[Rescue Muni] "Gandhi" wants free parking

Andrew Sullivan (andrew@sulli.org)
Tue, 12 Jan 99 18:30:32 -0800

So Supervisor Amos Brown, who doesn't have TIME to ride Muni, now wants
free parking. This is the same guy who said he could still represent
Muni riders even though he never rides Muni since "Gandhi wasn't an
untouchable."

Yaki (until recently Transportation Committee chair) wants it too.

What do YOU think of this? You can let their offices know:
554-7601 (Brown), 554-7901 (Yaki).

Andrew

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/12/parking.dtl

> [The Gate] [BayArea Backroads - now a book.]
> [news]
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Supervisors make pitch for free parking Tuesday, January
> HOME privileges 12, 1999
> By Rachel Gordon [Image]
> News OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
> Sports -----------------------------------------------------------
> Entertainment A handful of San Francisco supervisors Get a
> Technology are clamoring for a perk that all printer-friendly
> people who drive cars in The City version of this
> Live Views would love to have: free parking. article
> Traffic
> Weather "We spend a fortune on parking tickets [Best Tapas in SF]
> Health and garages," said Supervisor Amos
> Brown, who called Monday for
> Business legislation that would grant him and
> Bay Area his 10 colleagues on the board parking
> Travel privileges around town.
> Columnists
> Classifieds Brown said he was not looking for the
> right to park on the sidewalks or in a
> Conferences bus stop, or anything like that.
> Search Rather, he proposed parking
> Index arrangements at a meter - without
> having to worry about the red flag
> popping up - or in a white zone, much
> FastFind like the parking allowances already
> given to credentialed journalists in
> The City.
> tips
> Supervisor Michael Yaki likes the
> idea.
>
> "Given the demand by the public for
> appearances by supervisors, it makes
> sense," said Yaki, who added the idea
> of limited parking privileges for the
> legislators was worth exploring. "We
> can't run outside every 30 minutes to
> feed the meter."
>
> Paying parking tickets and garage fees
> can put a big dent in the pocketbook
> of a supervisor, they say. Their
> annual pay is $37,585 each. Brown said
> he had spent $375 last year on tickets
> he'd received while attending
> community meetings; Supervisor Leslie
> Katz said she had spent more than $500
> on downtown garages last year when she
> had to attend meetings to help plan a
> multimedia summit.
>
> Relying on Muni isn't feasible,
> especially when there are several
> meetings scheduled simultaneously or
> back to back away from City Hall, they
> say. The other option is to have an
> aide drive them from place to place,
> supervisors said. Supervisors do get a
> parking space at City Hall.
>
> Board President Tom Ammiano said he
> didn't think the plan for free parking
> would fly with the public, and he said
> he didn't expect to support it. "We
> tried this one other time," he said,
> "and it blew up in everyone's face."
>
> ©1999 San Francisco Examiner
>
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Andrew Sullivan

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