Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Parking

Small Business Commissioner: San Francisco Needs More Parking Garages

By Aaron Bialick | May 8, 2013 | 73 Comments

As has become painfully apparent on Polk Street, there is a deeply-held belief among certain merchants that car parking is indispensable to their business — even if studies indicate that very few of their customers drive, and that removing parking spaces to implement safety improvements could actually draw more potential customers. So it’s no surprise […]

How to Turn a Free Parking Space Into a Subsidized Hotel

By Aaron Bialick | May 7, 2013 | 22 Comments

Want to cash in on prime San Francisco real estate that the city gives away for free? Some enterprising van owner shows how it’s done on AirBnB, where a listing offers a rentable camper parked on the public right of way for the budget-conscious traveler. That’s right — someone has figured out how to make a killing […]

Supes Farrell and Cohen Have Yet to Grasp Why Free Parking Hurts SF

By Aaron Bialick | May 6, 2013 | 57 Comments

Mark Farrell and Malia Cohen emerged as the most vocal proponents of free car parking on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors at a hearing on parking meters last week. Farrell called the hearing in February based on an admittedly “unfounded” suspicion that the SF Municipal Transportation Agency was planning to install parking meters in District 2, which […]

Debunking the Misinformation Propagated By “Save Polk Street”

By Aaron Bialick | May 3, 2013 | 44 Comments

It’s clear that the parking-obsessed, anti-bike lane merchants behind the “Save Polk Street” group have no interest in vetting information before making their case. Concrete facts certainly had no place in the fearmongering rhetoric spouted by street safety opponents at the March meeting they staged, encapsulated by Flipp store owner Dan Kowalski’s dishonest comparison of the Polk Street […]

Tomorrow: Your Voice Needed to Support a Safer Polk Street

By Aaron Bialick | Apr 26, 2013 | 95 Comments

An important reminder: The SFMTA is presenting its latest proposals for a safer Polk Street tomorrow morning and Tuesday evening. The proposal diagrams aren’t available to post yet, but SFMTA staff went over them at a press briefing, and explained that the safest proposals are still on the table, but they’ve added new options that […]

Park Areas Under Central Freeway Downsized to Retain Caltrans Parking

By Aaron Bialick | Apr 25, 2013 | 8 Comments

A plan to convert parking lots under the Central Freeway near Duboce and Valencia Streets into a skate park and dog run is moving forward, but it won’t include basketball courts or a children’s playground as originally envisioned by residents. Because the city will have to lease the land from Caltrans, which owns and collects […]

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