Jake McGoldrick: Parking in the Park

Golden Gate Park is one of our City's most popular recreation sites for both residents and tourists. Recent changes enacted by the SF Recreation and Park Department will affect regulations for parking on the east end of the park and potentially could affect parking in the neighborhoods just north of this section.

As a way to discourage commuters from using the park for parking during weekday work hours, Rec. and Park and the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority have adopted a proposal that will limit street parking within Golden Gate Park near the Concourse area during workday hours.

Effective January 2004, there will be a three-hour parking limit posted along Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, between Ninth Avenue and Kezar Drive; Kezar Drive, to Waller Street; Bowling Green; a portion of John F. Kennedy Drive; and Conservatory Drive West. In addition, other roads in the Concourse area will have a four-hour time limit posted to allow visitors a little extra time to enjoy their visits to the museums, Strybing Arboretum and the Japanese Tea Garden.

District 1 residents near this area of the park should be receiving notices in the mail soon letting you know more details about these changes. Signs designating time-limited parking in these areas of the park should be posted beginning in late November. These changes are being made in accordance with the Golden Gate Park Master Plan and in conformity with the requirements of Proposition J of 1998, which established the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority.

It is possible that these changes could eventually affect street parking in the neighborhoods north of the Concourse area. One way to respond to such effects would be to institute a Residential Parking Permit program in these neighborhoods. This would put time limits on parking in neighborhoods where such programs were in effect unless the car has a Residential Parking Permit. Residential Parking Permit Areas are adopted only upon petition by a majority of the neighbors on a particular block. At this point, there is limited adoption of Area L permit requirements by neighbors between the University of San Francisco and Arguello Boulevard, but very few blocks have adopted such requirements west of Arguello.

December Town Hall and Holiday Celebration
I want to invite the public to our next Town Hall Meeting, followed by a holiday celebration and potluck dinner, at the Richmond Recreation Center on Wednesday, Dec. 17, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Beginning at 6:30 p.m., we will have a short discussion with Diana Hammons, from the SF Department of Parking and Traffic, about residential parking permits, followed by a potluck holiday dinner with me, my staff, family and neighbors in District 1. I hope you will join us for the festivities this year.

In any event, I wish you the very best for the coming holiday season and New Year.

Supervisor Jake McGoldrick represents District 1.