SF & Parking

With the World Series in town, here are some observations about parking in San Francisco that just scream to be made. Last night, for game 1, it didn’t look like the scalping parking lots quite broke through the $100 barrier for parking…one lot I’ve used relatively regularly…a 20 minute walk to AT&T Park no less, generally jacks up prices from $13 a day to $30 or $35 during regular season, and no doubt was getting $80 last night and tonight. This is either free enterprise or highway robbery, depending on how you look at it (and maybe both, where the lot is leased from the City.)

Speaking of the fine City and County of San Francisco, it was great the last couple of days seeing the teeming crowd streaming on foot from downtown along 2nd street to the ball park. Lots of people wearing orange and black, smiling and laughing, anticipating a great time at the series. The City, in its great wisdom, is now considering eliminating parking along 2nd, and taking away 2 lanes to make way for bike lanes and landscaping…presumably for pedestrians who have imbibed too much to have a place to relieve themselves, since that seems to be what happens with landscaping during big events. A city spokesperson says they’ll find spaces to make up the parking on the side streets and alleys. Note to city spokesperson…there already IS parking along those side streets and alleys…and it’s always full now!

It’s all well and good for a city to want to be more bike and pedestrian friendly. It’s also well and good that they want to encourage using mass transit. The problem is, there isn’t enough capacity on useable timetables from distant enough areas for many commuters to use said mass transit…so this just punishes people financially and time-wise who commute into the city by car by necessity. It’s likely that a fair number would choose to live in the city if the rent factor wasn’t one of the highest in North America! I would say this is a wake up call to the powers that be in San Francisco, but don’t want to cause too many readers to laugh themselves to death! Enjoy our beautiful city and all that comes with it…and please use the lovely ornate street rest rooms if nature calls!