They collect signatures and are prepared to fight and not allow the new policy that they consider to be for City revenue to take effect
by Araceli Martinez Ortega
Although the extension of parking meter hours in the city of San Francisco has been delayed for further analysis of its economic impact, residents of thet the Mission district are very unhappy and are unwilling to allow it to go into effect.
In May, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced that beginning in July and ending in December, parking meter hours would be extended from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday while Sundays it will be extended from 12 in the afternoon until 6 in the afternoon. Usually the parking meter charge begins to apply from 9 in the morning.
The arguments outlined by the SFMTA to extend the hours are that drivers will have more spaces to park, since generally by not working after 6 in the afternoon from Monday to Friday, and on Sundays after 12 noon, It is very difficult to find a place to leave the car.
However, the neighbors are strongly opposed.
Gloria La Riva, who has lived in the the Mission neighborhood for 40 years, says that there is so much opposition that they are collecting signatures against the extension of parking meter hours.
“There are many small businesses that are going to be affected like restaurants, beauty salons and many others that are going to suffer,” says La Riva.
She says it’s a relief not to have to pay for street parking after 6pm, but for them to want to increase hours now would be a financial and mental headache.
“Most of us who live in the Mission don’t have access to a garage in our houses or apartments, and we have to leave our cars on the street. We worry about how to avoid a fine or that they don’t put a boot on the car to immobilize it, because we are running out of time”.
She says even the extended hours will cost residents of the Mission district a hefty expense. “They charge us $3.00 per hour for parking, we would have to pay $14 for each night. It’s too much! It’s an abuse! All the neighbors have been victims of the fines”.
She recounts that once she was even taken under arrest for accumulating fines.
What’s more, De La Riva considers this measure “a tax without duty in lieu of applying taxes to large companies.”
In her opinion, the extension of parking meter hours has no other justification than to increase revenue for the City of San Francisco.
“We have had to form a coalition to stop the extension of parking meter hours.”
According to the SFMTA, these hours already work in Mission Bay, South Beach, the 18th Street business district on Potrero Hill, and the Embarcadero.
“This extension will make meter hours more consistent citywide, create more parking availability, and generate revenue to help the agency maintain Muni service,” the SFMTA said in a statement.
They explained that expanding meter usage hours will also help the SFMTA address a potentially catastrophic budget shortfall.
“The agency anticipates a projected shortfall of $130 million beginning in fiscal year 2025 due to the ongoing effects of covid-19.”
Without additional funding, they said they could be forced to remove up to 20 Muni lines, disproportionately affecting people with low incomes, people of color, seniors and people with disabilities.
But the neighbors are not willing to give in.
Luis Gutiérrez, owner of La Reyna bakery in the Mission neighborhood, says small businesses like his have been hit hardest by the city’s parking rules.
“I have lived it since 1977 when we opened the bakery 46 years ago. All the City wants is more money with extended hours.”
Already by himself, he says that his clients always arrive telling the bakery that they lost half an hour to find parking.
“Then they only give them permission to park for two hours, and if they go too far, they give them a ticket. So if they come to dinner and after that they want to go for a coffee or to buy bread, time is running out because they have to move the car”.
He says that the application of fines in the Mission neighborhood is a constant.
“In this neighborhood, our main concern is how to survive to get a ticket for the parking meters.”
Current parking meter hours were established in 1947 in San Francisco. And the SFMTA’s plan is to extend its new hours in a six-phase period over 18 months. Low-income neighborhoods with mostly residents of color will come last.
Roberto Hernández, the organizer of the San Francisco Carnival, qualifies as a crime the intention to extend the hours of the parking meters.
“We are fighting and fighting against these plans because people constantly call me to complain that they fined them $400, or that their car was towed away, which means $500 more; and they also put a boot on them. They leave paying $900”.
Roberto has no doubt that behind the alleged increase in hours is “the business of the City to take money from the poor.”
He therefore calls on the authorities to stop this plan. “Enough! No more! Besides, we have to pay for permits to park at night outside the house, which already cost a lot”.
Born in San Francisco, he remembers when his father would give him 5, 10 or 25 cents to pay for the parking meter. “Now they charge you $3 for an hour. It’s $15 a day, $65 a week. It’s robbery and a big problem.”
So he says that residents and small business owners have no choice but to organize and protest to prevent the extension of parking meter hours from taking effect.
When El Reportero contacted the press staff of Supervisor Hillary Ronan to have an opinion on the extension of the hours, they revealed that she did not have time to comment because she was very busy in meetings.
