I noticed recently that nearby residents were complaining on EveryBlock SF about getting parking tickets in their own driveways.
The problem always seems to be the car sticking out a bit, and sometimes the parker is way over the line, but this used to happened to me on San Jose Avenue and I felt that at times it was aggressive ticketing. (Sometimes not.)
On Monday, walking north on Bartlett, I noticed the SUV above had a $105 ticket. It didn’t really seem that out of line, which is to say that a wheelchair or other kind of scooter could easily get by without having to go out into the street.
Has anyone else noticed an increase in tickets on cars in driveways? If so, send in photos of deserved and undeserved tickets!
Update Chris O’Leary, a reader with a sharp eye, points out that the ticket in the photograph is for not having plates, but the notice above it suggests that it’s for illegal parking in a driveway. So is it illegal parking in a driveway because it has no plates? We’re checking. Yep. It is illegal. The front plate is missing. And I suppose the notice about the driveway is a warning of sorts.
Well, send any photos at all about getting ticketed in your driveway.
After reading some of the responses, the residents of this City are less tolerent than they were several years ago… especially in the Mission. And people wonder why San Francisco is losing their families.
In hilly Bernal its hard to find space to park temporarily when you unloading supplies to carry up the two and three flights of step, especially when there are children under five. Parking in a driveway should be allowed if the car allows at least 44″ of space to allow pedestrian or wheelchair access. Please tell me how a disable person is going to access a hill that is more than 8% slope on a side walk. Most residential tickets happen because of neighbors with bad attitudes. I think DPT needs to exercise good judgement rather that treating every circumstance as black and white. Mr. O’Leary sounds like he was reaching out of the air for a justification. Come on!!! DPT there is a RECESSION and people are out of work!!!
I got a ticket for blocking a curb cut, and I was not even close to doing so. I took a picture of the car as it stood, and they claimed it wasn’t the same block. Corrupt and lying! Personally, I hate when cars block the sidewalk, but when it’s a 10 foot sidewalk, and the car is intruding into two feet of it, IMHO, a ticket isn’t necessary.
Well my neighbor got a ticket for parking parallel to his garage, he was told to move his car and get a W sticker like the rest of the neighbors who do not own a garage…I think this is ridiculous…San Francisco is becoming hard to handle….
I also got an “aggresive ticket” in Noe Valley. My car is a compact car and maybe was in the sidewalk by about 4 inches. There was still plenty of room for strollers, wheelchairs, people walking side by side, dogs, etc. without even leaving the sidewalk. I will post a picture when I can. I actually felt harassed. There are streets in my neighbourhood that you have to walk in the street the entire block, but I am told that the people on the block have and “understanding” with SFMTA and never get ticketed. But I get $105 ticket for no legitimate reason.
Obviously it is unfair if the other block has an “understanding” and that ought to be rectified but you were still 4 inches into the sidewalk.
It doesn’t matter if you’re 4 inches or 4 feet, the point is that you’re still parked on/over the sidewalk.
But you see, it does matter. Maybe the parker didn’t realize he/she was 14 inches into the sidewalk. This is entirely different than people parking laterally on the sidewalk (I’ve seen it a-plenty), or blocking the entire sidewalk.
When we lived in Oakland, we’d all have to circle the blocks for an hour on street-cleaning days. No problem, except that you’re not allowed to park in the cleaned area until street cleaning hours are over. The sweepers would go past our apartment in the first 10 minutes of street cleaning. I made the mistake of re-parking in front of the building with 10 minutes left in the street cleaning period and got a ticket. My then-boyfriend got several. He actually had one dogging him for over a year. The city kept claiming he hadn’t paid it; he kept claiming he had. He finally showed up at the courthouse with a ream of paperwork; their response was “Oh.”
Yeah, rules are rules are rules, but sometimes enforcement is a capricious money-grab. To suggest otherwise is to place way too much faith in parking enforcement and city bureaucracy.
Why does SFMTA (DPT is now part of SFMTA) allow certain favored religious organizations to park in traffic panes in public roadways with no permit, no process and no tickets, while homeowners get fined so much? If you park in the unused center lane to go to a restaurant you get a ticket. It’s just some special churches that are exempt. What about the First Amendment, SF?
The on the street, taking up a whole lane, parking for churches and funeral homes drives me Crazy. Friday nights for synagog, every day for funerals, and Sunday’s for all the churches — How Do They Get Away With This??? At the very least, “they” should have to get a paid permit for every occasion, and have the parked cars with real people moving safety cones and Obstructed Lane Ahead signs out there.
Oh lord, the comments here are just too funny No wonder we have the government we have, we totally deserve a petty government that exists solely because it is able to eeeeeck out just enough from the productive class to justify it’s own existence. Meanwhile, fools here just rubber stamp everything they decide, even when it means ripping people off at random, just because they can.
So if I risk getting a ticket for not having a front plate on my NM-registered vehicle in SF. We don’t have front plates in NM.
Technically you are supposed to re-register your car in CA if you are a resident. Not sure how much time you are given before they can ticket you but it isn’t a lot. Just FYI.
You are actually required to register your vehicle within 20 days of moving to CA. ‘Moving’ including things like leasing a place to live, accepting a job and so forth.
The first time you register you go to DMV and get your plates.
I learned that when I moved here from NM ten years ago. A CHP officer was nice enough to pull me over and explain it all too me along with giving me a ticket.
You do not have to register your car in CA if you are military and have registered it in another state. We have FL plates on our car (perfectly legally) and have had them for several years, despite having relocated several times. We just renewed our FL registration.
I am aware of the law which is why the car I keep in the BA has CA registration. I figured since I drive by the police station often at about the same time…
Here is a suggestion: don’t park your car on the sidewalk and you won’t get a ticket. Why do automobile driver’s think they have the God given right to occupy public space with their stuff? Can I just start dumping my personal property on the sidewalk? Why not?
There is really no such thing as ‘owner’s driveway when the driveway and the house is really owned by the city. The owners needs to know that the driveway is considered city property therefore when the car is poorly parked in such a way that it interferes with traffic, then the owner is at increase risk of being ticketed. But if the car is in a driveway lot that is longer than a typical driveway, then of course, you can’t be ticketed as long you park your car in a designated area in your lot that is roomy enough for 1 or two cars depending on family size and added convenience. Also, make sure that the car is not blocking the sidewalk for easy sidewalk access by pedestrians, OR your car will be ticketed. If you don’t pay the tickets, your car will be towed by the city. The city has every right to tow the car if the owner doesn’t respond to violations that the city feels the owner has committed if the rear or the front of the vehicle blocks traffic and pedestrian access.
This is not “whining”. This is someone using this neighborhood blog for discussion about a topic many are curious about and opening up a forum for answers that the whole community can profit. from. Why are their so many haters?
In most cities, the owner owns “under” the sidewalk and often out to the middle of the street, but the deed to the property, from time immemorial, grants the city and its people an easement or right-of-way to use the sidewalk on the owner’s land.
A car parked on the sidewalk is still on the owner’s land but blocking the easement. That’s why, as others have said, the owner can be held liable for dangerous cracks, uncut trees, or tree roots.
I’d like to see AT&T ticketed in the East Bay for taking up half the width of the sidewalk with their U-Verse boxes. Oh, that’s right, AT&T is a corporation, so they get a pass.
So how do we report stupid pedestrians?
People seem to think it is their God-given right to park in the sidewalk in front of their house. I would never in a million years even consider taking a public space away from everyone else in my neighborhood, simply because I was too lazy to find street parking. It doesn’t matter if it is “only a few inches”. The space belongs to the community and is not your personal parking lot.
5 yrs. ago got the same $100 ticket for parking in my own driveway, not at all blocking the sidewalk. To protest in fact, we took a nice picture of 2 bikes going easily in front of my car alongside our double stroller with kids in it (comfortable width for 2 bikes, 1 adult walking and a double stroller)- to no avail- still had to pay.
Why don’t these people park their cars in their garages? It appears to me the spaces these people are parking in are driveways. And that big white SUV in the photo is leaking fluids all over the sidewalk as well.
This topic recently blew up The Portola listserv. Residents across the city were warned, through their local police stations and to varying degrees, that SFMTA was going to be stepping up enforcement of this law. Since the city has no good way of disseminating this kind of information, most people missed the memo.
The problem, like many in a city, is multifold. Not enough on-street parking because the Danielle Steeles of the city have to put their 5-20 cars somewhere! Heck, even people with two cars, sometimes one, have to park on the street. Get rid of your car? Well, that’d be great if MUNI worked better (in reality or perception – whichever it is that keeps people from using it). Clean out that garage and park in there! Well, for some of the hoarders in my neighborhood, that should be a solution, but what about the thousands of people with clean garages that have such steep driveways that they can’t even clear the threshold? Yes, it happens in a city with hills…
If the city were to impose a multiple car per dwelling tax, incrementally getting steeper as the number of cars increased, we might see some increase in on-street parking spaces. Get MUNI above 71% on-time, and more people will take it, ditching their cars entirely.
But until then, educate people that there is a law that the city enforces (why this is a problem, I’m not sure) and just keep the tickets comin’.
if you do actual research, you will discover this: tha the Board of Supervisors have publicly stated (to the SF Chronicle) that they do NOT know how SF citizens can legally park in their own driveway (I.e. The mere fact that the driveway is connected to the sidewalk means that in the city of SF, legally, you can get a ticket fr being parked on the sidewalk, even if you are parked (clearly) in the boundaries of your own driveway.
SEE THE OIL under the SUV??? That’s oil on the sidewalk! So this owner has a leaky car but…hey, it’s OK, right?
Although we property owners are on the hook for maintaining the sidewalk, and are “assessed” for things like gates that swing outward onto the sidewalk – the public walkway overrides all. No slippery sloping allowed. On the other hand, no one can park their car on the sidewalk in front of your house like they used to here on my block, where we still have our 15′ wide Edwardian era sidewalks. So be thankful that the rednecks down the street (or hall) can’t put their El Camino up on cinderblocks out front.
Serves SF residents right for voting a few years ago on a city charter amendment that gave DPT both all the money that they collect from tickets, AND the power to set their own charges for tickets. Guess what, the price of tickets went UP and UP!
Y’all idiots should READ the election materials before you vote…
Lydia, ownership ends at the property line, and in the case of this photograph, the SUV is a foot into the public property of the sidewalk and deserves a ticket even with a license plate.
Don’t like the DPT? There’s a VERY simple way to put them out of business, unfortunately it requires EVERYONE to park 100% legally for a few months…
the 2011 sf parking department is now the 1938 version of the nazi party in germany. do what we tell you to do, we don’t care about your neighborhood, you are our cash cow, ad nauseum. it’s no wonder families are moving out of sf, for seattle, if they can stand the interminable rain- it’s just a much more civic city- bikes travel on separate lanes than cars. and the burke-gilman trail is wonderful to bike on. here in sf it dog pile every foot.
go to the park, see dogshit in plastic bags everywhere. trash blowing everywhere. in spite of some streets, like tiffany, spending beaucoup bucks to beautify, at more than a thousand dollars a garden along the sidewalk, others use it as their personal pet toilet or worse.
don’t bother calling sfpd if you have been a victim of hit-and-run, they don’t come, neither does AAA insurance. what ever happened to service? apparently it went down the toilet, to pay for over the top retirement payouts.
had your car broken into and need an officer for safety? they don’t do that anymore after 430pm- seriously that is what i was told.
after my old neighborhood got nine ticket sin a day, we exchanged phone numbers, and called each other to move on street sweeping day, and that worked. our street still suffered from 6 car break-ins and one car stolen in the first six months of this year. the police captain sent an email out, and it is an area wide problem. no doubt the economy is rippling down, working san franciscans are paying at both ends- thanks to the parking department. remember when a commercial tag meant something? and your tag paid for street parking, cleaning, and maintenance? now it’s just paying for retirement, alot of it.
thats right SF, keep knocking on the devils door and someones gonna answer it eventually.
Want to know just how bad the problem is?
Check out http://www.sfdsp.org (San Francisco Department of Sidewalk Parking).
We are the problem whether it is reckless bike riding or inconsiderate parking.
I live in San Jose. I was ticketed for parking in the wrong direction for the flow of traffic IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE. I live on a sleepy suburban street, there is no traffic flow. Let’s face it, our government’s are broke, they will do whatever it takes to bring in revenue. My call to Bay Area law enforcement: START BUSTING AND TICKETING DRIVES TALKING ON THEIR CELL PHONES WHICH THEY KNOW IS AGAINST THE LAW, AND LEAVE LAW ABIDING RESIDENTS ALONE.
Since when do wheelchair riders have more rights than the rest of us? They want equality, then deal with being equal. If a car is blocking a driveway I simply walk around it, you know, like we used to before the City became a mini-money-grubbing-dictatorship. What won’t this City do to get every last dime from its citizens!
And when you “walk around it” you mean you squeeze through a small gap? Or you step over the curb? Neither of those options is available to wheelchair users. In many cases, their only option is to turn around and go back to the corner where there is a curb cut, cross the street and use the sidewalk on the other side — assuming that sidewalk is not also blocked.
Come on – seriously?
*sigh*
I’m really glad I don’t know you.
No sympathy.
My 3 year old daughter and myself have to walk in the street in Bernal every day due to blocked sidewalks. It’s a classic case of the “camel’s nose in the tent”, people start blocking a little and then everyone starts blocking a lot.
The sidewalks are for humans, not car parking.
beat this…….I got a ticket for parking on the street blocking MY OWN driveway!
You can contest that, as long as you weren’t on the sidewalk.
Did you contest it? It is my understanding that those tickets are given only when the resident who has the right to the driveway complains. However there is no real practical way to verify if the complaining party is in fact the proper owner or renter. Do you get along with your room mates and neighbors?
I’ve been ticketed for no front plate on the same day someone stole it. That’s not my fault, nor is it the ticketing officer. It’s the fault of the thief.
As a resident of Bartlett St. and a regular walker, it gets pretty annoying to have to weave around the sidewalks. I don’t have a driveway but I manage to park leagally every day. If you have a driveway and use up the sidewalk, too, well best of luck to you but don’t ask for sympathy. I’m actually pleased that DPT is doing something about this.
Oh, and enough nonsense about “it’s about revenue collection”. The sidewalk is there for pedestrians, not cars – not even 6 inches of the front of cars. Fines do a pretty good job of correcting behavior. I know, I’ve paid a few.
Tell you what…any parking enforcement comes onto my private property under the color of authority without a warrant to give me a parking ticket they had better be prepared to face smith and wesson and a day in court
Yep, you sound like the type that would assume that parking in this city is a God given right.
Of course, just like his “god” given right to possess and threaten people with a firearm.
Hey, ITG, if you’re in the sidewalk, it’s not “yours.”
Another keyboard ganstah. You folks are a dime a dozen. Knowing people like you get as pissed as you do when called out for being wrong is extra motivation to call in even more parking violators.
it is satisfying to help generate revenue for the city by calling in offenders.
more fines = less tax increases.
Oh my god? What are you – new??? About 4 or 5 years ago driveway tickets were $40 a pop. The correct term is actually sidewalk ticket. The “driveway” ticket usually comes with heavy towing and impound fees. I used to park on the sidewalk every night and apparently so did the rest of the people in this city. Every night, nearly every sidewalk was covered with cars. Even though I would get the occasional ticket about once a week, it was still cheaper than paying for parking. Then I remember reading reports in the press about police and people visiting from other cities actually making fun of the lawless sidewalk situation here. Shortly after that the City raised the fine to $100 and MOST people (myself included) stopped doing it. I think I got one ticket (in the Richmond). Eventually I changed my evil ways altogether and got rid of my car. I now use my huge garage only for my bikes and the occasional visitor car. And I confess that I find pleasure when I run across one of the still clueless people receiving the $100 sidewalk blocking smack down. Maybe you didn’t get the memo or something. I mean who still does that and complains?
You want plentiful free parking with no hassle? I hear there’s plenty of availability in Modesto. The lack of parking is really the secret sauce that makes San Francisco the desirable place it is.
I’ve lived on a block in SF that is a dead end road which doesn’t even have public sidewalks going into that street. Each of the houses have a small driveway in the front of the house and most of the residence park there. We had at least two occasions of that whole block being ticketed. WTF!
@Aaron you are incorrect. Nobody needs to call in order to be ticketed for so-called blocking the sidewalk, that is if someone is parking over into your driveway.
I was ticked after 8pm on a Saturday night.
So after 8PM no one uses the sidewalk?
Aaron is correct; DPT does not actively enforce sidewalk parking but if informed about an instance of it on one block they will cite all violators on that block.
Someone must have called you or another vehicle in.
sounds like your pretty familiar with the call in and get someone a ticket process.
That Sean might not call in offenders who wrongfully assume the sidewalk is also a publicly funded storage spot for private property, but this Sean does. Block the sidewalk in my neighborhood and I am calling it in. I have the number saved on my cell for efficiency. A-hole, incompetent parkers beware. I also like to call in those who ignore permit parking as well. Don’t like it? Too bad.
Pray your neighbors don’t learn who you are.
No, this Sean does it too. I have DPT on speed dial.
Not true. You can look up on Everyblock and find out whether anyone called in any blocked sidewalk complaints on a particular day for a particular block. I got one last Sunday and there is no record of any call. I think this is an issue this week because there was some kind of rush of enforcement over the last week.
I’ve been ticketed twice in the past 6 yrs for parking in my own driveway. The claim is that I was blocking the sidewalk. I WAS NOT. Latest ticket is over $130. Bernal Heights and Outer Richmond. Complete and total bullshit. Especially when the entire ‘hood drives up onto the sidewalk for street cleaning and reparks their beat up minivans for 2 weeks in the same apot.
Ouch, $130 – that hurts. lc
Cars are not supposed to be parked in the same spot for over 72 hours. A call to DPT would most likely remedy that problem.
I second what Sean says. 72 hours is the limit. If you’ve got neighbors who chronically park their tack-wagons on the street for two weeks at a time, call the MTA po-po and turn them in. They’ll chalk the tires and leave a notice. Three weeks in a row, and those things will disappear off the block.
Actually about 2 years ago the Group ACORN filed complains to DPT regarding driveway parking. DPT responded by sending out a squad of hitmen to saturate neighborhoods and ticket every vehicle. Even if you stick out a little, they claim its side walk parking and is a state offense (not city). I then tried to fight it saying I was technically still on my property but lost because they claim the drive way is not zoned for parking but instead a method to drive into your garage.
This city is looking for income and tickets the only way to get it. Not only that but DPT officers are graded on how they perform based on tickets. How else would you tell who was a lazy officer vs a hard working officer? After all these peoples jobs are simply to hand out tickets.. Not exactly a career that requires a criminal justice degree.
Typical response from an inconsiderate driver.
Yes, if you stick out — even a little, you are parking on the sidewalk. So quit with the faux outrage when you get busted when it is quite clear what constitutes legal vs. illegal parking.
Let me guess — you converted your garage into an apartment and then expect pedestrians to accommodate your newfound lack of parking?
DPT will usually only ticket sidewalk parkers if someone calls to complain and report the bad parking. this means that if you get a ticket for sidewalk parking, you probably deserve it. To report an illegal sidewalk parker simply call DPT at 415-553-1200.
Parking tickets are a tax on stupidity. The more stupid you are, the higher the tax…
It’s KARMA…SUV drivers deserve whatever negativity they get.
I’m shocked that this comment received the blue-label staff pick. It’s the sort of recognition that I associate with carefully crafted comments full of thought, reflection and consideration of the needs of people as a whole. This comment seems to represent just a small seemingly elite part of the community that has the sense of entitlement to decide what kind of vehicles people should own in order to remain positive. I do not own an SUV, however, I do understand that some large families rely heavily on them. I’m not sure of the criteria of what makes a comment a “staff pick”, however, looking at this I’m left to assume that being judgmental, vicious, and self-righteously indignant is important.
In the Mission, people block the sidewalk all the time with their big SUV’s. Not cool.
Blocking the sidewalk, even just partly, is very bad for wheelchair users.
I agree that this ticket is for a missing front license plate and maybe the illegal parking brochure is just a warning.
stop blocking the sidewalks and park on the street like everyone else!
They apparently are not doing that in my neighborhood. We seem to have several folk that think a garage door gives them the right to block the entire sidewalk with a car.
come to carolina street between 22/23rd not only are entire sidewalks blocked by even the croosswalks and fire hydrants; and except for streecleaning, tickets are rarely given. i guess the meter maids live in the nabe, or something.
Yes! This happened to me over in Ingleside. Twice actually. And like the picture above my car is not sticking out enough to be a problem for walkers walking. A $105 ticket for a recent grad stings…
no sympathy for you matthew. You’re not allowed to park on the sidewalk period. Congrats on graduating, now grow up and join the real world.
Notice how the other cars, parked in their own driveway, actually fit in their own driveway? The owner of this SUV seems to feel it is their prerogative to occupy the sidewalk.
Not only is this behavior rude as it does impede the disabled, but it just creates blight. Where do you draw the line? OK to block 1 foot of sidewalk, but not 3?
protip: next time buy a car that fits on your property.
Good gods, man. Chill out. You’re so shrill only dogs can hear you.
Classic response of people who are insensitive to how what they do negatively affects other people: “Chill out, man, gawsh!” When your cars hangs out of your driveway, it takes up the limited space on SF’s sidewalks, which often already have just a few feet of passing space. That’s a serious nuisance, not to mention visual blight.
To the author of the article, please be cautious to avoid the trap of using your position as a journalist to kvetch about tickets you probably deserved. There’s a long, proud tradition of journalists (*cough*, Rachel Gordon, *cough*) using their pulpit to briefly step out of objective mode and complain from their hopeless windshield perspective about the gross unfairness of having to comply with laws that are valid protections of the public good, and generally *under*enforced (been to the Sunset lately?). Not very good form.
I agree with you Brody….
It’s illegal in my area to have a vehicle w/o current stickers outside in your front drive or yard. A project car that is being repaired has to be in a garage or back yard.
Yep, I can say I got one on my parent’s driveway. My car’s was maybe a few centimeters from touching the garage door, and the rear bumper exceeded DPT’s limit line by about 4 inches. Between the curb and my bumper was about 6 feet.
This was in the Sunset, and an attempt to contest it was obviously denied.
Hold on – so you are not arguing that it exceeded the line by 4 inches?
Then you’re guilty as charged! seriously….
Stop trying to make excuses for willful disobedience of the law.
You got caught – boo hoo.
It is about revenue collection, not about making sure wheelchairs and people can pass on the sidewalk. It is going to become so that if you are even a millimeter into the sidewalk, the city will get $100.
Then once they get everyone trained not to park over the line, my guess is they will then pass a “setback” regulation where it must be some distance behind the line (i.e., they will just make a new like) so they can start the ticketing all over again.
Yep, I’m afraid I’ll have to agree with George on this here.
One test of this is if you park in your own driveway with the back of your regular sedan-style auto (not the SUV!) sticking out less than a foot into the sidewalk.
If Parking Enforcement issues you a ticket, then it’s DEFINITELY aggressive ticketing here for sure!! If you get the ticket SOLELY for reason of blocking the sidewalk, then you should ASAP take camera shots of the parked car from different angles. Submit copies of these photos 1) to Parking Complaints, 2) to other city agencies/reps as necessary, and to various other news outlets and legal groups such as this Mission Local.
“I think it’s shameful that you can’t even park in your own driveway.”
The sidewalk is not YOUR driveway. If you’re blocking any part of it then that’s your problem.
Maybe they should’ve gone for a more practical city car rather than a big SUV? No sympathy.
Well the homeowner is legally responsible for the sidewalk and trees on that sidewalk so I don’t think it is fair to snipe about what is and isn’t a person’s property. And this aggressive ticketing isn’t limited to big cars. I have had my rather small Honda cited as well because the back end crossed over into the sidewalk. There was at least two feet of sidewalk beyond the back of my vehicle but I recieved a 100.00 ticket and you cannot even go to court anymore to dispute it. You have to send a letter with your grievance and it is just predictably denied.
Aw, poor baby.
Pedestrians are already the most vulnerable road users so please forgive us if we defend what little infrastructure is devoted to us.
No one forced you into buying a car that you couldn’t legally park so please don’t complain when you get ticketed for taking space that didn’t belong to you in the first place.
And again, I doubt anyone forced you into buying a home so I’m not sure why you did if you felt your maintenance obligations were too time-consuming.
You sound like such a little whining poor boy. What’s the matter – can’t afford a car or a home so wish ill on everyone who can?
Don’t get self-righteous here – if COULD afford to own a car or a house you’d be righteously complaining about getting a ticket in your own driveway because some too because some little egg-head (like yourself) complained to DPT because he felt offended that he needed to take 2 steps out of his way.
What a worm!
No, I have a car. But part of car ownership is properly parking / storing it. So when it came time to look for an apartment, I found one with a garage, which seemed to be the responsible thing to do.
But thank you for making assumptions about me simply because I dislike it when people illegally park their cars at the expense of more vulnerable road users.
+100 to Sean – the law is the law. If you disagree with it, change it!!
Nobody is forcing you to try to park a 15-foot long behemoth on the side walk er..driveway.
2 feet of space behind your vehicle?
You should spend a week in a wheelchair (I spent 6 weeks in one) – how do you maneuver a 25″ wheelchair through a 24″ space?
Or is the wheelchair user supposed to use the street to get around the cars that block the sidewalk?
perhaps a handicap person should be able to sue you for blocking the sidewalk instead?
2 ft isn’t enough for a handicap person.
“The sidewalk is not YOUR driveway. If you’re blocking any part of it then that’s your problem”
Totally agree. Most of these people even have garages. Either:
– Put the car in the garage.
– Park it on the properly on the street .
– Even better: Ditch the car all together and bike or walk.
I agree as well. The car in the picture above is clearly blocking the sidewalk!! Not sure what everyone is complaining about.
Sidewalks are for people. A legal parking space is part of the cost and/or hassle of owning a car. If you can’t afford or handle it then get rid of the car.
I want to ditch my car. But I need it to commute outside of the city. You know, not all jobs are in the city.
In a lot of San Francisco, your building lot does in fact continue part way into the sidewalk.
In the older parts of town, the lots were laid otu and sold well before sidewalks were even dreamt of. If you sight up and down the street, the most projecting house or part, like a staircase or whatever is often at the street property line for the whole block.
So it is entirely possible that you could be ticketed for parking entirely on your own property.
That furthermost projecting point is more likely to have been granted an easement than to be the property line; in almost all neighborhoods east of Twin Peaks and the Richmond, a better rule of thumb is to use the most common front line of the buildings on the block to figure out where the lot ends and the public sidewalk begins.
That’s SF for you!
Yes, I have seen this in other parts of SF. Mostly in the Richmond and Sunset districts. Cars that don’t seem to block the walkway are getting tickets. I think it’s shameful that you can’t even park in your own driveway.
This happened to me in the Outer Richmond at 8pm on a Sat. night. I was just unloading groceries from my car. Nothing more. $130. And I was careful not to block the sidewalk.
Yes, this happened me. We live in outer richmond districk. We were out of town for that week and got 2 tickets from DPT. They were totally agreesive ticketing.
Boo hoo. You broke the law and got a ticket. Boo hoo
I am truly surprised this comment is a staff pick when it seems nothing more than a rude, ill-intentioned mockery of someone’s honest frustration with an over-insertion of the law in aggressive ticketing.
If the “staff pick” label is to highlight the sort of nasty, ill-tempered and unnecessary commenting which should not take place in a comment line where people are seeking to understand and express frustration, then it makes sense. If the staff are truly condoning flippant, rude, almost cruelly insensitive comments with their “staff pick” label, then this will be the last time I stop by.
Kai: Agreed. lc