Meet Earl Bailey, Traffic Enforcement Supervisor

Wednesday, 08 July 2009
Contact: [Photos] Dale Frost

It’s a beautiful day on the tidelands, the 33-mile long stretch of land on San Diego Bay from Point Loma to Imperial Beach, and Earl Bailey knows every part of it.

Bailey, Traffic Enforcement Supervisor for the Port, knows just how beautiful a day it is.  He spends about 85 percent of his work hours outside on the waterfront and loves just about everything about it.

When one thinks of a traffic enforcement officer, rarely do they think of the fictitious “Lovely Rita Meter Maid” that Paul McCartney and John Lennon sang about.  Most of us think of a grouchy, jaded traffic cop who lurks around corners, waiting for the parking meter to expire so they can bust you with a ticket.

If that is your vision of a traffic enforcement officer, you need to meet Earl Bailey.  Bailey truly loves his job, which isn’t really about writing parking tickets.  Standing 6’-2” and with his trademark salt and pepper mustache, he’s a familiar figure along the waterfront.

A Port employee since 1988, Bailey began working at San Diego International Airport, assisting with curbside traffic and parking.  He did that for about a year and a half and then was assigned to work the tidelands area.  The majority of his job consists of assisting with traffic control for Port-sponsored special events, assisting the City of San Diego and the Convention Center with events when they overlap with Port events, and helping embarking and disembarking cruise ship passengers get across Harbor Drive safely.

The Port of San Diego had 297 cruise ship calls last fiscal year.  Bailey was out at the cruise ship terminal for every one of those days, assisting with traffic and meeting lots of people.  You could almost call him a goodwill ambassador for the Port, welcoming passengers and saying goodbye to those ending a cruise.

Each cruise ship that docks at the Port of San Diego has an average of 2,000 people on it.  Often times, passengers will be disembarking, while another 2,000 are being dropped off at the terminal, waiting to embark.  Add to this mix several big rigs dropping off supplies.  Things can get pretty hectic, especially if there is more than one ship.

The hustle and bustle of people coming and going doesn’t bother Bailey at all.   Despite the heat and crowds, he doesn’t seem to sweat.

“It’s all about organization,” he said.  “I’ve been doing this so long, I just don’t get worked up about it.”

Bailey thinks of himself as more of a community service officer, rather than a traffic enforcement officer.  Most of his job involves interacting with the public and sometimes people aren’t as nice as they could be.

“No one likes getting a ticket,” he said, “But once I write one, it's in the system and there’s no talking your way out of it.”

He gets all kinds of excuses from people who’ve run out of time on the meters.  Little old ladies will yell at him, people tell him to get a “real job” and he’s been spat at a few times.

“I feel really bad when I write a ticket and they come back and they’re as nice as can be,” Bailey said.

Bailey tells his staff of five officers to try and look past the first few words when encountering someone with an expired meter.  His cool-headedness can be attributed to his many years as a training manager for Atlantic Richfield before he joined the Port.  He spent five years training employees and another five as an area supervisor for Atlantic Richfield, which later became known as AM PM Mini Markets.

The traffic enforcement officers monitor over 1,000 parking meters and enforce the street parking along the Port’s jurisdiction.

A particularly busy weekend for Bailey and his team was the weekend of May 9-10.  The Red Bull Air Races were in town with planes buzzing over San Diego Bay and the annual “Gator by the Bay” was going on at Spanish Landing.  Together, these two events drew about 120,000 people to the waterfront.

Coming up on July 23 through the 29, Bailey and his team will be assisting the San Diego Convention Center with Comic Con.  The annual event brings about 130,000 people down to the Convention Center.  At the same time, a Padres game will be going on at PETCO Park and the San Diego Symphony will host a concert at Embarcadero Marina Park South.

Bailey and his staff will be ready to help.  Special events are their specialty and they enjoy the crowds.

Bailey has made plenty of friends over the years and has talked to some very interesting people.  His favorite, he said, was former President Jimmy Carter.  Carter came to town several times while Bailey was on duty at the airport.  He would work with the non-profit group, Habitat for Humanity, building houses for those in need.

He also met former President Bill Clinton, whom he said was “very friendly and funny.”   He often runs into Jerry Lewis, who docks his yacht near the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina.

Bailey also works closely with the Real Estate, Engineering and Construction departments at the Port of San Diego.  He regularly attends planning meetings and assists staff with traffic plans and other issues that may impact the public right of way.

His day is never dull, and several hours have passed before he can return to his office at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal.  There, he sits at his desk which is adorned with a fancy desk clock that chimes on the hour, an aquarium and the many thank you cards received from his customers.  He looks across the sparkling water and smiles as he plans his next busy day.

---