Officials: parking fees the cure to whatever ails you
GG Park parking meters to fund park patrols, save Earth, cure common cold
Any way you slice it, there’s nothing at all wrong or bad about the proposal to make folks pay to park in the east side of Golden Gate Park (unless you’re one of the – we hope – few who uses our grand natural resource as garage).
To wit:
The fees – MTA thinks $500,000 a year in Golden Gate plus another $150,000 through parking at Lincoln Park, a fellow from the Sierra Club said $4 million (why not?) – will pay for increased park patrols; more shuttle service from the center and west ends of the park to the pay-for-the-pleasure east end (thereby freeing up more spaces at the De Young and the Academy of Sciences); the meters will be progressive, in that they will charge a hefty rate for folks parking there all day, but no more than the rates on Ninth Avenue and Irving for a two or three hour jaunt (and spend their off-hours reading BeyondChron); and will also encourage folks to walk, bike and take transit more, according to testimony at a City Hall hearing Wednesday.
In short: they are the cure for what ails you.
Unless, of course, you work at UCSF and have been using the park as your personal gratuit driveway. In which case, Supervisor Carmen Chu has your back – in that she at least mentioned you on Wednesday – but you’ll still have to pay, pay, pay, if this proposal clears the full Board next Tuesday (which it is assured to do, unless Rec and Park discovers a grove of Money Trees near Stow Lake).
“The goal is not to charge a lot of people a high rate to use the park,” said Jim Lazarus, who is president of the Recreation and Park Commission and also a bigshot at the Chamber of Commerce. “It’s to discourage all-day parking, and [charge] a rate that encourages turnover.”
Which anyone in this industry-friendly town can appreciate, yeah?
