San Rafael residents frustrated with proposed solution to lack of street parking
Finding a parking space is often a challenge in the Bay Area, and it's particularly difficult in one area of East San Rafael.
Homeowners have been complaining for years about outsiders filling their streets with cars. So, the city has come up with a plan for parking permits that has the neighborhoods up in arms.
The real problem is in the Canal District, an area of dense low-income housing where there simply aren't enough spaces for all the cars. So, they end up parking in the adjacent Spinnaker, Baypoint and Bahia neighborhoods, which have a 24-hour time limit for parking on the residential streets.
"They have no place to park, so they bring their trucks and their cars over here," said Baypoint resident Bonney Smolen. "And then they have some kind of system — and they've got it down pretty well — where they move cars all the time."
Smolen has lived with the problem for 10 years and has learned to park in front of her home on garbage day so there is room for her trash bins. But as KPIX's John Ramos spoke to her, a man in a work van pulled her bin off the street and onto the sidewalk so he could park in the space.
"We need to have a space to park, to put our garbage out on a Wednesday," Bonnie said, confronting him.
"So should I parallel park here?" he said, angrily. "What should I do? Should I park in the red zone?"
He ended up moving someone else's garbage cans and parked in front of their house.
It's an absurd situation, so the city is proposing a permit parking plan that would restrict who could be in the neighborhood. Each home would be eligible for one permit, at a cost of about $200 per year, linked to one car's license number.
Additional permits could be purchased for parking in a commercial zone a considerable distance away. But to the neighbors, there's a glaring problem. The Canal District and other neighborhoods are all lumped into the same zone, Zone 1, so anyone with a permit could still park wherever they want.
"It's stupid because it links their neighborhood with our neighborhood, so it will do nothing to relieve the congestion we currently have," said Baypoint resident Ted Peters. "They'll get a permit to park in our parking spots."
But what if someone was having a guest over for dinner? Assistant City Manager John Stefanski explained the plan.
"Right now, we're anticipating that individual homeowners would be able to purchase a guest pass several days in advance of guests coming over," he said. "But that's something that's currently under development."
"If you have somebody who comes for dinner, they need to park in the street. They need to get a permit ahead of time from the city and pay $10. That's what the proposal is," Smolen said.
The city said it is trying to balance the complaints of the homeowners with the needs of lower income people. So, the solution has become a bit complicated.
"Our consultant that we're working with does this work nationally, and they've found this to be one of the more challenging projects," said Stefanski.
Peters sees it differently.
"They're trying," he said. "But it's like shooting at a target and hitting the haystack instead of the bullseye."
Originally, another area, the Bret Harte neighborhood, was included in the parking permit plan, but residents voiced a lot of opposition, and they have been removed from the proposal.
Wednesday was supposed to be the deadline for other neighbors to submit their opinions in an online survey, but the city said it has extended that date to Feb. 21.
They said nothing has been decided, and they're willing to listen to anything the public has to say.
