SFMTA Reconsiders Adding Mission District Parking Meters
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has agreed to modify its plan to install 5,000 new parking meters in neighborhoods that are not 'Parking Meter Free Zones.' Many residents have complained that the modified plan will still have meters that residents don't want.
Hanna Kahn lives and works in an artists' studio at Mariposa and Alabama Streets in one of the few remaining neighborhoods in San Francisco that has been free of parking meters. She wants it to stay that way.
"It feels to me like a regressive tax. It's where I live and work," she said.
KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:
The SFMTA has been flooded with complaints about the parking meter plan, which envisions the new meters in Dogpatch, Mission Bay and the Mission District.
Executive Director Ed Reiskin said he'll modify the current proposal in response to those complaints, but won't discard the meters altogether.
"What we're likely to bring forward is something that's a slightly smaller footprint than what we had most recently proposed. It was a considerably reduced footprint than what we initially proposed," Reiskin said.
He added the problem is that the neighborhoods are a mix of residential and commercial and it's tricky to regulate commercial parking without impacting nearby residents.
Critics said there isn't a parking problem that needs to be regulated, but Reiskin insists more turnover is needed.
The SFMTA will unveil its new meter plan in early February.
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