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Find SF parking cops

walzr.com

271–280 of 498 posts

Re: Find SF parking cops

#271
post #209

Amazing to see the scale of it. As a piece of feedback my assumption is that different officers are assigned to different areas and so since street sweeping is either the first and third or second and fourth week of the month for most residential areas, this will allow different officers to float to the top in different weeks. Having at least a 2 week lookback for the leaderboard is probably best. Otherwise great wor…

> street sweeping is either the first and third or second and fourth week of the month for most residential areas On my block we get it 2x/week. I've never seen a street sweeper come by and the street is always dirty, but I sure have gotten tickets for leaving my vehicle out front overnight on the wrong day.

FWIW the sweeper comes by my street on the posted schedule. Most days one or two parking cops come ahead of the sweeper writing tickets. I have never seen them come behind the sweeper though I have seen the sweeper wait for them. I believe it is policy not to write tickets after because as other posts have noted it is perfectly legal to park right after the sweeper comes through even if it is still sweeper hours.

Of course we are on the corner and the other street does not get sweeping (it is also concrete). I assume that is because it is too steep.

Re: Find SF parking cops

#272
post #246

"each possible ticket number follows a pattern: add 11, except add 4 if the last digit is 6…Only God knows why" That pattern feels suspiciously like how a tacked-on modulo check-digit would act. It seems the real citation number, x, excludes the last digit, and you only needed to +1 increment to it. Then they tack on a last digit, a check-digit, of (x+1) mod 7. That would be the same pattern. The contract for the sys…

[deleted]

Re: Find SF parking cops

#273

Division I, Section 7.3.3 Obstruction of Traffic Without Permit $1,000.00 “officer, I’ve got a permit to obstruct traffic!”

Yes, things like street closures for construction, film shoots, or Neighborhood Night Outs would all need permits to obstruct traffic/close the street.

Fun fact: as a regular citizen you can apply for such a permit online. I did this when we were moving houses to ensure the entire block in front of our house would be clear of cars (or we could tow if required) to make it possible to get a moving truck in on the one-lane street where double-parking would block all access. I filled out the forms. A week or so later the city dropped signs on the sidewalk warning of the upcoming closure.

You can also close your entire street for a block party. You just need a certain number of people on your block to sign the form approving it.

Re: Find SF parking cops

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree on this, the US is a bit special as having a car is considered mandatory. IMHO, that culture needs to be changed: better public transport and walkable cities. When that is established, then it is also easier to revoke the drivers privilege.

In some ways, yes, though not in many cities like SF, NYC, Chicago, Seattle, etc. But it's also a chicken and egg problem: often transit is not viable or is too slow precisely because everything is devoted to cars. The SF Van Ness BRT is an excellent example - I used to routinely get off the 49 bus and walk faster than it stuck in car traffic, but after the BRT the bus is a much better and faster experience than driv…

> The SF Van Ness BRT is an excellent example - I used to routinely get off the 49 bus and walk faster than it stuck in car traffic

It's funny that you use that particular example considering the SF Supervisors of 1958 are the ones who created that problem by refusing to build the elevated freeway that transit planning engineers correctly envisioned we would need. Tearing down the stub end of it also created the most dangerous intersection in the city at Market & Octavia. As a pedestrian it would be so nice to have cars elevated up off the ground instead of having to wait to cross on foot. A lot of intersections of Octavia and its cross streets don't even allow pedestrian crossing at all lmfao

Re: Find SF parking cops

#276
post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I'm from there's no concept of towing on any parking violations. No one has the right to touch your vehicle, and if the police is involved they'd just contact the owner. The police would only move a car if it's a danger to the public. A tow truck is only something you'd call for assistance, not something you fear seeing. (Parking fines suck, but the municipal ones are usually more reasonable here, even if they…

Where I'm from there's no concept of using public space to store your personal belongings without paying for it.

What about e-scooters?

Re: Find SF parking cops

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is fantastic. It really signals that the point is not to get money from you, but to free up the parking spot.

I’ve long believed that “first one free” would be a great way to help reduce the impact of tickets on people while still achieving the same goal

Often it's unofficially the policy. For PT ticket fines in Melbourne, I've never heard of someone having a fine enforced for the first problem. It's pretty much always just a warning logged against you.

Re: Find SF parking cops

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also ticket without towing, where the point is entirely to get money from you.

Where I'm from there's no concept of towing on any parking violations. No one has the right to touch your vehicle, and if the police is involved they'd just contact the owner. The police would only move a car if it's a danger to the public. A tow truck is only something you'd call for assistance, not something you fear seeing. (Parking fines suck, but the municipal ones are usually more reasonable here, even if they…

Towing makes perfect sense when a car is blocking access. Parked in front of driveways for example.

Re: Find SF parking cops

#280
post #7

Love the leaderboard feature. Relevant fee breakdown: https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/reports-and-docume...

Seems weird to me (from nowhere near SF) that some of the cheapest things to do are to block fire stations, fire hydrants and 'fire lanes' (I assume that's like a bus lane but for fire engines, in places that's common enough for whatever reason, like right by a fire station?) - wheelchair/disability related stuff is much more penalised, but even all sorts of other 'regular' mis-parking seems for some reason slightly more expensive than blocking fire crews. Odd isn't it? Have I misunderstood?
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