San Francisco is a peninsula paradise of 49 square miles filled with hills and valleys creating stunning views. And while it is a very public transit first, progressive city with an excellent public transportation system including Muni and BART, there are 1.5 million daytime visitors and residents; some of them will drive and be in need of parking during the daytime hours.
Some of the city’s parking is metered and can cost as much as $6 an hour to park a car in busy commercial and tourist areas. Monthly rents for garage spaces can be at least $300 and are still hard to find. Residential areas have special residential parking permits that allow residents to park all day in non-metered spaces. Visitors to these neighborhoods are restricted to two-hour parking from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.
Then there are the temporary, “No Stopping” signs that restrict parking either for construction or for residential moving. Those posted for construction projects are controlled by the Department of Public Works (DPW). Those posted for residential, usually apartment, moves are issued by the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA). It is with these two agencies and their issuances that I have a big problem and have done everything I can think of to let their leaders know.
DPW issues these restricting permits to contractors who are either doing work for the city (DPW contracts out most of the work it used to do for our infrastructure as does Recreation and Parks) or for home owners and developers. The city issues the permits the contractors request for up to six months at a time. The permits usually restrict parking from 7 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The problem is that San Francisco contractors and their construction workers almost never work past 3:30 or 4 p.m. and very rarely work on Saturdays. But the many posted spaces are unavailable to anyone else during these covered periods. If the project ends sooner than the expiration date of the permit, the contractors have no motivation to take the signs down, meaning people will be unable to use the precious spaces for weeks while no one is using them for their restricted purpose.
I have recommended that these permits be issued to end at 4 p.m. and not include Saturdays unless the contractor is willing to pay a large premium and contracts to work Saturdays. If the rare case occurs and a crew actually works past 4 p.m., their vehicles will secure their space. If they leave at 3:30 or 4, as is usually the case, residents and visitors can make use of the parking.
I have a different issue with MTA permits issued. Their pricing structure was apparently designed to make it easy for accounts receivable. “No Stopping” signs for apartment moves cost $180 a day whether the signs restrict parking for 40 feet or 180. So if someone realizes he needs only 40 feet but must pay as much as he would if he needed more than four times as much has two possible alternate reactions: either that he should not get the signs and therefore will take his chances double parking for the two hours it takes to get his stuff into or out of the truck or he’ll go for the full bore - 180 feet, which is about six or seven parking spaces. And even though the mover knows it will take two to four hours and they will be between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., he can request that the parking restriction last 12 hours a day for the same price.
I recommend the obvious. Charge a higher rate for additional space so that getting 40 feet will cost less than a fourth as much as would 180 feet and that the latter should be discouraged without great justification such as that the move will use two large moving vans with loading ramps. Also the permits should end at 4 p.m. since they rarely go later and if they do, the trucks will occupy the space until the work is completed. If they leave at or before that time, others will be able to use these spaces.
It would also be nice if contractors and movers removed the “No Stopping” signs the minute they are no longer needed. I have been saddened to find that most don’t. A nice neighbor left their five signs up for six weeks after all the work on their home had been completed and refused requests by neighbors and DPW to take them down. They paid for them so they felt justified.
I recommended that DPW and MTA refund the prorated cost of the unused time.
Being at ground zero for construction projects and apartment moves, I can see as many as 25 “No Stopping” signs in my one block area. We now have one construction project that has been going on for more than 16 years, another in its fifth year and one going into its second year. People in the area want to add a garage or redo the interior of their home. One project took only 18 months and involved tearing down a small building and building a four unit condo. The four units sold for more than $11 million, netting the contractor more than $8 million. A few blocks away workers are building condos using a former dental school building. The apartments will cost from $3000 to $4000 a square foot. So construction work is a big and lucrative business but it must also be responsible and it the city’s job to make sure they are.
So I have written to the heads of the MTA and DPW. So far I have seen few changes. Perhaps by making more people aware of the problem, some will join in the effort to have more parking available with fewer spaces going to waste.
As I wrote in a previous column titled “Private and Public Ownership,” residents need to take responsibility for their public spaces as well as those they privately own. The streets and sidewalks are our public property. If you see “No Stopping” signs left up after they are no longer needed, you can call the contractors listed on the signs and ask them if their work is done. If it is, the signs should come down. You can also call 311 in San Francisco and ask that the signs be removed.
Let’s work to end or at least reduce our parking problems in paradise.
Some of the city’s parking is metered and can cost as much as $6 an hour to park a car in busy commercial and tourist areas. Monthly rents for garage spaces can be at least $300 and are still hard to find. Residential areas have special residential parking permits that allow residents to park all day in non-metered spaces. Visitors to these neighborhoods are restricted to two-hour parking from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.
Then there are the temporary, “No Stopping” signs that restrict parking either for construction or for residential moving. Those posted for construction projects are controlled by the Department of Public Works (DPW). Those posted for residential, usually apartment, moves are issued by the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA). It is with these two agencies and their issuances that I have a big problem and have done everything I can think of to let their leaders know.
DPW issues these restricting permits to contractors who are either doing work for the city (DPW contracts out most of the work it used to do for our infrastructure as does Recreation and Parks) or for home owners and developers. The city issues the permits the contractors request for up to six months at a time. The permits usually restrict parking from 7 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The problem is that San Francisco contractors and their construction workers almost never work past 3:30 or 4 p.m. and very rarely work on Saturdays. But the many posted spaces are unavailable to anyone else during these covered periods. If the project ends sooner than the expiration date of the permit, the contractors have no motivation to take the signs down, meaning people will be unable to use the precious spaces for weeks while no one is using them for their restricted purpose.
I have recommended that these permits be issued to end at 4 p.m. and not include Saturdays unless the contractor is willing to pay a large premium and contracts to work Saturdays. If the rare case occurs and a crew actually works past 4 p.m., their vehicles will secure their space. If they leave at 3:30 or 4, as is usually the case, residents and visitors can make use of the parking.
I have a different issue with MTA permits issued. Their pricing structure was apparently designed to make it easy for accounts receivable. “No Stopping” signs for apartment moves cost $180 a day whether the signs restrict parking for 40 feet or 180. So if someone realizes he needs only 40 feet but must pay as much as he would if he needed more than four times as much has two possible alternate reactions: either that he should not get the signs and therefore will take his chances double parking for the two hours it takes to get his stuff into or out of the truck or he’ll go for the full bore - 180 feet, which is about six or seven parking spaces. And even though the mover knows it will take two to four hours and they will be between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., he can request that the parking restriction last 12 hours a day for the same price.
I recommend the obvious. Charge a higher rate for additional space so that getting 40 feet will cost less than a fourth as much as would 180 feet and that the latter should be discouraged without great justification such as that the move will use two large moving vans with loading ramps. Also the permits should end at 4 p.m. since they rarely go later and if they do, the trucks will occupy the space until the work is completed. If they leave at or before that time, others will be able to use these spaces.
It would also be nice if contractors and movers removed the “No Stopping” signs the minute they are no longer needed. I have been saddened to find that most don’t. A nice neighbor left their five signs up for six weeks after all the work on their home had been completed and refused requests by neighbors and DPW to take them down. They paid for them so they felt justified.
I recommended that DPW and MTA refund the prorated cost of the unused time.
Being at ground zero for construction projects and apartment moves, I can see as many as 25 “No Stopping” signs in my one block area. We now have one construction project that has been going on for more than 16 years, another in its fifth year and one going into its second year. People in the area want to add a garage or redo the interior of their home. One project took only 18 months and involved tearing down a small building and building a four unit condo. The four units sold for more than $11 million, netting the contractor more than $8 million. A few blocks away workers are building condos using a former dental school building. The apartments will cost from $3000 to $4000 a square foot. So construction work is a big and lucrative business but it must also be responsible and it the city’s job to make sure they are.
So I have written to the heads of the MTA and DPW. So far I have seen few changes. Perhaps by making more people aware of the problem, some will join in the effort to have more parking available with fewer spaces going to waste.
As I wrote in a previous column titled “Private and Public Ownership,” residents need to take responsibility for their public spaces as well as those they privately own. The streets and sidewalks are our public property. If you see “No Stopping” signs left up after they are no longer needed, you can call the contractors listed on the signs and ask them if their work is done. If it is, the signs should come down. You can also call 311 in San Francisco and ask that the signs be removed.
Let’s work to end or at least reduce our parking problems in paradise.
