Free-parking areas in city parks may vanish
By: Beth Winegarner
Examiner Staff Writer
February 3, 2009
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| A proposal to charge for parking in Golden Gate Park would create revenue for the Recreation and Parks Department. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Free parking in five city parks could soon end under a new proposal aimed at ousting commuters and raising money for cash-strapped green spaces — but the concept may not fly when it reaches the mayor’s desk.
Historically, it has been free to park in San Francisco parks. However, as Recreation and Park Department leaders dig for ways to offset $8.8 million in budget cuts in 2009-10, they’re resurrecting the idea of charging motorists a fee to park at Golden Gate Park, the Palace of Fine Arts, Marina Green, Balboa Park and Lincoln Park.
“A few of those parks are being used as free commuter parking lots,” said Rec and Park spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell. “For example, folks from Marin park at Marina Green and then travel downtown.”
The Recreation and Park Commission could take action Thursday to launch talks with the Municipal Transportation Agency — which manages all parking in The City — for enforcing new rates. Particulars, such as how much an hour of parking would cost, have yet to be worked out, Seitz Gruwell said.
Adding more parking fees is an idea the Rec and Park Commission has explored — but each time, mayors nixed the idea, according to commission President Jim Lazarus. Mayor Gavin Newsom may be no different.
“The mayor is not eager to charge people for parking in city parks,” said Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard.
Several people at parks Monday said they supported the idea of paid parking, as long as it helped keep green spaces in good shape. But, others said it could impact people looking for affordable recreation.
New contract would spread out earnings
The sophomore year of Golden Gate Park’s three-day music festival could net The City $1.2 million or more in 2009. That money, however, won’t be earmarked for improvements to the 1,017-acre park, as it was last year.
Ticket sales from the inaugural Outside Lands festival held in August earned $665,000 for Golden Gate Park, including $250,000 for gardeners and $415,000 for irrigation and lighting repairs and the replacement of stolen copper wiring, according to Recreation and Park Department spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell.
Rec and Park is weighing a new deal with promoters Another Planet Entertainment to produce Outside Lands for three more years; the commission will vote Thursday on whether to launch such talks.
The new agreement could earn up to $1.7 million, according to a report from Interim Director Jared Blumenfeld.
That money, though, would flow into the department’s general fund, not to a specific park.
Plan put in gear
Where to charge for parking:
- Golden Gate Park
- Marina Green
- Palace of Fine Arts
- Lincoln Park
- Balboa Park
Sources: Recreation and Park Department, SFMTA
Examiner Staff Writer Andrea Koskey contributed to this report.
