Posts Tagged ‘parking’
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Things were worse back in aught-seven, back when drivers waiting to fill up at the always-cheap ARCO station on Fell Street in the EaPA would queue up in the bike lane. But it’s no picnic these days neither, as you can see in this shot from a few days ago:
Well, comes now award-winning Michael Helquist of BIKE NOPA to learn us about planned changes:
“‘We have a design hashed out to take out parking on the south side of Fell Street,’ James Shahamiri, MTA Assistant Traffic Engineer, told BIKE NOPA. The new design would designate the former parking spaces as a curbside queue for motorists awaiting entry to the gas station.”
(IMO, that’s a painfully obvious solution that any other town in ‘Merica would have implemented years ago when the issue first cropped up. But oh well.)
So, you see them cars parked on the left side? You know, the Porsche 944 (or 968?), the Saturn S-Series, and the Honda CR-V cute-ute SUV? They’re parked in spaces that could soon be the ARCO queue.
What’s that, NIMBY? Over your dead body you say? O.K., well, I think this cake is already baked, but maybe you’ll be able to hear more about all the deets at this meeting:
Thursday, March 18th
7:00 pm, visit with neighbors
7:30 pm, meeting begins
9:00 pm , meeting ends
Change is Good, huh?
Tags: 1775, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 76, arco, area, Assistant, association, automobiles, autos, bicycle, bike, BIKE NOPA, block, blocking, BP, cars, cyclists, divisidero, EaPA, east of panhandle, engineer, fell, fulton, gas, gasloline, golden gate park, intersection, James Shahamiri, jannah, lane, Line, meeting, metropolitan transportation agency, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, michael helquist, mta, Muni, neighborhood, nimby, NOPA, nopna, north of panhandle, oak, panhandle, parking, queue, San Francisco, SF, sfist, SFMTA, Station, street, traffic, union, vehicles, wait, Waiting
Posted in bikes, cars | 6 Comments »
Friday, March 5th, 2010
Part of the problem of having wide, wide sidewalks in San Francisco is when people go and try to fill up the wasted space.
As here, in front of the Hotel Whitcomb on inbound Market near 8th Street. See? Terry Frye’s recent photos seem to show quite a lot of stuff on the red brick. Is Market now a Livable Street or something? Are potted plants required for every public-private partnership to come down the pike?
If this trend keeps up, then San Francisco Honda will run out of room to hawk its wares. I mean, there are only so many red bricks for businesses to put their stuff on out there, right?
Tags: "street furniture, 8th, chairs, dining, dinner, eights, Honda, hotel, hotel whitcomb, intersection, lunch, market, outdoor, parking, permit, plants, potted, san francisoc, sidewalks, street, tables, umbrellas, whitcomb
Posted in streets | 2 Comments »
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Remember back in the day when you could see the Hanging Gardens of Sutter Street on Sutter Street? Here they were:
No longer. The front yard of this place had recently been converted into a “private drive.” Not saying that this is illegal or anything - don’t know what all the rules are.
But check it, as the place looks today:
“Oh yes, we’d love for you to pop on over. Just park on our private drive!”
Click to expand
Of course anybody parking in this private spot needs to pull in at an angle to keep the back end of the Volvo wagon from hanging out over the sidewalk. The problem with the current setup is that, even with diagonal parking, the back end of the Volvo wagon hangs out over the sidewalk. Oh well. Maybe if they got a Smart Car, they’d have an easier time.
Now you’d think the trees would have slowed them down, but no, the trees are still there on the sidewalk.
And the ridiculous sign isn’t to prevent anybody from parking on the former front yard of the house, cause who on Earth would try to park there, right? No, the sign is to prevent people from parking on the street and inadvertently blocking the driveway’s owners from parking on their lawn, so to speak.
Call it the World’s Shortest Private Drive, if you want.
Welcome to San Francisco.
Tags: car, drive, driveway, front yard, hangin gardens, house, lawn, mapjack, off street, park, parking, paved over, real estate, San Francisco, street, sutter, volvo
Posted in cars | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
This San Francisco Park Ranger had his hands full the other day handing out $88 red zone parking tickets in Golden Gate Park right in front of the Conservatory of Flowers.
Would our tourists all park here if they knew they weren’t supposed to? Probably not. Do the markings on the pavement make sense really? No.
Is the current Bicycle Plan injunction a good excuse for the ridiculous way JFK Drive is marked for traffic and parking these days? Don’t know, You Make The Call.
A target-rich environment on Saturdays, that’s for sure.
Click to expand
Oh well
Tags: 88, bicycle, bike, bus, conservatory, conservatory of flowers, cyclist, dollar, drive, driver, eastbound, F, flowers, golden gate park, jfk, John, Jr, kennedy, lane, parking, parking park, stripe, ticket, westbound
Posted in cars, parks | No Comments »
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Not literally or anything, but it appeared to be packed this past weekend. And I asked them, I says, “Is this a free day or something?” And they’re all like, no, it’s just a regular old three-day weekend, just business as usual.
Now, I’ve heard all the complaints. Let’s deal with them, below.
Become a member or get your tickets online ahead of time, and then you avoid this line around the building.
Click to expand.
“The CalAcademy is too small.”
All right, I’ll tell you I was never in there at the old building – I understand it had cool stuff that you miss. But some people, especially the NIMBY neighbors in the nearby Inner Sunset area, think the new building is too big, too popular. The Academy couldn’t continue with the old building due to earthquake concerns – what was considered a safe enough building before in the last century is no longer considered safe enough now. Sorry. Damn you, San Andreas Fault, damn you.
“The CalAcademy is too crowded.”
So they must be doing something right, right? What you’re saying, in a way, is that the CalAcademy is too cheap.
“The CalAcademy is too crowded with kids.”
Yep, especially when those school buses roll up. Oh well. The Academy has a mission of public education, does it not? That’s for the benefit of California’s kids. Does that directly benefit you today right now? Maybe not. Sorry.
“The CalAcademy is too expensive.”
Well, this ties in with the first complaint. How can it too expensive if it’s packed all the time? You know how much the Monterey Bay Aquarium is these days? $30. If you live in San Francisco, you’re entitled to something close to 20 days of free admission per year plus a free NightLife entry on your birfday (assuming the stars align and they’re having a NightLife around the time of your birthday.)
“Them free days, they’re even more crowded.”
Well, yeah. Get there early, why don’t you? (Or get there late in the day, when there’s less of a line (tho your chances of getting into the Planetarium and/or rainforest dome will be lower). The Bernard Osher Foundation Third Wednesday of the Month Free program is open to all, so of course it gets crowded those days. But the zip-code based free days are less crowded, so San Franciscans, including you born-and-raised-San Franciscans, you old goats, get six of those not-so-crowded days a year.
“The food’s too expensive.”
Check out the nearby Inner Sunset area for food if you want. It’s walkable. Get yourselves a perfectly cromulent fat burrito at Gordo’s at 1239 9th Avenue near Lincoln. Get it to-go and have an outdoor picnic.
“The rainforest was closed when I was there.”
Yep, sometimes. Life’s like that. They don’t keep this kind of info a big secret, however.
“There’s no place to park.”
Maybe - that’s by design, in a way. Actually, you’re lucky to have that itty bitty sometimes overloaded underground parking garage whether you use it or not, so count your blessings. Whatever you do, don’t drive into Golden Gate Park, big mistake on busier days. Think Fulton, think Lincoln, think about spending ten minutes walking through the park to get the CalAcademy. That’s not a bug, that’s a feature. And on Sundays, all parking is free in the surrounding Inner Sunset and Inner Richmond areas – it’s totally wide open. Might not be as easy to park as you’re used to, but you can deal. And there’s plenty of bike parking since they added in a bunch of new spaces.
Here’s the thing – you gotta work the system, baby. Plan ahead, try to figure out when the place has fewer patrons, check the schedule, make a beeline to the Planetarium to get your free show passes as soon as you get in, monitor the rainforest line to see when it’s shorter.
So, if you’re unhappy customer, you gotta think:
1. Maybe your expectations were too high because you didn’t plan ahead (which isn’t the CalAcademy’s fault), or;
2. Maybe the CalAcademy wasn’t for you (which isn’t the CalAcademy’s fault)
And all you NIMBY neighbors, please realize that the CalAcademy was here even before you.
Let’s thank Gaia we’re not saddled with some big hulking wreck that nobody wants to go to.
See you there!
Tags: 2009, 2010, 21, 45, academy, academy of sciences, Aquarium, birthday, blue bottle, cal academy, calacademy, california, california academy of science, California Academy of Sciences, CAS, Center for Conservation Biology, complaints, crowded, Dance, day, dj, djs, expensive, golden gate park, herbst, Hubble, images, january, kids, Kimball, Morrison, morrisson, museum, Museum of Natural History, nightlife, NightLife VIP Tours, parking, penguins, promotion, record, red bull, Ritual Roasters, San Francisco, science, sciences, stanford, Steinhart, Tasting, tea, Telescope, theatre, thursday, tickets, tours, V.I.P., Valentine’s, VIP Tours
Posted in museums | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Is this a scene from Austin Texas or Austin Alley in San Francisco?
Of course the parking spaces out in front of this banal building have the requisite brace of yuppy imports (Subaru, BMW, Mercedes, Acura), but there’s also a couple of pick-em-ups in there too, and Texans love their pickups. Let’s look for more clues.
Mmmm, there’s a Victorian in the background next door, and all the license plates say “California” and there’s that San Francisco-looking AUSTIN sign too – that all adds up to the 415.
But whoever thought it was a good idea to build suburban-style housing/parking like this in San Francisco has clearly made a huge mistake.
Click to expand
Oh well.
Tags: alley, arrested development, austin, banal, bush, california, capitol, cars, frank norris, franklin, gob, gough, i've made a huge mistake, lots, parking, pine, place, San Francisco, street, texas, way
Posted in architecture, buildings | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
San Francisco’s Ferry Building is just to the right in this photo of Pier 1/2 (“one-half” – that’s what they call it). People used to park there and then buy (or sell) expensive mushrooms next door.
But now the pier is condemned so the parking lot on top just sits around, a proud symbol of The City That Knows How to let things go to hell.
The macadam looks a little wavy, huh? Click to expand:
Savor the Good Old Days, pre-condemnation:
Phase 2 of the Downtown Ferry Terminal Project will eventually replace this 70-year-old pier, one of these decades.
Now, you better know your Condemned San Francisco Parking Lots.
Tags: 12, 2009, 2010, 85, building, cars, city That Knows How, commission, condemned, dollars, Downtown Ferry Terminal Project, DPT, Embarcadero, ferry, ferry building, Half, lot, one half, parking, pier, pier 1/2, port, San Francisco, The City That Knows How, tickets, vehicles, waterfront
Posted in cars | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Via Streetsblog SF (which is having a fun-raiser party January 21st, bring money if you want) comes news of the new, unofficial San Francisco Department of Sidewalk Parking blog.
Read the cheery welcoming message from the Commissioner of Concrete. See? He’s gunning for you, sidewalk parkers.
The DSP operates in District 11, but you can find examples of sidewalk parking all over town. As seen in District 5 on Ashbury Street:
Click to expand
NB: When this self-appointed “commissioner” talks of getting an offending vehicle “removed” he means towed away - towed away with extreme prejudice. Anybody who calls in a tow on a sidewalked-parked car on his or her own street should be prepared for possible blowback. (Those who live in or rent out illegal in-law apartments might very well get ratted out by an irate sidewalk parker, just saying.) Anonymity recommended.
Is it my hobby to ferret out sidewalk parkers and then call DPT at (415) 553-1200 for the ticket /towaway patrol? No.
On the other hand, do I support homeowners who think they own the sidewalk in front of their homes? No.
Can one person change the culture of sidewalk parking in one section of San Francisco via a persistent campaign? Yes, it’s possible.
Bon Courage, San Francisco Department of Sidewalk Parking!
Tags: (415), 11, 5, 553-1200, blog, car, citation, commissioner, concrete, department of sidewalk parking, district, illegal, park, parking, parking control officer, pco, ped, pedestrian, San Francisco, sidewalk, sunset, ticket, tow, towaway, vehicle
Posted in cars | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Work with me here – mobile billboards, you know, those trucks that are basically giant rectangular ads, are banned in San Francisco under Section 680 of the Police Code and yet you can see them all over town.
What gives?
Click to expand:
Maybe San Francisco has given up enforcing this regulation? Let’s see what the New York Times had to say back ten years ago:
“Similar disputes are occurring in Boston and in San Francisco, which suspended enforcement of its ban on mobile billboards in June because of a lawsuit, said Nathan Ballard, a deputy city attorney there. But San Francisco recently revised its law to explain the rationale behind it (to cut traffic congestion, truck emissions and assaults on citizens’ aesthetic sensibilities). Unless the billboard company succeeds in persuading a judge to issue a preliminary injunction by Dec. 1, he said, San Francisco will resume enforcing its billboard ban.”
(Nate Ballard was a San Francisco deputy city attorney? Did not know that.) Anywho, it could be that constitutional concerns prevent San Francisco from doing anything about mobile billboards.
Oh well.
That’s just my guess – maybe you can find a loophole here. Enjoy:
SEC. 680. ADVERTISING VEHICLES PROHIBITED ON CITY STREETS.
(a) Findings and Purpose. The inherent primary purpose of commercial advertising vehicles is to display commercial advertising on public streets. By their nature, commercial advertising vehicles are intended to distract, and aim to capture and hold the attention of, members of the public on or adjoining public streets, including drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and others. Moreover, such vehicles display commercial advertising from a mobile platform, including while the vehicle is moving within the flow of traffic, potentially stopping, starting, or turning abruptly, accentuating the inherent tendency of such advertising to seize attention and to distract. Additionally, the use of motor vehicles to display commercial advertising creates exhaust emissions. For these reasons, the Board of Supervisors finds that commercial advertising vehicles create aesthetic blight and visual clutter and create potential and actual traffic and health and safety hazards. The purposes of this section are (1) to promote the public health, safety and welfare of motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, and others using the City’s public streets and roadways and adjoining areas, by eliminating the aesthetic blight and visual clutter and traffic and safety hazards caused by the operation of commercial advertising vehicles on the City’s streets; (2) to reduce congestion on the City’s streets; (3) to reduce exhaust emissions, by eliminating as an emissions source a type of commercial advertising display whose use may require continuous or extensive operation of motor vehicle engines; (4) to protect public investment in and the character and dignity of the City’s streets; and (5) to aid in the attraction of tourists and other visitors who are so important to the economy of the City. This section is not intended to regulate any non-commercial speech, including non-commercial advertising or signage.
(b) Prohibition. No person may operate any commercial advertising vehicle in or on any public street in the City and County of San Francisco.
(c) Definitions. As used in this Section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) “City” means the City and County of San Francisco.
(2) “Commercial advertising vehicle” means a motor vehicle that is carrying, towing, or otherwise displaying any commercial advertising sign, unless the vehicle is used primarily to transport passengers or goods.
(3) “Commercial advertising sign” means a banner, placard, poster, card, picture, sign or display that does no more than propose a commercial transaction.
(d) Enforcement.
(1) The Police Department shall issue a written notice of violation concerning, and requiring the immediate correction of, any violation of this Section to the driver of any commercial advertising vehicle that is being driven or used in violation of this Section, as well as to the owner or other person responsible for the vehicle, if the identity of that owner or other person is known or readily ascertainable. If issued to the driver of a commercial advertising vehicle, the notice shall require the driver to inform the owner or other person responsible for the operation of the commercial advertising vehicle of the notice and of the violation to which it relates. Notice to the driver of a commercial advertising vehicle under this subsection shall be deemed notice to the owner or other person responsible for the operation of the vehicle.
(2) The City Attorney is authorized to enforce this Section by appropriate civil action. No such action shall be commenced against any person unless and until the Police Department has issued a notice of violation requiring correction to that person, as specified above, and that person has failed to comply with this Section and with that notice. In any civil action brought to enforce this Section, the City Attorney may pursue the remedies set forth in this Section for the violation of this Section that is subject of the notice, as well as for any subsequent violations of this Section that have occurred within one year after the issuance of the notice without regard to whether the Police Department issued subsequent notices concerning those subsequent violations.
(3) Violation of this Section shall constitute grounds for injunctive relief. In addition, any person who violates or refuses to comply with the provisions of this Section shall be liable for a civil penalty which shall be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought in the name of the People of the City and County of San Francisco in any court of competent jurisdiction. Each separate display of commercial advertising prohibited by this Section, and each day that a violation of this Section is committed or permitted to continue, shall constitute a separate violation. The amount of such civil penalty shall be $250 for the first violation, $350 for the second violation, and $500 for each subsequent violation of this Section. Any penalty assessed and recovered in an action brought pursuant to this paragraph shall be paid to the Treasurer of the City and County of San Francisco. The person against whom a penalty is assessed, or against whom an injunction is obtained, also shall be liable for the costs and attorney’s fees incurred by the City and County of San Francisco in bringing any civil action to enforce the provisions of this Section.
(4) Violation of this Section shall not constitute a criminal offense.
(5) In any action brought to enforce this Section, the City Attorney may also seek any remedies available under state or federal law.
(Added by Ord. 70-92, App. 3/4/92; amended by Ord. 234-00, File No. 001261, App. 10/13/00)
Tags: 1st amendment, 680, advertising, ban, billboard, code, constitutional, do it outdoors, doitoutdoors, drive, illegal, lawsuit, market, mobile, mobile billboards, parking, peoplesoft, police, San Francisco, sec, section, street, truck
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Thursday, December 17th, 2009
When parking in San Francisco, you should always curb your wheels. If you can’t tell whether you’re pointing uphill or down, just pour out a little water from your bottle into the gutter.
The way the water goes tells you which way the hill goes. Or just look at what all the other drivers on the block did. Easy peasy, right?
The driver of this VW Cabrio made the wrong choice, so a ticket from SFMTA was the result. Parking Control Officers will spot this infraction from a block away and then make a special trip just for you.
Oh well.
Tags: accident, angle, away, curb, degrees, down, downhill, DPT, hill, illegal, law, legal, meter maids, mta, parking, pco, roll, rule, San Francisco, sfdpt, SFMTA, slope, ticket, tires, up, uphill, Wheels
Posted in cars | No Comments »
