Next Tuesday, Jan 16, the SFMTA Board of Directors will hold what may be the final hearing on a controversial proposal to implement a Residential Parking Permit (RPP) program in northwest Bernal Heights.
Tuesday’s hearing about the Bernal RPP will include a public comment period. If the SFMTA Board then votes to approve the Northwest Bernal RPP plan, residential permit parking will likely go into effect on the specified blocks within a few months .
SFMTA’s announcement about the hearing says:
NORTHWEST BERNAL HEIGHTS RPP HEARING
Residents of northwest Bernal Heights have petitioned the SFMTA to form a new residential parking permit area to better manage and find parking closer to their homes.
The proposal will be heard by the SFMTA Board of Directors on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, at 1:00 P.M., at San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B Goodlett Pl, San Francisco, CA 94102, Room 400. Interested parties are invited to attend and comment on the proposal.
The following blocks are proposed for residential permit parking: Coleridge (1- 199), Coso (1 – 199), Fair (1-99), Lundy’s Lane (1-29), Mirabel, Montezuma, Powers, Precita (1 – 299), Prospect (00-199), Shotwell (1400 – 1599), and Winfield (1 – 99).
The proposed RPP area will have the following policies for the number of permits that may be issued per address:
- One permit per driver; two permits per address
- Permits for medical care and child care providers do not count towards the two per address limit
- Additional permits may be issued to an address if parking is available in the immediate area and the permit is for additional licensed drivers in the household
More information about the parking planning efforts in NW Bernal Heights can be found at www.sfmta.com/northbernalrpp or email InfoRPP@sfmta.com.
For those who can’t attend the hearing on Jan. 16, comments to the Board can be submitted via email at MTABoard@sfmta.com.
The proposal to introduce RPP in northwest Bernal has been deeply divisive, pitting Bernal neighbor against neighbor, and block against block, over the question of whether or not permit parking is appropriate for the neighborhood.
In addition, multiple changes to the proposed RPP rules and irregularities in the SFMTA’s petition process have prompted some Bernal neighbors to question the accountability and competence of the SFTMA’s permit parking program staff. Additional question have been raised about the integrity of SFMTA’s vehicle census data.
Advocates for the Bernal RPP say permits are needed to prevent daytime workers, commuters, and air travelers heading to SFO from occupying scarce parking space in northwest Bernal Heights.
Critics point to SFMTA surveys which show that 73% of the vehicles currently parked on the proposed RPP streets belong to people who live within a half-mile of the zone, an indication that many those vehicles likely belong to other Bernal residents. SFMTA’s survey indicates that 19% of the vehicles parked in the RPP zone today belong to people who live more than 2 miles away.
If the parking plan is implemented. Bernal residents who do not live at a designated address within the RPP zone who will no longer be able to park on streets in the RPP zone for more than 2 hours between 8 am and 6 pm, Monday to Friday.
If approved, the annual permit fee will be $128 per auto and $96 for each motorcycle.
Bernalwood 
more $$$ the city is taking out of our pockets
Can’t happen soon enough
The map and the addresses for Coleridge Street DO NOT match! It is misleading. I have requested a response from MTA, but have not heard back.
If this permit parking is approved:
winners – Those living within zone who store their cars on the street and do not commute by car to work, car commuters who live close to zone and can park their car in the permit parking area overnight
losers – Those living within zone who commute by car (increased overnight parking competition from those just outside of the zone), those who live in the zone who have to pay money for the parking permits and dealing with guest’s parking
I like how the meeting is scheduled for 1pm on a Tuesday when the potential “winners” are more likely to be able to attend compared to the “losers” who commute to work. My cynicism doubts the emailed comments will carry as much weight as comments made in person at the hearing.
Also include among the ‘losers’ all of the hard working and dedicated teachers at LR Flynn Elementary School, just one block away. This plan is a grand middle finger in their face as they struggle to serve our community by educating our children, my child included. These teachers often cannot afford to live in the city and commute from as far as Fremont. This plan would effectively make it even more difficult for those who must drive to continue teaching at Flynn. I encourage our good neighbors to consider how this plan will negatively affect our community.
The winner is the DPT. They start out making $128/year per car… for providing a sticker! Then there’s the bounty of ticket revenue as they sweep the RPP area hourly. Next, they will push hard to spread this “pilot” plan across Bernal. Hopefully, some residents will share the true stories of how this went wrong in an effort to keep other areas from falling victim.
Free Dumb
Also include among the ‘losers’ all of the hard working and dedicated teachers at LR Flynn Elementary School, just one block away. This plan would be a significant detriment to them as they strive to serve our community by educating our children, my child included. These teachers often cannot afford to live in the city and commute from as far away as Fremont. This plan would effectively make it even more difficult for those who must drive to continue teaching at Flynn. I encourage our good neighbors to consider how this plan will negatively affect our community and to reconsider supporting it.
There are teacher RPP permits available, go to SFMTA website for details.
This came up at one of the SMFTA meetings about the RPP. SFMTA said that beecause Flynn school/Precita Park is not part the RPP zone, teachers there are not eligible for RPP permits.
Even if LR Flynn were inside the zone, SFMTA would only issue a paltry few permits for the entire school.This is not a solution.
Susan, can you comment on how you had come to the conclusion that teachers could get permits? Was this misinformation from SFMTA?
My elderly neighbor, who has lived here since the fifties, still has her car and it is parked on the street. It is not that her garage is full of junk, these houses were simply not built to accommodate cars, especially one she can get into. The car is used for visitors to take her out, her car less grandson takes her to lunch once a week and a nice long drive. I vaguely remember the driver needs to be licensed, though not positive. Never thought about it much until reading this post. The neighborhood quilt needs to include teachers, elderly without driver’s license, households that due to economics need more than 2 cars, people who have visitors more than 2 hours in the day (elderly among them) and all the scenarios that simply weren’t thought about.
Please let some kindness and common sense prevail.
There is nothing that has not been thought about the residents who have worked tirelessly for years to find a solution to a difficult problem. This is the best we could come up with under the current system. We need to give it a try and work to accommodate exceptions as best we can.
Neighbors – face it – there are too many cars in the city. Period. SFMTA is trying to revise the entire program that has pitted folks against each other, and I encourage any and all to contribute to that effort as it develops….
I just have to giggle at the “worked tirelessly” bit. If this is what you have worked tirelessly on for years then your focus is misdirected. This is a problem of privilege in the first place.
“SFMTA is trying to revise the entire program that has pitted folks against each other…” What does that even mean? Honestly, this NW Bernal pilot program that SFMTA has designed seems to specifically pit neighbors against each other by circumventing their previous RPP standards (lowering eligibility requirements) and manipulating data (creatively designating neighbors on adjacent streets “non-residents”). And SFMTA seems to be ignoring the significant neighborhood backlash. What are these “developing efforts” that we should all be contributing to?
I 100% agree that we have too many cars. How does giving some neighbors preferential parking privileges solve that problem?
How will this affect the adjacent streets/neighbors who are not within the permitted zone? Just force more cars into those areas, concentrating the problem in new places?
Yes. This is how the RPP plague spreads. Areas adjacent to the initial RPP zone will feel they need to get RPP going to keep the unpermitted cars off their block. And so it continues. SFMTA loves this model. Pits neighbors against each other with the end result being “More Money”. Such a shame that the 50% “majority” (reduced from 80% because that was unachievable in this area) got this idiot ball rolling.