October 15, 2007
Measure H Math
As part of its campaign against Measure H, the SF Bicycle Coalition has notified us that there are more parking spaces than cars in San Francisco: our fair but congested city has "603,000 on-street and off-street parking spaces" but only "469,489 registered vehicles."
So why did we decide to sell our car after two years of driving around looking for a place to park it? The answer: this person, and the other (apparently) 133,511 people who have garages, but who fill them with piles of useless crap and park their cars on the street. This hallowed American practice triply robs honest citizens of what they seem to imagine is their constitutional right to store their cars on public property: 1) the parking space (or two) in this person’s garage is full of soggy cardboard boxes; 2) the car that should be in the garage is on the street (where we had hoped to park our car); and 3) the curb cutout giving access to the useless garage takes up yet another parking space. There's a pretend space between this driveway and the next—it’s too small even for this Mini. If your car is less than ten feet bumper to bumper, you can park here legally.
Wanting to be a good citizen and to vote responsibly on this issue (even though we are now car-free and hence no longer parkers), we went far beyond our regular news sources (e.g. that talkative guy on Caltrain, and the subject lines of e-mails from groups to whom we must have given our e-mail address). We went to the incomprehensible 61-page text of the measure itself. (.pdf)
Our preliminary analysis indicates that there is no clause requiring people to park in their own garages, and therefore we oppose Measure H.
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A substantial proportion of those garages have been converted to "illegal" in-law units. So people are in some of these car holes. Paritcularly in the Sunset
how many of those 603k parking spots have been zoned loading zone only to escape the criminals parking for free with unethical handicapped placards? how many non loading zone spots are taken during the day by these same folks? how many of the paid for garage spots they probably counted cannot be accessed 24x7? you see my point. none of these spaces should be counted in an accurate and usable survey.
The question here is whether Don Fisher, a conservative republican billionare, can single handedly set back decades of pro-transit, pro-environment policy by funding a misleading, populist ballot measure.
Part of the anwser will depend on whether our misleading, populist Mayor is willing to put some action behind his endless green rhetoric. For once, we need to see Gavin "Greenwash" Newsom stand up for the values he claims to hold.
Newsom receives money from all of these republicans (Fisher/Wilsey) and corporations (webcor & Gap employees) that stand behind policy he claims to oppose. Newsom's people claim he opposes H but he is yet to take any actions. He won't come to a fundraiser. He won't do a TV ad. He won't do anything that might compromise the flow of anti-environmental republican money into his pockets.
Its time to call Gavin Newsom out. Ask George Bush if he is an environmentalist and he will say yes, just as Gavin Newsom does. Ask Dick Cheney if they are runnging a "Green" administration and he will say yes, just as Gavin Newsom does. Its actions not words that count and its time for our "Green Mayor" to stand with transit and the environment, even if it pisses off his republican friends.
We wont defeat Prop H if Newsom doesnt spend some the political capital that he is hording. And he wont lift a finger unless you force him to: Gavin.Newsom@sfgov.org
4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. Although the holes were kind of small, they had too count them all. My point being, was someone actually paid to count parking spaces and if so can I throw something at whoever thought this was a good use of my frickin' money.
Jim, you're right, it should read "soggy cardboard boxes and/or people"...
Won't the creation of a Clean Garage Gestapo take away resources from the forces fighting phony handicapped parking?
There is even a motorcycle with handicapped plates that parks in front of my building. If a not-visibly-disabled motorcyclist can get a handicapped plate then I can claim that having a junky garage is a disability on account of my Okie ancestry.
This is like the end of the Soviet Union, where there were plenty of toilet paper factories, but no toilet paper because the system was too broken to fix. Building more parking without adopting capitalist supply and demand mechanisms just creates more waste.
It would be great if homeowners were allowed to convert their garages into living units, but confiscatory socialists like Don Fisher won't allow it.
I say jam the system with as many parked cars as you can afford. Don't drive them though.
This is a green city, which is why so many people have converted their garages into ganja growings factories.
Prop H will allow for reasonable growth in this important area. If H fails, we will soon run out of pot, and likely mini meth labs too.
Vote yes on H!
Check out the bald faced lies that Fisher is behind in his latest mailer:
http://www.leftinsf.com/pictures/blankCheck_hit.pdf
Best flat out lie: "The Board of Supervisors controls the MTA Board without voter input." Not so! The Board *confirms* members of the board appointed by the Mayor. Prop A doesn't change this setup.
excuse me but citing leftinsf pretty much removes any credibility you could ever hope to have
they are all fucking nuts over there
How many parking spaces are being used by drivers who don't have their vehicles registered in San Francisco? I have heard rumors that we get a few tourists from time to time, and maybe even some commuters.
Dude, leftinsf is just hosting a freaking scan of the mailer.
of course they are nuts. but I can tell you, the scan isn't faked.
Did the bicycle coalition do a study to see how many bikes are being stored in garages daily by riders?
How did they come up with the numbers? 603,000??
Why not 509,987/ 723,444?
Miss Cleo must have helped them.
Some single family homes can fit 3 cars, some none due to illegal in-law apartments. Some people in homes have 2 garage spaces, plus they have illegally cemented over thier front yards creating 2 more parking spots, leaving one more on the street.
Phoney girl, totally phoney.
ok, sorry aj. i got booted off that site of crazy fucktards for taking on marc soloman and caroline, the two most fucked up wanna be politicians this town should have aborted long ago.
kinda bitter over it still.
i've heard that there's a CA code that states that if a garage is used for non-car-holding purposes, such as storage, that ANY car can park in its driveway and not be subject to towing. and if the owner of said garage requests the tow, he or she is responsible for the fines. can someone confirm or deny? i have a terrible neighbor who is trigger-happy with his driveway but who i've NEVER seen in car, and i'm pretty sure his garage is filled with junk.
It's very doubtful, Kay. Only cars registered at the address can block the driveway, anyway.
The owner or lessee of property shall be permitted to park the owner's or lessee's vehicle across the private driveway of said property, provided that such vehicle displays a valid license plate registered under said property with the Department of Motor Vehicles and provided that such driveway serves no more than two family dwelling units. This Section does not permit the parking of vehicles across sidewalks or red zones.
(Added by Ord. 158-86, App. 5/9/86)
Have you called the DPT and asked them about it?
I live in an in-law, but there's still a functional garage here and our upstairs neighbors park their car in it. We, on the other hand, park our car on the street. It would seem that the vast majority of our neighbors, all people with houses and where the vast majority are not converted into in-laws, do the same though. On average every single available parking space is filled at night. You can usually find one during the day or early evening, but yeah, these idiots fill their garages with crap and park their cars on the street where they just take up valuable spaces from the rest of us. Even worse, they have to pay the city for a permit just to do it.
Actually, every car needs 3(!!!) parking spaces, one at home, one at work and I can't remember where the third one is (Could it be in front of your favorite bar?)
suckafree of course has no balls to identify him or herself to the rest of us so he has no credibiilty I laugh at his or her little postings here..