just over two years.
Partridge told ABC10 he has a car and pays $50 per month for a pass to park anywhere in the Hornet Commons lot. Even this designated area, however, did not prevent Partridge from becoming a victim of attempted vehicle theft.
“My car got broken into in the lot I park in now just before Thanksgiving in 2022,” he said. “They didn’t take anything that I’m aware of, but they tried to steal my car. The ignition was thrashed.”
Partridge’s car was in the shop for roughly four days and cost him around $600 to fix, he said.
“It seems security drives through that lot a little more now,” he said. “I haven’t heard of break-ins recently.”
Parking at other off-campus housing: Lark Sacramento
Madelaine Church is a fourth-year Sacramento State student and resident of the Lark Sacramento, an off-campus housing facility on Redding Avenue.
The Lark, like other off-campus housing, can rent units to non-student tenants .
Church said she pays an additional fee monthly to have a reserved parking spot at the facility. The website says they charge $70 for a covered spot and $75 for an uncovered, reserved spot.
“There isn’t enough spots for all the residents,” she said. “It’s really competitive. People applied months before me and they are still on the waiting list.”
Lark Sacramento offers free unreserved parking toward the front of the complex, according to its website. This parking is first come, first serve, Church said. Limited guest parking is also available at no charge, the Lark website said.
Church said residents who do not pay for reserved parking and cannot manage to secure an unreserved parking spot will park on Redding Avenue, where she has heard testimonies of people getting their windows smashed in and their tires slashed.
Residents also park at Target on Fourth Avenue, roughly half a mile away from the Lark, she said.
“I know people do it but it’s not advised because I heard people get ticketed or towed,” she said.
Church said she has also seen vehicles towed from the Lark a few times throughout the fall 2023 semester; she said this can occur because people park in reserved spots that are not theirs or park in handicap spots without permits to do so.
Representatives for the Lark did not respond to a request for comment.
Crossings Apartments
Jacob Peterson graduated from Sacramento State in the fall of 2023; he will walk the stage for his diploma in May. He said his lease is up at the Crossings Apartments on Ramona Avenue in August.
Peterson does not own a car and said it can't afford parking at the Crossings, which costs $120 per month, he said.
“Even if I did have a license, I wouldn’t be able to afford a car,” he said. “By some miracle if I could get a car, I probably wouldn't be able to afford parking.”
For $120 a month, Crossings residents receive an exclusive parking spot inside the gated complex. Those who do not pay are often left to find parking along Ramona Avenue.
Peterson said the general consensus amongst Crossings residents is that there's a likely chance your car will get broken into if you park your car on the street.
He said residents and guests have gotten their car broken into within the complex too, but there it seems to occur less than break-ins on Ramona Avenue.
Representatives for the Crossings did not respond to a request for comment.
Element Student Living
The Element Student Living by Book and Ladder on Fourth Avenue across the street from Target offers three parking tiers for tenants leasing come August, according to Element spokeswoman Mari Delgado.
The parking tiers are:
- General parking, which is first come, first serve for $25 per month
- Reserved uncovered parking for $55 per month
- Covered carport parking for $65 per month
Delgado said the complex property has 550 parking spaces and 274 housing units.
“We suggest overnight guests park in any unmarked parking spot on the property,” she said. “Or, they can park along the street as long as the (vehicle) is not parked in authorized parking zones.”
She said the Element does not receive concerns from tenants regarding parking, and she attributes this to the Element having the biggest parking lot for off-site student housing for Sacramento State students.
Mezzo Apartments
Parking at the Mezzo Apartments located on the 6400 block of Folsom Boulevard costs $100 per month and the money goes to the city of Sacramento, according to Mezzo spokeswoman CeAnn Lithun.
Should tenants pay for parking, they gain access to an open and assigned parking space in a lot of about 120 spots, she said.
“We don’t have a spot for everyone to lease parking,” Lithun said.
Despite not having a spot for every tenant, she said there is no waitlist and parking is not an issue because the complex is near a strip mall parking lot, so there is commercial parking available.
College Garden Apartments and Academy 65
Representatives for the College Garden Apartments on La Riviera Drive did not respond to a request for comment.
Representatives for Academy 65 on 65th Street declined to comment on parking at the complex.
Home2 Suites by Hilton Sacramento at CSUS
Rob Petersen is the complex general manager for Home2 Suites by Hilton Sacramento at CSUS, a hotel on 65th Street near the university. It is not university-run student housing.
He said the Hilton is directly across the street from the Wexler, and students have asked if they can park at the hotel for its rate of $11.50 per 24 hours.
“Students that are in the surrounding apartments have asked if they can rent our stalls to park, and I don’t have anything at all extra to rent to them,” he said.
