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Well, it’s clear from the response to yesterday’s post about the vehicle ticketed as it sat in its own drive, that parking issues are contentious.
In response, Arman Shehabi, a reader, sent in a photo of Mini Cooper parked at Dolores and 19th streets. Deserved or undeserved ticket he asks.
What do you say?
Founder/Executive Editor. I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019 when I retired. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still there.
As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.
Right now I'm trying to figure out how you make that long-held interest in local news sustainable. The answer continues to elude me.
More by Lydia Chávez11 Comments
Deserved. It’s red for a reason, as described above. It’s not “no parking, unless the parker thinks, y’know… it’s not a big deal”.
What I always get a kick out of is when one car parks on one side of the drive thinking “It’s ok if I just [hang over|encroach into] the driveway just a little bit…they can still get out”, then another parker makes the same decision on the other side, and the driveway becomes unusable.
They could pull up. I learned after having my Miata towed that parking with any part of the car in a red zone in the Mission is dangerous. I was in a 1 hour yoga class and came out to see my car on the back of a tow truck – the resident called DPT. I was not blocking a driveway, but was in a red zone. I think some people get off on having cars towed.
Should the Mini Cooper be ticketed? Yes. For consistency. Read on…
I have been on both ends of the issue, as ticket receiver and driveway user in SF.
Although in the photo there appears to be adequate space for the car entering the driveway, without seeing the left side of the driveway entrance, it’s hard to say. But the basic reason for the redzones is for cars to be able to safely enter and exit the driveway without causing harm to themselves or other drivers. I created a quick diagram to demonstrate the basic issue: http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j333/xx3deDxx/onlined/redzone_driveway_prkng.jpg
Most parkers and observers just look at the red curb and think that they are just markers for driveway entrances and not keep out zones for vehicles. So it’s no wonder that most parkers don’t consider that their car is in the redzone, even slightly, it impacts the vehicle entering and exiting the driveway, espcially regarding turning clearance! Tf the cars on either sides encroach the red zone they are making their car a potiential target for damage. or putting the driveway user at risk as they have to turn into oncoming traffic to make a wide turn into their driveway. Throw in the hill factor and it gets even worse. I was lucky have the daily challenge of manuevering my car through the casm of two perpendicular cars in addition to turning blindly into the oncoming lane due to the hill. 4 years of that then the unfortunate time of having a car smash into my the side of my car as I was mid turn into the driveway.
Another unknown fact, residents have to pay for to have the redzones painted on the curb. Well that was the case in 2005.
So my parting comment is. Parkers: consider that cars have to TURN to get into the driveway, they are not Tron light cycles that can make precision 90-degree turns.
Most people don’t get out of their cars and stand in the drive way facing out to see if their car in any way blocks the ability of cars to swing into and out of the driveway properly. Sometimes the DPT will come and put red where the homeowner needs to make sure that people don’t block the passage. It’s possible that this is why there is a red line there.
We don’t have red on the edges of our drive way and people park so close to the edge of the parking spot, and often over it, that we can’t pull in our pull out properly at all.
Speaking of small cars, there is someone who parks her Smart Car in an area that is really not a parking space in between our driveway and the neighbors and that tiny car there makes it a tight squeeze for us to get in an out. Small car’s take space too and often they are badly parked.
Driveways are tricky. I am not a fan of tickets and I think this city is very aggressive and unfair about parking, BUT I would also like folks to please respect driveways and the space we need to get out.
Yes, it’s a red zone. We have that DPT red zone in front of our garage in the Haight. We did not request it, DPT put it there without our input. I’m guessing because we had to call DPT so many times for people blocking our driveway! Since our garage is so narrow, an extra foot or two really does make a difference when trying to back out.
On that note, I usually try and wiggle my way out slowly, back and forth, when people are blocking my line out. I have yet to call DPT over it. I just fantasize about tearing off the bumper of the car.
Deserved. He’s clearly over the red.
Yes. That’s an official red zone. If owner paid for it, then it should be enforced regardless of the vehicle that obstructs it. If there wasn’t a red zone, then no ticket should have been issued.
If they only got a ticket they’re lucky! I got ticketed AND towed on 18th (at Valencia) for “blocking” a driveway less than 4 inches. It’s a Mini, I’m pretty sure it can’t block ANYTHING.
The red zone is only 2 feet long? What’s that about?
Yep, sure does. Pretty clearly in the red zone.
I’m pretty sure it’s up to the property owner’s discretion to call to ticket this person.
Either way, it’s a BS ticket as the driveway is not impeded in any way, and quite frankly they should get a pass for getting a Cooper Mini to try to help the parking problem in the city.