All-day Parking Restricted at East End of Golden Gate Park

by Carol Dimmick

Tight budgets and new priorities are turning many free parking spots in Golden Gate Park into a thing of the past.

Beginning the second week in January, commuters that have parked for free along some of the park's major roadways will face stiff fines if they ignore new three- and four-hour time limits.

New signs declaring a three-hour parking limit were posted along Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, between Ninth Avenue and Kezar Drive; on Kezar Drive to Waller Street; along Bowling Green and a portion of John F. Kennedy Drive; and on Conservatory Drive West.

Other roads in the Music Concourse area will have a four-hour time limit posted to allow park visitors a little extra time to enjoy their visits to the museums, Strybing Arboretum and the Japanese Tea Garden.

Park officials say the new time limits are a part of the Golden Gate Park Master Plan to discourage commuters from using free parking and taking up spaces that visitors should be able to use.

"They take parking spaces away from mother bringing their children to the park," said Becky Balinger, a public relations spokesperson with the SF Recreation and Park Department.

The policy is a part of a larger parking management plan developed by the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority after voters adopted the Golden Gate Park Revitalization Act of 1998 (Prop. J), which mandates turning the Music Concourse into a pedestrian mall and controlling when and where cars are allowed in many areas of the park.

The fees collected from tickets are also expected to help replenish the Recreation and Park Department's budget, which gets much of its revenue from the city's general fund. The department proposed the plan after it failed to gain the support of the SF Board of Supervisors for a proposal to install meters along major roadways in the park.

The Recreation and Park Department, which is struggling to come up with creative ways to generate revenue to cover a $10 million budget shortfall, will likely get a portion of the money collected from the tickets issued to violators.

No estimates are available as to how much revenue the tickets are expected to generate, but department officials confirmed the revenue will be divided equally between Muni and the city's general fund.

Richmond Neighbors Bracing for Cars; Some Adopt Parking Permits

Residents living in the Richmond District are expecting an influx of cars as commuters cut off from their usual parking places search nearby streets for parking.

Ron Miguel, president of the Planning Association for the Richmond (PAR), says that although Richmond streets are likely to become a target for commuters, neighbors have not taken steps to deal with the problem.

A few Richmond neighbors that live near Golden Gate Park have taken steps to avert what they believe will be an influx of cars by adopting new residential parking permit requirements.

Neighbors between the University of San Francisco and Arguello Boulevard have banded together to adopt residential permit requirements, but very few blocks have adopted such requirements west of Arguello Boulevard.