[TLC Member News & Alerts] TLC action alert: Downtown Parking Reform legislation * SF Beautiful Awards * Free concert tickets!

[Tom Radulovich]

DOWNTOWN PARKING REFORM LEGISLATION MOVES FORWARD!
Downtown San Francisco's compact, high density urban character and  
its outstanding transit access, make it one of the best neighborhoods  
in the city for car-free living. Currently over half of existing  
residents are living in car-free households; in the mid-Market area,  
the proportion of car free households is close to 70%.

Although an increasing number of new developments are being built  
with little or no parking, other development trends are threatening  
the long-term livability of downtown. Many new developments are  
parked out at suburban ratios of one parking space per unit, and the  
traffic generated by the thousands of new parking spaces allowed  
under current zoning will push downtown streets further towards  
gridlock, which will devastate Muni service, endanger bicyclists and  
pedestrians, and set back efforts to create a greener, more walkable  
downtown.

Supervisor Daly worked with TLC on legislation to reform parking  
controls in San Francisco's transit-intensive C-3 (downtown  
commercial) districts. This legislation is the first major reform of  
downtown residential parking requirements in over two decades, and  
would extend progressive approaches to parking management enacted in  
small areas of downtown (Transbay and Rincon Hill) to the entire  
downtown. It will:

* eliminate minimum parking requirements downtown;
* establish a parking maximum of one space for every two units;
* require that the sale or rental of parking spaces be "unbundled"  
from the sale or rental price of units;
* eliminate size and independent accessibility requirements for  
parking spaces, to allow greater flexibility in configuring parking;
* prohibits parking spaces on upper floors;
* requires bicycle parking in residential projects;
* requires car sharing spaces be set aside in larger projects;
* protects major bicycle, pedestrian, and transit streets from new  
driveways and curb cuts.

This legislation will be heard at the planning commission this  
Thursday, October 27. The commission will not take action at this  
meeting, but it is important that they hear from supporters of  
downtown parking reform, especially on the importance of parking  
maximums, which will be resisted by the more backwards developers and  
their lawyers and lobbyists. The meeting begins at 2pm in room 400 of  
City Hall; be there and speak up for a livable downtown!

SF BEAUTIFUL HONORS TLC MEMBER
Yesterday, San Francisco Beautiful awarded its 2005 beautification  
awards to eight exemplary projects (http://www.sfbeautiful.org/awards/ 
2005_award_winners.html). One of the awardees was TLC member Jane  
Martin, who created the amazing Shotwell Greenway, on Shotwell Street  
between 17th and 18th streets in the Mission. Jane's project is a  
great illustration of how San Francisco's transportation  
infrastructure can be made more sustainable–and more beautiful. Jane  
also created PlantSF to facilitate streetscape greening efforts  
citywide: http://www.plantsf.org. Big TLC congratulations to Jane and  
all of the other winners!

FREE CONCERT TICKETS!
TLC has four tickets to the Govt. Mule show tomorrow night (Saturday  
10/22) at the Warfield Theater; the first emailed response back to  
tom at livablecity.org wins the tickets.


Transportation for a Livable City
995 Market Street Suite 1550
San Francisco CA 94103
415 344-0489
www.livablecity.org