The issue of parking came up on our Facebook page when William posted this concern on our page
‘Any chance we could enforce no double parking on Grand avenue? Good lord, drive around the block or something, anything, but sit there and stop traffic.’
This brought up another which we posed – ‘Do you double park or drive around looking for parking on/ near Grand or do you use the parking structure?’ Most residents do not realize that neighbors who live in the downtown area must also pay to park on the streets – even in front of their homes, at the cost of $40 per month parking permit. Many of our merchants do the same thing as we cannot feed meters legally (cars must be moved)
Below are some of the responses shared by residents and downtown visitors. As always, please feel free to add your own thoughts to our comment section below. (please note this is transferred from social media and abbreviations are used)
Tracy Drive around! I never wanna be “that guy”!
Sally I see a lot of double parking right in front of Starbucks, people are so lazy to drive
Dino Not just on Grand… All the area streets too.. It’s like playing Frogger every afternoon.. smh
Melanie Because the parking is so horrendous, people (mostly those whose work on Grand) park a few blocks away and take street parking from the people who live there, i.e ME who used to live on Maple. They should make the parking structure free since no one uses it anyway…
William Then you’ve got all the morons in front of Grand Palace Chinese restaurant, I think they are the worst offenders. Cheung Hing needs to figure something out as well because they sell party trays of food and unless you get a parking space nearby it’s hard to get those trays of food to your vehicle. There should be strictly enforced loading zones around there.
Sirenia Yes people who work on Grand or even some residents around old town ssf. On Miller. Walnut and Lux take advantage that there is no street cleaning. And leave there cars for days without moving. Even that tire shop on grand!! They park their cars they work on on the street. It’s horrible. Never parking in front of my own place.
Marie Good luck with that! The “entitled” will continue to put themselves first!
Mike I reside on Grand Ave and double parking, parking in the handicap and U-Turns are a problem on the 400 block of Grand, I’ve seen police cars and other cars slam on their brakes for someone making a u-turn in front of the City Hall and not pulled over to ticket them. I understand it’s a $400 fine to pull a u-turn on Grand yet the Police don’t enforce it. Also, parking in the handicap spaces, Ive seen the meter people drive on past without checking for a handicap placard. I would hope the Police department would make this a priority but I don’t see much of that happening anytime soon.
Laura Drive around or go back to my house if it is too insane and walk the 4 blocks
Renee That’s why I try and stay away from Grand. No parking ever!!
Rose I drive around until I can find street parking; I’ve never made it to the parking structure and actually just noticed it a couple of months ago
Sally There is a parking structure on miller, there are parking lots on Baden and Grand ave. there is plenty of off street parking .
Jason I wish the police would enforce the three day rule on vehicles being parked on the street, my neighbor only moves his truck on mon. And tues for street cleaning, sits in front of my building blocking spaces, it’s already bad on commercial with parking without people leaving their cars
Josie I look for parking one block away.
Kelly I’ve always parked in the lots but am so glad I read this post – now at least I know about the parking structure. Poo on those double parkers! Drives me crazy anywhere but Grand is bad enough as it is!
Sally Since we are talking about Grand Ave, I know a week or so we were talking about restaurants on Grand Avenue and one name came up Jamaican Grill which is located on Linden between the post office and Crimpers Bizarre. The food was great I had the ckn jerk . The place is small about 10 tables and gets crowded. I recommend that others give this place a try, I will be going back there.
Mike Also let me throw this in here… in talking with one of the parking enforcement guys, he told me for $40/month you can buy a parking pass that will allow you to park in any of the 7 Public Parking lots in the Downtown area, on the meter side of Walnut Ave between the Library and All Souls all day..
Connie Drive around
Sheri We drive around till we find a spot, but really this hardly happens. We always seem to find a spot right away.
Pamela What about the jay walkers? They have cops on bikes and in cars ticketing meters but nothing for double parkers and jaywalkers!
Terri Going back to the double parking it happens on Baden Grand Commercial & Railroad and it drives me crazy … And I would be willing to bet that those individuals who double park (for no reason when there’s a parking spot right in front of them) are the same ones that deal poorly with oncoming traffic while going around someone who is double parked.
Cyndi No because that is being rude, the world does not revolve around me…….
Zamora Go around the block, simple.
Rox Hey the people who work on Grand have to park somewhere and it sucks to have to beg your boss to give you a break so you can go move your car or fill up your meter. The people who work on Grand pay for parking like everyone else. Why are you hating on them ? I used to work at that starbucks. I helped opened it actually. And I’d always park in the lot behind it on baden between grand and baden. Constantly filling up the meter while I’m working. Man I’m glad I don’t still work there or id be offended. Really people YOU try not parking at your jobs!
EC There is double parking going on all over the place, on grand and always on Lux, it’s ridiculous. People have no clue either find a parking place and walk (you could most likely use the exercise) or drive around the block.
Yes I see this double parking all the time on San Mateo Ave from El Camino all the way to Shaw in South San Francisco! They litearally stop, Park get out and cars have to go around and it’s a double line single each way with cars parked on both sides. It happens every day! I know this isn’t downtown but it’s still a big and dangerous problem!