ESCONDIDO -- The Escondido City Council's proposed overnight parking ordinance is about quality of life, parking abuses and overcrowding, not illegal immigration, council members say, but some critics of the measure aren't convinced.

The council majority's antipathy toward illegal immigrants is no secret, and council members have blamed them in part for many of the city's ills.

The parking restrictions may just be the latest attempt by the council to force illegal immigrants out of the city, critics said, and council members' past statements and actions cast a cloud of doubt over their public statements.

Some fear the parking legislation they believe is aimed at illegal immigrants will affect low- and middle-class families the most.

Last year, the council passed a controversial law that would have punished landlords for renting to illegal immigrants, whom some council members blame for much of the city's overcrowding. That law was challenged in court, temporarily blocked by a federal judge and finally abandoned by the council in the face of mounting legal costs.

"They just can't let it go," Olga Diaz, a business owner who ran for City Council last year and who has been an outspoken critic of the council's past attempts to address illegal immigration, said last week. "I'm not sure their intentions have changed. Maybe their approach has changed, and they're learning to be a little more subtle."

Councilman Dick Daniels insisted in a recent interview that the ordinance "is not aimed at illegal immigrants. It's aimed at the (parking) abuses that are taking place."

Parking abuses, or illegal immigrants?

The parking restrictions idea first came up almost one year ago at an August 2006 council meeting during which the council directed city staff members to begin researching an illegal immigrant rental ban and the parking ordinance. Both proposals were described at that meeting as responses to the city's alleged overcrowding.

The council has blamed overcrowding, at least in part, on illegal immigration. But the city hasn't conducted any studies into whether Escondido homes are overcrowded or into the city's parking situation.

In March, Daniels said the parking restrictions may have some of the effects on illegal immigrants originally intended with the rental ban, but without the legal pitfalls.

Council members say that by restricting the number of cars on the streets, residents will have an easier time finding parking spaces near their homes, inoperable vehicles will be more easily removed, and people who live in overcrowded homes may be forced to rethink their living arrangement.

"This ordinance wasn't meant to solve the whole problem of overcrowding, but I think it will help," Councilwoman Marie Waldron said recently.

And part of that problem is illegal immigrants, Councilman Sam Abed said.

"There is no question that the illegal immigration issue and the number of illegal immigrants coming to Escondido is a major contributor to the overcrowding," Abed said.

Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler has been the sole voice of skepticism on the council about the proposed parking law and its purpose.

"Having overcrowding and having too many cars on the street is really a consequence of high housing costs," Pfeiler said last week. "If overcrowding is the issue, then you need to tackle overcrowding and why overcrowding occurs and deal with the supply of housing."

As outlined at a June council meeting, the measure would require a permit to park on residential streets between 2 and 5 a.m., and most households would be allowed one parking permit, although a second permit might be given for homes that don't have adequate off-street parking. Residents could receive up to 100 one-time visitor permits each year.

The complete ordinance is expected to go before the council within the next two months.

Everyone could be affected

Residents Peter and Alexis Kiefer said they hope the council rethinks the parking restrictions by then.

The husband and wife have lived in Escondido since 1984 and have rented a house in central Escondido for six years. Alexis Kiefer said she doesn't support illegal immigration, but she feels the parking ordinance could hit many Escondidans hard.

"I'm not an illegal immigrant, and I'm being affected," said the 51-year-old operator of a mobile pet-grooming business. "Punishing all of us for them is wrong."

The couple said they don't have problems finding parking in the neighborhood.

"Everybody here has an unwritten rule: You only park in front of your house and in your own driveway," Alexis Kiefer said. "There isn't a big parking problem in this town."

The couple share their 850-square-foot, two-bedroom house with their daughter and son-in-law, who recently became parents themselves. The four adults live together to make ends meet, and each has a vehicle.

However, they have a one-car garage and a narrow driveway that fits only one vehicle without blocking the sidewalk. The garage itself is low and tight, and some of their vehicles are too tall for it.

This means they need to park at least two vehicles on the street. Under the proposed ordinance, "nonconforming" houses that don't have two parking spaces in the garage and driveway might be allowed two on-street parking permits, so the family may be OK if they squeeze one car into the garage, they said.

But Peter Kiefer said this is just adding to government bureaucracy and making his family's life needlessly more complicated.

"The thing is, I don't know if I should have to plead my case to the council or to code enforcement," the 47-year-old utility worker said.

But some Escondido residents say parking is a problem.

Fred Scott, a retired 20-year Escondido resident who lives in senior housing, said the parking ordinance is a good idea because finding street parking is difficult in many neighborhoods. But he agreed the law may affect many people who can't afford large garages and driveways for their cars.

"I think all the people with low incomes are going to be affected," Scott said.

Diaz and Consuelo Martinez of the grass-roots Escondido Human Rights Committee also said the law will affect the city's working class and that they question what exactly council members mean when they say the parking restrictions will improve the quality of life.

"I feel that when they say things like that, they're thinking that there's a specific group of people that are bringing down the quality of life," Martinez said. "When they talk about these things, they're not just talking about immigrants, they're talking about people that are low income."

Contact staff writer Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.