Do Geary Boulevard and Masonic Avenue need more car traffic? The marketers of the newly-opened "CityTarget" store seem to think so.
The mailers announcing the opening of the supposedly urban-style store (clearly, it's more like the downtown Metreon store than the suburban, parking-locked store in Serramonte) advertise the fact that it offers free parking -- three times, in fact. This comes after Target emphasized to neighbors at community meetings in 2010 that it would encourage "alternative transportation."
Granted, they did include a picture of a fixed-gear road bicycle with some unsecured stuff placed on its front rack, though it's unclear if the bike is supposed to be a product or a mode of transport. There's also a bench with some books and coffee cup on it that could, theoretically, represent a bus stop.
But even if Target doesn't want to be too explicit about suggesting that its customers take a bike or bus, or provide a visual reminder of what its 650-space parking lot actually looks like in an urban setting, the company makes its message perfectly clear: "CityTarget" has free parking.
Aaron was the editor of Streetsblog San Francisco from January 2012 until October 2015. He joined Streetsblog in 2010 after studying rhetoric and political communication at SF State University and spending a semester in Denmark.