Did “Restore Balance” Petitioners Lie About Sunday Meters for Signatures?

Petitioners for the "Restore Transportation Balance" initiative aimed at enshrining cars-first policies apparently made false claims about the state of Sunday parking metering to collect signatures.

Backers of the Republican-crafted ballot measure turned in 17,500 petition signatures -- well over the 9,000 required for it to qualify for the ballot this November, the SF Chronicle reported yesterday. But according to two separate reports from Streetsblog readers, petition collectors seen outside Safeway stores made false claims that the mayor had not repealed Sunday parking metering, and that the ballot measure would "restore" free parking.

A flyer [PDF] posted on the initiative's website states that the measure calls for "restoring free parking at meters on Sundays, holidays and evenings." Parking is currently free during all of those times, and there is no serious proposal from the SFMTA to change that.

Patrick Carroll, one of the readers who was reportedly approached by a petitioner in a Safeway parking lot, said he told the petitioner that he'd understood that the SFMTA Board of Directors had already repealed Sunday parking metering at the behest of Mayor Ed Lee. The petitioner then claimed that "the mayor had backed off."

The SFMTA Board did, in fact, vote to repeal Sunday parking metering in April, pressured by the mayor, who made unfounded claims about a popular revolt against the policy.

In a city where the vast majority of street space is dedicated to moving and storing private automobiles for free, the initiative's proponents seem to be inventing a struggle in their bid to "restore balance" for motorists. Last month, right-wing author Bill Bowen also penned a Chronicle op-ed pushing the measure that was rife with misinformation.

As Livable City Executive Director Tom Radulovich told the Bay Guardian today, "The idea that anyone who walks or cycles or takes public transit in San Francisco would agree that these are privileged modes of transportation is rather absurd." The coalition is "co-opting the notion of balance to defend their privilege. They’re saying the city should continue to privilege drivers."