by Marvin Ramírez
A year after some bureaucrats not elected by popular vote (SFMTA) made the decision to experiment by transforming a very popular street frequented by many people from outside of SF and tourists, into a headache for commerce and community.
In a press conference on Tuesday, December 5, area merchants and the San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of Commerce denounced the abuses to which merchants have been subjected, such as the loss of clientele and employees due to lack of business.
Deciding that cars were not needed. and that bicycles were more important than those who pay taxes, these crazy people at the SFMTA created a bike path, especially for cyclists – disrupting the commercial stability of the area – stripping away vital parking spaces that are the lifeblood that keeps business alive.
Two lanes disappeared to form the exclusive bicycle path, so that they could cruise – to or from their jobs in the SF Shopping Center – on Valencia Street. And all to benefit these who do not pay any type of tax to maintain the streets or sidewalks, as do the vehicles that drop off and take business patrons. In addition, the life of many cyclists is without families who do not need motorized vehicles to get around. Why didn’t they choose South Van Ness Street for their experiment?
From being a street with tremendous commerce, with exquisite restaurants with a wide variety of culinary art restaurant, art galleries, and cafes, which resembled any tourist street in Amsterdam, where taxis could pick up and drop off their passengers in front of the establishments with their families or partners, now it is a dying Valencia street.
Today, ticket ogres loot your wallet if you stop to unload a passenger, or if you don’t put money in the parking meter before 10 p.m. A robbery, because it used to be until 6 p.m.
A large number of parking meters that were once regular, today are only for cargo trucks – most of the time not being used – stay empty. The rules of the game were changed so that there were more white zones for parking for 5 minutes, or yellow zones for loading. It’s what they have been doing throughout the city, eliminating parking meters on street corners and replacing them with red zones.
And if you remember the red stripes on Mission Street, which were painted to give an exclusive lane to buses and taxis, it was to speed up the passage of public transportation, but an official study showed that it only saved about 5 minutes. What they want is control.
It seems, but in reality it is so, that the municipal government has an agenda: eliminate private transportation with the excuse of protecting the environment. But they do not know that with this measure they are killing the livelihood of families who live from their jobs in these businesses that are now closing due to lack of clientele who are leaving because they cannot find parking.
But the city is shooting itself in the foot, because if there is no commerce there is no tax collection. Although it could be that they do it with an agenda: they want to recover taxes by criminalizing parking.
Of course, they take away where to park, and you, in the urgent need to park, have no choice but to do so in the red, white or yellow zone, exposing yourself to a fine.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is a department of the city and county of San Francisco responsible for the management of all ground transportation in the city. The oversee parking, traffic, pedestrians and others. But it is an autonomous body that not even the Board of Supervisors can control, and it is managed by unelected officials.
Before there were two lines on Valencia Street, one where traffic continued, while the other could be used for double parking by those who arrived in vehicles to drop off or bring passengers. There was no congestion. It made life easier for everyone. And commerce was vibrant.
People could turn left, but these crazy bureaucrats criminalized left turning, thus making driving on Valencia Street hell. You cannot turn left – from 16th Street to 23rd Street, and you have to drive to 24th Street.
Valencia Street was previously the envy of prospective merchants who wanted to find a vacant place to open a business. For those who were already installed, Valencia was a source of pride in commercial growth for them and the city, especially when everything was beginning to return to normal after commerce was devastated by the tears of the pandemic.
Someone told me about the 2030 Agenda, and about a satirical meme.
The satirical meme shows World Economic Fund President Klaus Schwab pointing to a list of “policies” under the heading “Agenda 2030.”
The list reads: “net zero carbon emissions, no fossil fuels, no gasoline cars, no jobs, no electricity, no borders, no meat, eating bugs, unaffordable green energy, endless blackouts, UN/WHO dictatorship.”
It is mere globalism. War on the people and the automobile.
Either they dismantle all this madness, or commerce will collapse.
