Ingleside's Residential Permit Parking Zone Could Extend To The Excelsior

An end to the street parking nightmare tormenting some Excelsior residents may finally be near.

San Francisco officials are preparing to send a petition to property owners in several blocks of the Excelsior in a bid to include them in Ingleside’s Area V Residential Parking Permit zone. Participation costs $200 a year.

The Excelsior District Improvement Association hosted the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Monica Munowitch on Tuesday evening to continue a discussion with residents about the plan.

Over a dozen people were in attendance, among them Charlie Sciammas, legislative aide for District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen, as well as residents who have been organizing for the parking permit zone for eight years.

Bill Holdenstern, who is raising his family in the 500 block of Lisbon Street, has been spearheading the effort to expand the permit zone.

“I think we deserve it, we’re a very strong family neighborhood with a lot of good people,” Holdenstern said.

Holdenstern’s father-in-law, Peter Albert, a former city planner and transportation official, drafted the proposed map that, if approved, would extend parking Area V to include an additional 26 blocks and approximately 628 units.

“If you talk to people in neighborhoods that have had chronic parking problems before RPP, versus after, you’ll probably hear most people saying, ‘We’re paying for it, but it’s better,’” Albert said.

The area would extend east along Geneva Avenue past Alemany Boulevard down to Lisbon Street, and north from Geneva Avenue to Russia Avenue, between Mission Street and Lisbon Street.

Mission Terrace’s David Hooper raised the concern over creating a “Gerrymandered map.”

“If you go petition door-to-door, and you avoid the houses from previous knowledge that you don't think are going to sign, then, it isn't as broad an engagement,” Hooper said.

Munowitch said the new boundary focuses on the areas that received the most amount of support from 2019. All other areas outside of the proposed expansion received less than 50% support.

Required by the SFMTA to approve a RPP extension is a 50% plus one majority in each of the described blocks. In 2019, surveys conducted throughout District 11 revealed that support for an RPP zone was strongest along Geneva Avenue and north towards Persia Avenue, with support from just over 50% of residents in the described blocks. All other surrounding areas had more than 50% of their residents opposed to the move.

To secure the vote, residents are attempting to rally support for canvassing efforts. Leg work is required to ensure everyone who agrees will participate.

“We really just want to see this move toward a solution,” Sciammas said. “If there was strong neighborhood support for the extension, then we’re just here to help get the community mobilized.”

Once petitions are distributed and the canvassing efforts begin, advocates for the extension will have to steer clear of threats from the opposition. Albert cited one homeowner who apparently stores vehicles for rideshare apps and had threatened to slash the tires of cars that took up spots.

Munowitch stated that it would take a couple of weeks to have the petitions finalized and translated. While mentioning the need to continue to collect data on parking occupancy, she assured the residents that it would not impede the petition process.

In the past, San Francisco residents have expressed concern that RPP zones shift the problem over a few blocks, rather than solving it.

“If RPP is not the solution, I would love to your solution, because I've been asking city workers, supervisors, everybody, and there's people that are for it, there's people that against it, and the one thing I can say about all the people that I've been against it is no one has provided a single other solution,” Holdenstern said.