In a city where finding a parking spot is already a challenge, there are new plans to cut free parking in two high traffic neighborhoods in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is looking at turning free two-hour parking spots into metered or permit only spaces in both the Cow Hollow And Marina neighborhoods.
The news is not sitting well with residents and business owners in the area.
“I’m opposed to a limitation on parking. The city needs parking and we don’t have a transit facility that can get people where they want to go easily so until they do that they should not make parking more difficult its only going to create more congestion,” said John Raeber of San Francisco.
The SFMTA said the goal is to create more parking availability in dense neighborhoods. They added that converting visitor parking in the permit zones from free to two hour parking to all day paid parking helps open space for residents who have a permit while also allowing visitors to stay longer than two hours.
Cow Hollow business owners are worried the changes will hurt their bottom line.
Linda with the Union Street Merchant Association told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday that she fears eliminating free two-hour parking in Cow Hollow will negatively impact her employees too.
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“It’s not helping businesses in San Francisco thrive,” she said. “It’s hard to find service people because they can’t find parking and they are worried about getting a ticket so it’s just not feasible to work in this area.”
The SFMTA said nothing is set in stone and its gathering community feedback now. The agency also says the proposed changes would not eliminate any parking spaces.
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