The SFMTA announced yesterday that it would no longer include areas of the Dogpatch, Potrero Hill, and Mission neighborhoods in its pilot expansion of SFPark after pushback from a vocal group of opponents.
However, SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose said the agency is still proposing to install conventional parking meters, which lack the technology that allows the agency to measure demand and adjust prices accordingly. At upcoming community meetings, SFMTA staff will also discuss residential parking permits (RPP), which give residents priority for street parking in those neighborhoods, Rose said.
An SFPark statement reads:
Many neighbors in the 12th & Folsom, 17th & Folsom, Dogpatch, and Potrero Hill areas have expressed uneasiness about being part of the SFpark pilot project until further evaluation of its success. Based on this feedback, the SFMTA will no longer propose for these areas to be included as SFpark pilot areas. As the SFMTA revises parking management proposals for each of these areas, they will reflect regular its [sic] policies and practices.
Are the opponents any less "uneasy" about conventional meters than SFPark meters? Members of the Eastern Neighborhoods United Front (ENUF -- get it?), the leading group mobilizing against paying for parking, make a plethora of outrageous claims about SFPark's motives on their misleadingly labeled website, SFPark.info (though ENUF asserts that it is not officially associated with the website). The group's opinion of conventional parking meters doesn't seem any more favorable: according to Mission Local, ENUF organizer John Lum is "not ready to claim victory" since parking meters are still on the table.
But if ENUF is unwilling to accept anything besides the status quo of dysfunctional free parking, then if they ever do claim victory, who else will win? Not the drivers who'll be circling for parking. Not the residents who'll be burdened with more traffic in their neighborhood. No one, really, except the vocal contingent who believes free street parking is a "right."