But do I really care?
I was interviewed by one of their SF reporters about some problems the city has been having with assaults on Citation Officers. There were four incidents in late November and the NYT is getting around now to reporting the news.
The reporter seemed like a nice guy (Jesse McKinley, SF bureau Chief for the NYT)..however I, as usual, didn’t hold back, so my guess is that he will let it be known that the editor of parking today thinks all people in San Francisco are nincompoops and that the parking industry is somewhere in the fourth circle of hell.
He said he also interviewed Don Shoup so maybe we’ll get some good press from Don.
Or, like with NBC, I may end up with a blue pencil by some smart editor in New York. Its supposed to be in Sunday or Monday…We shall see.
7 Responses
Dude, what’s up with the derisive tone here? You should be grateful to the NYT and their “smart editors” – I never would have heard of this site if it weren’t for that article, and now I’ll be using your blog as a class resource.
Well there you are, it’s in the NYT online right now:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/us/06parking.html
What’s missing from the story is the subtle soft sell that happens here. If the bridge tolls into SF are to remain at affordable levels for cars, the public transportation system cannot be too efficient and workable.
So the dancing / balancing act that is done is to not take too many cars off the road with public transit system. You’ll notice that the GoldenGate.org site handles both the public transit system, AND the bridge. The real income is in the number of cars going through the bridge tolls.
So it’s too bad no one can find a place to park because they are forced to drive. Possibly if people considered the actual source of their anger, they might get this situation changed.
Jon – Your commentary isn’t very informative but at least is colorful. Sometimes the editor is very right concerning credibility issues.
I would say the article was favorable to your . The closing comment in his article was a quote from a blogger. That’s pretty nice praise sir.
I agree with AG regarding discovering your blog. Without their online article citing you as a knowledgeable parking reference, I am not sure I would have found your blog. Congrats.
Parking in The City used to be a breeze when I was there years ago, and 10 years ago it was no problem, now it’s expensive and miserable unless you ave that private spot for three bills a month, eh? Intersting Times story…I hate to pay to park anywhere and am very creative to avoid paying, but my parameters herein Ohio allow me to do so…I park miles away from where I would have to pay to park and ride a folding bicycle , sometimes more than a few miles to save that parking fee, but I am not hemmed in by living on a peninsula, either. Good luck…driving and parking is still a lot cheaper than taking cabs everywhere, correct? It’s unbelievable what it costs now to ride cabs around Manhattan; accountants accuse cab riders of padding the expense accounts regularly…they haven’t had to cab it from La Guardia to Midtown lately!
Hey, how much is the cab fare now from San Francisco International Airport to Union Square now? Has it surpassed the magic $50 fare?
I just read the NYT article about the parking rage problems here in San Francisco.
As I’ve found in past articles on this subject, the “problem” is painted with a very broad brush, ignoring two of the major components; …official attitude and lack of method to respond to tickets.
On the first point, the attitude of the parking control officials, from the top to the bottom, is atrocious. The goal is to pour on the tickets, add to the general fund, and publically pretend that they are “only addressing the parking problems”.
While violent attacks on the Parking Control Officers is indefensible, the nasty, arrogant power-tripping of many of those officers only adds to the rage that triggers those attacks in the first place. This is more the fault of the parking administration than the officers themselves, but it does exist, and has never been officially addressed.
The second component is the virtual impossibility of fighting a parking ticket once it has been issued. The privatization of the parking ticket process prevents defending through the normal judicial process, so we are left with a (purposely?) nightmarish process of letters and personal appearances, all seemingly designed to discourage any defense against the parking ticket.
The result? With hundreds of under-paid and under-trained PCOs roaming the streets, including many who constantly abuse their authority, with practically no recourse available to those who question the tickets being issued, what the hell do you expect the result to be?
Last year my partner and I both witnessed parking rage the week we were moving out of SF, California to start our new life in spacious Eastern Oregon. Two thirty something “professional” men fought over a parking space in the Peet’s Coffee free parking lot. It escalated to name calling, which then led to one man throwing his entire cup of hot coffee in the other’s face! It then led to fists swinging. I fumbled for my phone to call 911, but it broke up before I could find it.
The suburbs are just as bad as SF– if not worse!