Sunday Parking Meters

Draw Area Reactions

By Keith Burbank

Much to the chagrin of local churches, San Francisco city officials have officially approved motorists paying parking meters on Sunday, a change to most metered spaces in the city.

For one, the city hopes to raise more revenue for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), the city’s transit authority.

But business owners and employees of businesses in the Castro interviewed on a recent Sunday afternoon seem generally opposed to the idea of people paying a parking meter on Sunday.

“A lot of people (customers) come from out of town,” said Kayla Smith, executive assistant at Veo optics, at the corner of Market and Church Streets. It’s “more inconvenient” for them to have to pay for parking on Sunday. Veo optics recently won an award for Best of the Bay, Smith said.

But a business owner on Market Street, who declined to be named, said, “I don’t know” when asked whether the SFMTA should require residents and visitors to pay a meter on Sunday. The owner said that if the meters are off, people will park for the whole day, and that will make it difficult for others to park.

People visit from out of town, park in the Castro because it is a safe neighborhood, and take the light rail system around town, the owner said. “So they leave their car in the same spot all day. There should be a two hour time limit. Leave it alone,” he finally said about the system that exists in the Castro.

He said that two hours is enough time for people to have drinks at a Castro bar and go back to their cars. Some people leave the bar intoxicated and go back to their cars to drive, which isn’t good.

“It’s hard to find parking sometimes. Usually people are circling around on Saturday or Sunday. But I don’t want the SFMTA to have more revenue. The more the it has, the more it spends frivolously.”

Relaxing outside the Harvest grocery store in the Castro, a resident of the Mission neighborhood, Samuel Williams agreed saying, “I definitely don’t agree” with drivers having to pay a meter on Sunday, “because meters have been off on Sunday for years. All of a sudden they want more revenue on Sunday, which is not correct,” Williams said.

And Mung Lao, an employee of The Posh Bagel on Castro Street in the Castro and a San Francisco resident, said “the SFMTA doesn’t use money wisely. Residents are paying too much money already. The SFMTA should put the money it gets from parking tickets to good use, rather than for themselves.” Lao said he thinks the money going to the cross-town subway would do more to alleviate congestion if the money was spent to build a parking lot or lots.

Louis Briasco, owner of Michael Bruno, a luggage, leather goods and gift store on Market Street in the Castro said, “With all the people going to Lime (a nearby bar), the meters will be full anyways. Thursday afternoon 10 parking spaces were taken on this block. All the rest were empty. Business is thriving if you are a bar or a bank. People used to have a hard time parking at all.”

Peter Worger, an employee of a furniture store on Market Street in the Castro, said “Parking should be free on Sunday because” the SFMTA charges people at the meters “every other day of the week. A lot of people come [to San Francisco] from out of town on Sunday, so give them a break.”

And Mary MacLaren and Cory Vielna, two employees of Streetlight Records in the Castro, both said they oppose people having to pay a meter on Sunday. Vielna said, “Our customers prefer to have them off on Sunday.”

Brittany Greenbaum, an employee of The Great Frame on Market Street in the Castro, and who works in San Francisco six days a week, said the idea of people having to pay a meter on Sunday is unnecessary. “I’m not a driver, but the city makes plenty of money from bus fares and parking tickets.”

An employee of The Bead Store on Castro Street said it is really expensive as it is now, so “no” I don’t think people should have to pay a meter on Sunday. The city could put in more bike lanes and more bike racks, so the city is more bike friendly.

District 8 Board Supervisor Scott Wiener said he opposes the effort to turn the parking meters on on Sunday.

The SFMTA web site says “In response to the growing problem of parking congestion, Carlton Cole Magee invented the first parking meter in 1932; meters “have assisted neighborhood merchants by limiting the time a motorist can park in a spot thus causing turnover and available parking for their customers.”

Copyright 2012 Castro Courier