Frustrated Drivers Launch New Website to Oppose More Parking Meters

By Jeff Sandstoe Wed., Jun. 6 2012 at 2:00 PM

ENUF already!

Do you ever feel like San Francisco has more and more parking meters to feed? And what about that parking anxiety that bubbles up, making you too nervous to park in a certain neighborhood because you know you will get another ticket you can't afford.

Well, you're not alone. Beleaguered drivers have formed an organization with the goal of making parking your car in San Francisco a little less painful.

Eastern Neighborhoods United Front, whose acronym appropriately spells ENUF, launched its website this week, announcing its next fight to pick: "preventing the SFMTA from blanketing our San Francisco neighborhoods with more parking meters."

ENUF, created by S.F. residents and business owners last year, won its first victory back in December when it filed an appeal over the controversial smart meters. It was this appeal that eventually forced SFMTA to put the kibosh on its plan to install these meters near the Mission Bay neighborhood, said Mari Eliza, spokeswoman for the group.

More recently, the group's message gained momentum when the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce asked the agency to consider the economic impacts of new parking meters near local businesses. Currently, the group is speaking at public meetings, and plans to conduct polls and surveys with local residents and business owners, hoping this will provide better parking information that could contradict MTA's plans to start making consumers pay to park.

Eliza said what's just as frustrating as trying to find a parking spot in San Francisco is the MTA's apparent resistance to hear them out. "They appear disinterested in what people have to say and set in their ways," she told SF Weekly.

However, the MTA doesn't agree with this view of their fleeting interest from the public during these meetings.

"[SFMTA is] certainly interested in what this group, and other stakeholders, have to say," said MTA Spokesman Paul Rose . "We're absolutely committed to working with them to get these proposals done."

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Tags:

Eastern Neighborhoods United Front, ENUF, frustrated drivers, parking tickets, SFMTA

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Sebra Leaves

Want to know more about your friendly SFMTA? ENUF invites you to attend the next Mission Bay meeting (details here) to decide for yourself exactly how interested the SFMTA is in working with the public. "Getting their proposals done" sounds much more like what they are concerned with. If you ride a bicycle, you will not be forgotten. SFMTA and BART plan to start charging you for parking soon. If you don't live in one of the Eastern Neighborhoods, SFMTA plans to turn your neighborhoods into "commercial zones" so they can put meters on your streets too. Want a residential parking permit for your neighborhood? Try getting one. Residents from the Richmond to Mission Bay have been denied permits. In fact, if you have gotten one lately, we'd like to know about it. You can reach us at: http://www.sfenuf.org/ email us at: contact@sfenuf.org

jry

google "automobile subsidy" then take a look at the city's Transit-First policy: http://www.sfmta.com/cms/asystem/amlegalframeset.php?url=http://www.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/California/charter_sf/articleviiiathemunicipaltransportationag?f=templates$fn=altmain-nf.htm$3.0&anchor=JD_8A.115 then please explain why the city should subsidize the storage of private property in public space, private property that fouls the air and clogs up streets, making public transit slow to a crawl. If it comes down to raising MUNI fares or charging drivers more, which should come first?