New parking rule draws mixed reactions in San Francisco

Parking is already tight in San Francisco. As of Monday, it got a bit tighter as the city implemented a new state law aimed at protecting pedestrians in crosswalks.

The law says drivers cannot park within 20 feet of any crosswalk and that means for every intersection, there will be 160 fewer feet of parking in a city where parking is at a premium and just as the holiday season is about to begin.

Business has been a struggle to say the least in recent years for merchants in the Mission District – like Maise Wong and her AC trading company.

“I think they should not do this at this time. They should at least wait for the economy to get better,” Wong said.

Maise said she already had to close one mission store due to an ongoing downturn in business that she blames on two things: too much crime and too little parking.

Now with the new law called “daylighting,” San Francisco’s Mission District and every other neighborhood will lose even more parking. But so far this year, there have been 25 traffic deaths in San Francisco and 17 of the victims were pedestrians.

Pedestrian safety groups said that removing parked cars within 20 feet of the approach of all crosswalks will save lives.

“It allows the driver to see pedestrians in the crosswalk and the pedestrian to see the driver that’s coming it’s very simple inexpensive,” said Jodie Mezeiros with Walk SF.

Every violation will get a 40-dollar parking ticket but some folks who walk the streets of San Francisco alot like the new rule.

“I’ve almost been the victim many times, and I don’t drive that much anyway, so I think it’s great. Yeah,” said Jorge Gonzales of San Francisco.

But drivers like Celina Preciado said that parking is bad enough as it isand this will make it even harder to justify shopping and dining in the city.

“It’s already hard to find parking as it is we probably will have to use public transportation now more often,” she said.

For now, SFMTA will issue warnings for violations, but starting in January they’ll begin writing those $40 tickets.