We should take this up at the next TWG meeting on November 22. Sue ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- DOWNTOWN PARKING REFORM LEGISLATION MOVES FORWARD! Downtown San Francisco's compact, high density urban character and its outstanding transit access, make it one of the best neighborhoods in the city for car-free living. Currently over half of existing residents are living in car-free households; in the mid-Market area, the proportion of car free households is close to 70%. Although an increasing number of new developments are being built with little or no parking, other development trends are threatening the long-term livability of downtown. Many new developments are parked out at suburban ratios of one parking space per unit, and the traffic generated by the thousands of new parking spaces allowed under current zoning will push downtown streets further towards gridlock, which will devastate Muni service, endanger bicyclists and pedestrians, and set back efforts to create a greener, more walkable downtown. Supervisor Daly worked with TLC on legislation to reform parking controls in San Francisco's transit-intensive C-3 (downtown commercial) districts. This legislation is the first major reform of downtown residential parking requirements in over two decades, and would extend progressive approaches to parking management enacted in small areas of downtown (Transbay and Rincon Hill) to the entire downtown. It will: * eliminate minimum parking requirements downtown; * establish a parking maximum of one space for every two units; * require that the sale or rental of parking spaces be "unbundled" from the sale or rental price of units; * eliminate size and independent accessibility requirements for parking spaces, to allow greater flexibility in configuring parking; * prohibits parking spaces on upper floors; * requires bicycle parking in residential projects; * requires car sharing spaces be set aside in larger projects; * protects major bicycle, pedestrian, and transit streets from new driveways and curb cuts. This legislation will be heard at the planning commission this Thursday, October 27. The commission will not take action at this meeting, but it is important that they hear from supporters of downtown parking reform, especially on the importance of parking maximums, which will be resisted by the more backwards developers and their lawyers and lobbyists. The meeting begins at 2pm in room 400 of City Hall; be there and speak up for a livable downtown! SF BEAUTIFUL HONORS TLC MEMBER Yesterday, San Francisco Beautiful awarded its 2005 beautification awards to eight exemplary projects (http://www.sfbeautiful.org/awards/ 2005_award_winners.html). One of the awardees was TLC member Jane Martin, who created the amazing Shotwell Greenway, on Shotwell Street between 17th and 18th streets in the Mission. Jane's project is a great illustration of how San Francisco's transportation infrastructure can be made more sustainable–and more beautiful. Jane also created PlantSF to facilitate streetscape greening efforts citywide: http://www.plantsf.org. Big TLC congratulations to Jane and all of the other winners! FREE CONCERT TICKETS! TLC has four tickets to the Govt. Mule show tomorrow night (Saturday 10/22) at the Warfield Theater; the first emailed response back to tom@livablecity.org wins the tickets. Transportation for a Livable City 995 Market Street Suite 1550 San Francisco CA 94103 415 344-0489 www.livablecity.org