No, Parking

A couple months ago I wrote about new parking meters the city had installed along Brannan Street between 7th and 8th. 20 or so new revenue-generating parking meters is a small, but good development. Even smaller but very puzzling is the absence of meters at two spaces in front of a perennially for-lease building.


These two spaces are in front of roll-up doors that bear stenciled 'NO PARKING' signs and curb cuts. Naturally, these are driveways. Hence, no parking meters, right? Not so. Immediately behind the roll-up doors is a plate glass window.

A Privilege, Not a Right

Drop a flower pot off a high-up windowsill and kill someone, you might face criminal charges. Slam into a pedestrian in the middle of a crosswalk and what happens, exactly?

WalkBikeCT has a spot-on analysis of modern American transportation pathology. Despite words to the contrary (words, I might add, that every would-be young driver is supposed to learn and take to heart) we treat driving as a god-given right in this country, and especially here in California. And as long as we keep thinking that way we can expect atrocities like these to keep happening.

Portland has a Vulnerable Users Law that puts responsibility on the operators of more dangerous vehicles for the safety of more vulnerable road users. Bikes have to look out for the safety of pedestrians and cars have more responsibility to look after bicyclists. San Francisco needs a law like this. Otherwise we will continue to tacitly discourage walking and biking because of what is essentially bullying by motorists - the threat of physical harm if we don't give up our lunch money right of way.

And we need to enforce laws already on the books protecting that right of way. DPT needs to actually respond to calls about cars parked on the sidewalk. The police need to ticket drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk. And in the unfortunate instances where vulnerable roadway user is hurt or killed by a vehicle, appropriate criminal charges need to be filed. It's against the law to kill people. Why doesn't law enforcement act like it?

Sidewalks Are For Everyone

News from Streetsblog SF about the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired's current campaign against sidewalk parking, Sidewalks are for Everyone (SAFE).

The aim of SAFE is to discourage sidewalk parking not punishing them through enforcement measures, but by gently but pointedly reminding drivers of the consequences of their actions. I hope it works, and I commend them for making the effort.

As I type this, however, my freaking jaw is on the floor:

SFPD Sergeant Steve Quon of the Taraval Station said he's not inclined to enforce sidewalk parking, except in instances where there are significant complaints. "There are so many cars on the sidewalk on 19th Avenue, if we cited one, we'd have to cite all of them. That's a lot of citations. There's not a lot of pedestrian traffic on 19th. As you can see, there's nobody on it right now."

When it was suggested he's missing out on a lot of fine revenue, he replied: "We don't look at it that way. We can't look at it from a money factor, because it doesn't really go into our pockets. We don't get a percentage or anything." (Streetsblog SF)

My first thought is that nobody walks on 19th Avenue because there's no enforcement of parking and traffic violations. I'd have to be insane to walk on a sidewalk dotted with parked cars, along a street with one of the highest pedestrian injury and death rates in the city! Any talk of improving the situation along 19th Ave is useless if we won't even make the most bare minimum effort to enforce violations.

And the inference that PCOs have no interest in enforcing the law because they don't get a cut of the fines... what?! I'm speechless.

SFMTA spokesman Judson True assured Streetsblog San Francisco managers at the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT) have told their employees to enforce any instance of sidewalk parking they encounter. (Streetsblog SF)

This runs counter to both Sgt Quon's statement above and to my own experience. More that once I have called the DPT hotline and reported a sidewalk parker, only to have nobody show up to cite the offender. I can go onto everyblock.com to see the resolution of my report, and read with my own eyes that no action was taken. If you like, you can stand on the sidewalk in front of your house on street sweeping day and watch the PCOs ticket cars parked on the street and ignore those on the sidewalk. They are clearlty not enforcing "any instance of sidewalk parking they encounter." Not even the low-hanging ones.