Berkeley, CA Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

030). 010 explain why: citizens were being accosted at City metered lots and intimidated, coerced, or threatened with harm to their body or property if they refused to pay someone to wash their vehicle or windshield. The findings also cite people offering, for a price, to feed expired parking meters (itself a separate parking-law violation) and groups congregating in lots at all hours, creating noise that disturbs surrounding properties and blocking the flow of vehicles entering and exiting. 020 defines a "City parking lot" as any lot owned, operated, or leased by the City, and "vehicle" broadly as any device by which a person or property may be propelled, moved, or drawn on a roadway.

The ordinance carves out one specific exception: it is not unlawful to remain seated in a lawfully parked vehicle for up to sixty minutes. Anyone who exceeds that window without an ingress/egress purpose, or who otherwise lingers in a City lot outside the parking-and-walking exception, is subject to prosecution. 20. The chapter reaches only City-owned, -operated, or -leased lots; it does not create a general public-loitering offense on sidewalks, parks, or private property, and it does not apply to lots owned by others, including the University of California.