Postal employees in one South Bay city say they are paying a price for recent development and expansion projects that have left them few or no places to park when they arrive to work.
The streets of Sunnyvale are filled with construction vehicles and workers -- and "No Parking" signs in areas where nearby postal workers typically park when they report for their shifts.
They say the city’s growth is costing them time and, in some cases, money.
"I gotta get here 30-45 minutes early just to find parking," postal worker Charles Wilson said.
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Wilson isn’t alone. He and his co-workers, some of whom travel from as far away as Tracy and San Francisco, have made it a part of their daily routine to search for parking up to an hour before their shifts start.
Sometimes that isn’t enough. Wilson said when there’s no parking, he's received the citations.
"I've gotten about five or six tickets," he said. "I've paid them all off, but it was an unnecessary financial burden on me. It's not fair."
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Fellow postal worker Audel Garcia says the development has been going on for years, but the parking situation has become so bad, he’s reached out to the Mayor’s Office and the city engineer -- to no avail.
"We just want to come to work, be able to park in a safe spot and go to work and do our job," Garcia said.
Another postal worker says safety is a big issue. Martha Flores told NBC Bay Area she once was followed while walking the long distance back to her parking spot.
"I feel unsafe, and I went back inside the office the next day and told management," Flores said. "And one of the managers started laughing and said, 'Wow at your age, you're still getting guys after you.' I said it's not about that, it's about my safety."
