Update Dec. 16, see below
A group of residents petitioning the city’s transit agency to ban parking on Lucky Street because it prevents emergency vehicles from passing through are facing opposition from residents of the small alleyway near 24th and Folsom who say that’s simply untrue.
Brothers Jose and Ruben Morales, who have lived on Lucky Street their entire lives, say they have long seen emergency vehicles pass through.
“People who live in the alley, we want to park here because this is the only form of parking we have,” said Jose Morales.
Only five of the 25 people who signed the petition to ban parking actually live on Lucky Street. The others live on neighboring blocks, including Treat Avenue and Folsom Street.
Getting in and out of a garage can be more difficult with cars parked on the street, the brothers agreed, but it is not impossible.
The brothers said that the group behind the parking ban is using false claims to convince neighbors that all non-permitted parking should be banned.
Gladys Wong, a 72-year-old Lucky Street resident, gathered the signatures. Reached by phone, Wong said she was too tired to comment and she would want to consider her response carefully.
The Morales brothers, who live next to Wong, said she sometimes has trouble getting in and out of her garage, and she blames others who live on the street for making it hard for her to back in and out.
“Every time she has to leave her garage she has a problem not being able to move back in. She has always wanted people to park behind a sign,” Jose Morales said as he motions towards a “No Parking” sign.
“It’s your own personal problem if you can’t park, not ours,” Ruben Morales said.
The alley, which is about 14 feet wide, only allows vehicles to park on certain sections of its western portion. When vehicles park adjacent to a driveway, it can make it more difficult for anyone to enter their garage.
Many of the residents opposing the ban also have garages and agree access can be difficult at times, but the benefits of having street parking, they said, outweigh the difficulties.
They said nearby 24th Street can be difficult and unsafe for overnight parkers. And many Lucky Street residents who park on the street rely on their vehicles to get to work.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency heard public comments for the issue at a Dec. 6 hearing, which attendants described as “contentious,” with many people opposing the plan.
Caught by surprise that a hearing would be held, Lucky Street residents quickly rallied, and created flyers that read, “SAVE LUCKY STREET PARKING” and contested every claim the petitioners argued for.
The SFMTA could rule on the matter as early as this week and will post a decision on its website.
One resident, who identified himself as Tony, said he’d been living on Lucky Street since 1968 and was not given any notice regarding the meeting. He called the proposal unfair.
“Personally, I think that sucks,” he said. “That’s [like] 20 spots; where are you going to park?”
Rosario Giron, who has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years, said Wong had been trying to collect signatures from everyone on the street. But most turned her away.
Giron said that in four years, she’s only seen firefighters in the alley twice. But city trash vehicles, ambulances, and cars pass easily.
Another longtime Lucky Street resident, Gregg Gotauco, said Wong asked him to sign her petition, but he declined. Gotauco bought his house in the alley back in 1972, and said that 20 years ago residents tried to collect signatures and petition the city establish a no parking zone in on the street. That failed.
This time around, Gotauco wasn’t offering his support to either camp. Instead, he wants to be ready for any changes on the street and would rather empty out his garage.
“I don’t know what the outcome is,” Gotauco said. “The best thing I could do is to be ready.”
You’ve been here many times, dear reader. It’s time to support Mission Local.
Update Dec. 16
Results from the Dec. 6 hearing were posted over the weekend by the SFMTA. Per the Sustainable Streets Division of the transit agency’s engineering department, the Lucky Street proposal was continued “due to a lack of consensus.”
Says the SFMTA employee !
Why are all these people keeping private cars in this transit rich part of our transit friendly city?
Some people run home cleaning businesses which requires transporting vacuums, mops, supplies, etc. which otherwise aren’t easily transported on public transit. That’s just one example of countless, but i get where you’re coming from.
The author addressed this: they need their cars to get to work.
The 72 yr old lady, having trouble in/out of her garage, should pay SFMTA to paint a 2ft, red line, on each side of her garage.
It will likely minimize her driveway access problems.
Because why not? Cars have existed in cities for well over a 100 years now. Even if public transit was better and free people would still own vehicles.
Transit in SF is kinda sucky to be honest… taking over 50 minutes to go from the Mission to say Geary and 20th vs driving in 20 minutes (or less) is not very good public transit.
Ever try to go hiking on the Peninsula without a car? Good luck.
Hiking without a car: what a novel concept.
Because it’s their preference – and they don’t have to explain themselves to anyone.
Thank you for writing this article. It should be known what we are having to deal with on our little Lucky Street. The 3 people, who actually live on Lucky street, and spoke out in favor of this proposal are very fortunate to have a garage. I wish the wealthy residents would spend their energy somewhere else and not starting petitions that hurt our local neighborhood!
You neglect to mention that many people who OPPOSE this proposal ALSO have garages. But, they choose to use the garage space for personal storage and not to park their cars. And how do you justify calling people wealthy as one of the people at the hearing who opposes is a homeowner (as are many others) and so if they own property in SF they are not exactly poor. Has anyone taken note that ALL the other alleyways in the Mission are already no parking? Why do you think that is?? Maybe there was a fire and they could not get the fire trucks through in time perhaps?? This article is extremely biased. Yes, garbage trucks can get through (barely) but if you want to actually walk down “little Lucky Street” be prepared to have to stop to let cars drive through if you near the parked cars as there simply is not enough room for all 3 (parked cars, moving cars, and pedestrians). I think there could be some compromise as was suggested at the hearing – possibly make all areas opposite garage and parking areas designated as no parking.
The folks that use that street for parking are pretty much all working class Latino folks, they’ve been using Lucky St. parking in this way for a very long time with no issue. Sounds like some wealthy newcomers who knows how to work the levers of city government want to get them out of there. sounds like a familiar story to me….