The San Francisco Citizen

Lots of people would like to live in San Francisco, but rents can be high. So, some just get an RV and just put it in a place where it’s free to park overnight. Which is pretty much everywhere in San Francisco.

Get a quiet Blue Max generator (chugga chugga chugga...) to keep your laptop charged up (but don’t tell the CARB!) and find a free source of WiFi, and then you’ll stay connected when you’re living rent-free in the City. Off the grid.

Still life in mobile homes.

You should be fine as long as you don’t try this in the Sunset district, where they’d run you out of town in a New York minute.

Well, at least for this particularly oddly-shaped piece of real estate on Main Street near Folsom, the answer is this many:

“Last in, last out.” Click to expand.

It might be a pain to park here, under the shadow of the new Infinity San Francisco towers, but at least you won’t get the boot, or get into a chain reaction accident, or get all messy. Of course, if you work for San Francisco Honda, then just park wherever - the sidewalk, for example. 

Lastly, DO NOT PAY THIS MAN! 

Now you’re all set.

You can see the culprit reflected in this car’s windshield - it’s a sap-filled Eucalyptus globulus (aka Tasmanian Blue Gum, Southern Blue Gum or Blue Gum Eucalyptus) just waiting to rain down on your vehicle.  

Of course a garage around in the area of Golden Gate Park or it’s Panhandle could run you something like $10 per day. Maybe you’d feel a little gumminess is a small price to pay for free parking?

Your choice.  

Here’s what the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce had to say when they found out the annual luncheon with the Niners ain’t gonna happen this year:

“Our main reaction is disappointment,” said Carol Piasente, the chamber’s vice president of communications and events.

(At least they’re taking it better than Otto West would.) Maybe last year’s chant led by Senator Dianne Feinstein played a factor in the cancellation?

Irregardless, KNBR 49er Family Day is ON this Saturday, June 7th.

Gold Rushers Janelle and Jordan would love you to come to Family Day 2008. By Slick Rick via Flickr

It’s on! It’s free!

The day will feature contests, games and appearances by members of the 49ers football team, alumni, Gold Rush, Niners Noise Drumline and Sourdough Sam.  Fans are encouraged to arrive early to take in all of the day’s festivities.

See you there.

Here’s what happened with these four small front-wheel-drive cars parked on the Streets of San Francisco:

A fast-moving vehicle hit the Corolla, which hit the Honda, which hit the Ford, which hit the other Toyota.

Stuff happens. Click to expand:

Click to enlarge.

The driver of this white car recently double-parked on the streets of San Francisco. But that’s nothing new, right?

San Francisco turns a blind eye to double parking around churches - it’s an “unwritten rule” that you are safe from ticketing in certain areas at certain times. Like Sunday mornings in the Western Addition, say.

The problem is that leaving a car there for an hour or two created a dangerous situation for pedestrians. Bad form. The driver of the red car wasn’t parking - he mistakenly thought the white car was just waiting at the stop sign for a few seconds. So after a while, he backed up and then went around. It’s easier to deal with double parked cars when they sit in the middle of the block.

As an alternative, why not double park at least a car’s length or two away from the crosswalk? That would make things better and safer for everybody. Just saying.

The phrase getting the boot can mean a few different things. In San Francisco, the primary definition relates to your car getting a big yellow Denver Boot. You can see it attached to the front left wheel of this aging Range Rover Classic SUV. Why would the authoritahs pick on you this way? Well, not paying five or more parking tickets is one good reason.

The scene below was reason enough for Flickr contributor permanently scatterbrained to change his vote to Mike Huckabee: 

Well, someone just lost my vote. Not only are these liberal thugs flaunting basic local traffic laws, but they’re doing so in a gas-guzzling, terrorist-enabling SUV behemoth that’s not even American made. Huckabee ‘08! 

permanently scatterbrained via Flickr

In defence of the operator of this vehicle, Obamamania has infected the entire Bay Area, so paying those pesky and expensive $50 parking tickets issued by DPT (or MTA or whatever they call themselves this month) might seem to many like a chore worth putting off.

Also while it’s true this vehicle was made in merrie olde Englande, it has a Buick engine (mas o menos) and maybe even a Chrysler transmission, so factor that in before you start the hatin’.

And, what looks like red paint on the curb is actually indicates a “pink zone” where some people park without fear of getting ticketed. Take a look at the very same curb here on MapJack. See? The red zone starts at the stop sign, don’t you think?

So, things aren’t as bad as they seem in this photo.  Let’s have a little sympathy for this youthful supporter of the next president(?) of the United States! 

It looks like the people at KPIX CBS-5 had it right last year when they repeatedly reported on the “parking hustle,” which involves people posing as lot attendants and pocketing some quick cash. Some parkers, such as Shane, get major bummed when they find out later on that they also need to pay the parking lot owner.

Why don’t people pay the actual real attendent? Because there isn’t one on duty in most cases. Why? Because that would cost money. But the folks over at Central Parking have found a way to warn drivers by posting a photo of one of the alleged imposters. How thoughtful.

Toyota Prius owners in California already have some immunity from getting moving violation tickets, but more help is needed.

What about parking tickets? Perhaps we should make Priuseses fully immune from parking tickets as well. That would encourage more people to drive hybrids, right? And then we wouldn’t be forced to witness a sad scene like this, where a car that’s supposed to going 80 miles per in the fast lane with just one occupant is sidelined with a bum leg.

By the way, parking tickets are going up to $60 soon. Happy motoring!

The sidewalk on Market Street, for example:

Try putting a “for sale” in the window of your old clunker and park it on any sidewalk in San Francisco. If you do that, your car will get cited and towed with extreme prejudice.