Call me old-fashioned, but I've always believed that the government's job was to provide basic services like roads and infrastructure and otherwise stay out of the way so people could make their lives better. At the very least, I figured it was the government's job to not make things worse.
That's exactly why I left San Francisco 30 years ago when, as I liked to joke, the state had made it impossible even to take a leak without first filing a CalEPA environmental impact statement. In triplicate, of course. And with a hefty filing fee.
On January 1, life in San Francisco will get that much worse as the city prepares to lose as many as 14,000 parking spaces. When I moved to the city in 1992, the parking situation was so bad that I looked into monthly parking at a garage "just" seven blocks from my apartment but blanched at the $110 fee for a reserved space. I just checked, and that same garage now runs $415 — or $565 if you need it reserved.
San Francisco losing 14,000 parking spots is like pulling six of your teeth for no good reason. Sure, you can do it, and you'd still be able to eat — but WHY?
The "why" is a new law imposed by the assembly in Sacramento, making it illegal to park within 20 feet of a crosswalk. Statewide, California is expected to lose about 100,000 parking spaces, and it's an easy bet that the vast majority of those will be in the crowded cities where parking is already at a premium.
The details, courtesy of KCRA:
New California law getting enforced on January 1 will make it illegal to park within 20 feet of a crosswalk, instantly eliminating nearly 100,000 parking spots from the state.
— BAY AREA STATE OF MIND (@YayAreaNews) December 16, 2024
San Francisco is losing 14,000 parking spots and doesn’t even have the budget to paint the curbs red… pic.twitter.com/CUhQ8udsRM
Here's the fun part: San Francisco will spend nearly $20,000 for every man, woman, and child next year but, according to reports, doesn't have enough money in the budget to paint the curbs red in the expanded no-parking zones. That's a lot of parking citations and... hey, more money!
The good news for San Francisco is that the bleeding seems to have stopped. After losing people during and after the stupid COVID lockdowns, the city returned to modest population growth in 2023 and '24. And when I say "modest," I mean "Dressed like a Victorian London schoolmarm on a winter's day." The city added 3,000 or so people (a 0.3%) increase in two years to a COVID-era population of about 807,000 in 2022.
But where are they going to park?
Believe it or not, I don't doubt that question was asked and answered in Sacramento as they were considering Assembly Bill 413 (AB 413). While pedestrian safety was the justification for the bill, making it more expensive and less convenient to own a car might have been the actual intent. (If I had to guess, much of the extra space will end up being used by the homeless and won't result in any extra pedestrian safety.)
California's busybodies want people walking, biking, scooting, or bussing — anything but driving their own cars to their own destinations on their own schedules. This is what Californians keep voting for and if they can't find a place to stick their cars, I know where they can stick their ballots.
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