April 23, 2013 Henry Karnilowicz President San Francisco Council of District Merchants Associations 1019 Howard St San

Francisco CA 94013 Dear Mr. Karnilowicz: Thank you for your letter on behalf of the San Francisco Council of District Merchants Associations (SFCDMA) and the North East Mission Coalition. We are glad to have SFCDMAs engagement as a partner on this important and challenging matter. The SFMTA has been diligently working on a parking plan for the Northeast Mission since the summer of 2011 and is seeking input on our draft proposal published March 15. We expect to bring a refined proposal to the SFMTA Board of Directors sometime this summer after working with neighbors and community stakeholders, including small business owners, to develop a plan that responds to both local concerns and City policies and goals.
Edwin M. Lee Mayor Tom Nolan Chairman Cheryl Brinkman Vice-Chairman Leona Bridges Director Malcolm Heinicke Director Jerry Lee Director Jol Ramos Director Cristina Rubke Director Edward D. Reiskin Director of Transportation

Your letter states that any parking management plan should give priority to local residents, businesses and their employees over visitors and commuters. In general we agree with that statement, though we must point out that visitors include customers, clients, and shoppers essential to the areas economic vitality. For example, several business owners have reported that their biggest concern about opening their businesses in the neighborhood was the lack of available parking during the day in the Northeast Mission can prevent customers from accessing their businesses. We agree that all-day commuter parking and long-term vehicle storage should not be prioritized. As one of the last remaining areas of completely unmanaged parking in such a centrally located part of San Francisco with excellent transit access, the Northeast Mission sees a great deal of long-term vehicle storage (vehicles left for days at a time, far from the owners home), inappropriately parked oversized vehicles, and commuters parking in the area to avoid parking fees downtown. All of these factors contribute to the chronic parking congestion that we have observed in repeated surveys of the area. San Franciscos Residential Parking Permit (RPP) program was created in 1972 to address this last problem by discouraging all-day commuter parking on residential blocks. The SFMTA implements RPP regulations on primarily residential blocks across San Francisco, typically based on resident requests. In a draft proposal for the Northeast Mission the SFMTA located the RPP-designated curb on blocks that are primarily residential. Recognizing the Northeast Missions uniquely varied and

One South Van Ness Ave. Seventh Floor San Francisco, CA 94103 Tele: 415.701.4500 www.sfmta.com

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heterogeneous makeup, we further proposed to relax resident eligibility rules to accommodate people whose homes are located anywhere in the project area, whether or not they live on a RPP block. While a business parking permit program does not presently exist in San Francisco, accommodation is made for businesses located within RPP areas, as your letter notes. Under existing policy the owner of a business located on an RPP block is eligible for an RPP permit, and this permit is transferrable to an employee of that business. Further, that business owner is currently eligible for up to three RPP stickers for delivery vehicles with commercial license plates registered to the business. The SFMTA shares the Citys goal of retaining production, distribution and repair (PDR) businesses in the Northeast Mission and other areas of the Eastern Neighborhoods. We recognize that PDR businesses are unique and we are sensitive to community requests for creative approaches to parking management and transportation generally. As you may already be aware, the Mayors Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) and local nonprofit SFMade are currently conducting a detailed PDR transportation study to help analyze various options for improving transportation in the Northeast Mission and other areas with PDR and light industrial businesses. Once the survey results are returned, the SFMTA will work with OEWD, SFMade, and PDR business leaders in the neighborhood to develop potential mechanisms to address PDR business needs. As recommended in your letter, business parking permits will be among those ideas that we will evaluate, together with other tools and techniques. Creating or extending a parking permit program has the potential for various adverse effects, which the SFMTA must seriously consider and weigh against other policy imperatives and goals. The SFMTA has the following initial concerns about a new business parking permit system: Effectiveness: In general, the SFMTA is moving away from the use of parking permits as a parking management strategy because they do not manage parking demand in a public right-of-way as effectively as other strategies. Permits are a blunt tool for managing on-street parking demand with little ability to manage demand at specific times or places. In other words, if many people who work in the area were to have a business permit, parking availability would likely remain an issue with many blocks with no open parking spaces for much of the day. Consistency with transportation policy and goals: Much like free unmanaged parking, business parking permits may encourage commuting by car to the area rather than discourage it, which runs counter to core city and

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SFMTA policy goals. Once purchased (for example, for the year), drivers with such permits would have little incentive to explore other options for making that trip other than by car. Equity: There is no policy basis for privileging those who work in the area and commute by car over others who would like to park in the area, and this type of permit scheme may present equity issues. Effect on RPP as a parking management strategy: The RPP program was created in the 1970s to discourage commuters from parking in residential areas. If a permit for area employees allowed commuters to park on blocks with RPP without time limits in residential areas, that permit would undermine the goal of the RPP program. Effect on parking meters as a parking management tool: Parking meters are tools to help create parking availability in commercial and mixed use areas. If many of those who worked in the area had special permits that exempted them from parking meters, the meters would not effectively create parking availability. This would be especially true in areas where there are many employees. Precedent: If business parking permits were created for this somewhat unique area, it may set a precedent as other areas would likely demand the same privilege, which could further encourage commuting to work by car throughout more of the city.

All that said, we are committed to working with the community to find solutions that will work. The dialogue on this issue will continue, and solutions identified after further analysis may overlay or supplement the current draft parking proposal. Again, thank you for your comments and thoughts on this important matter. We are trying to work with all groups in the Northeast Mission area but do not have a definite contact or address for the North East Mission Coalition. It would be helpful if you could provide this; we believe we are already working with their composite membership but would like to be sure. Thanks again for taking the time to provide feedback. Sincerely,

Edward D. Reiskin Director of Transportation