Overnight parking of RVS to be banned in some spots
Despite concerns that San Francisco’s “vehicularly housed” homeless would be forced out of their four-wheel shelters, the Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to ban oversize vehicles — campers, buses, RVs, commercial trucks and the like — from overnight parking on a number of city streets.
Streets near the beach and Golden Gate Park and places like the Bayview district, Dogpatch and Potrero Hill are now clogged with those super-size vehicles and residents are tired of it, said Supervisor Carmen Chu, who represents the Sunset District.
“It’s extremely important to people in my district,” added Supervisor Malia Cohen, who represents Bayview-Hunters Point and the surrounding area. “I’m tired of my neighborhood being the dump.”
But many of those vehicles serve as the only home for residents who otherwise would be sleeping under the stars.
“A big part of this legislation is targeting people who live in their cars … people without money,” said Supervisor John Avalos. “Yes, we need to do something, but this might not be the best method.”
The midnight to 6 a.m. nightly ban would be another tool in the impacted areas, said Chu.
The board voted down an effort by Supervisor Christina Olague to delay the ordinance until a study could be completed on any effects it might have
on the city’s homeless. But the board did agree that the ordinance would not take effect until March 1 to provide more time to find housing for any people who might be displaced.
The final vote was 7-4, with Supervisors Olague, Avalos, David Campos and Jane Kim opposed.
The ordinance will affect only areas where the oversize vehicles have been a problem. They are expected to include stretches of the Great Highway, Lincoln Way, Fulton Street, 16th and 17th streets, Lake Merced Way and Innes Avenue in the Bayview.
— John Wildermuth Target practice: The city’s only outdoor shooting range is once again looking down the barrel of legal action by the city.
On Monday, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission filed an unlawful detainer lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court against the Pacific Rod and Gun Club, which has been negotiating with the city for months on modernizing a 78-year-old lease.
The latest move from the city, following several extensions on an Aug. 15 eviction, is intended to speed up the process of determining who is liable for millions of dollars in cleanup costs on the shores of Lake Merced, where the 400-member club occupies 14 acres.
Steve Ritchie, the city’s PUC assistant general manager for water enterprise, said the club has balked at signing a provision in the new lease to accept liability for damage caused under the old lease. The city estimates a cleanup of lead contamination caused by the club’s use of lead bullets and toxic clay pigeons until 1994 will cost more than $10 million.
“Without that clause in there, we felt that the city was really not protected,” Ritchie said.
But club spokesman Fred Tautenhahn said Ritchie’s characterization of the club’s position is “dead wrong.”
“We’re not trying to get out of our responsibility,” said Tautenhahn, who added that the environmental negotiations are complicated because runoff from John Muir Drive may also be contributing to the pollution.
Once the club is served with the lawsuit on Wednesday, a court hearing will be scheduled within 20 days, according to the PUC.
— Neal J. Riley