And now... our city is proposing that we also include "congestion tolls" within the downtown region of San Francisco.
And have you seen the map of where they want to put the tolls? It's totally screwed up! They want to create a border on the west side on Divisadero and also cut the Castro district in HALF.
What does this mean for our city? It might mean millions, but also pissing off a ton of residents and commuters to our lovely city. Bridge tolls are already $4 and even higher at the Golden Gate Bridge.
Here are some easy examples of pissing people off:
- Say a commuter lives in Marin county and drives to SF Downtown to do some shopping. They pay $5 to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, pay another $2 for the Doyle Drive congestion toll, plus another $3 for entering the downtown zone. If you have to park at a downtown variable rate meter, you might as well get nailed with another $5 per hour.
- Do you live next to one of the congestion rate borders? What happens if you have to drive to your supermarket to get groceries? You would probably get nailed with a $$$$$ crossing fee every single damn time.
- On the Divisadero "border," I would not have any trouble getting to Kaiser Hospital for my doctor appointment, but how about when I want to visit JAPANTOWN? It's only a short hop away from Divisadero and IT'S NOT CONGESTED. Hell, I can find parking most of the time.
I don't have any money, but if someone would like to volunteer some cash, the prize winner would be the one who gives the most headaches to city government officials. Go after the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, and the SFMTA.
5 comments:
It's not stupid, it's internalizing the costs of driving on to the driver. Whenever a driver drives around the city, they are foisting most of the costs of their activities upon the taxpayers in general. The congestion fee simply transfers that cost to where it belongs.
Please also consider that the majority of households west of Divisadero do not own cars.
Uh, I meant to say East of Divis, not West.
Contact the Mayor
Or give his office a call, and let him know how you feel.
Mayor Gavin Newsom
City Hall, Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: (415) 554-6141
Fax: (415) 554-6160
Email: gavin.newsom@sfgov.org
bullshit. they might as well toll everyone who has a car to drive around san francisco.
oops.
I'm pretty much with ya, though I like the concept. But as you said, Japantown, among other places, don't need any traffic relief, and I think we need a solid decade of good Muni performance before we dump everybody onto the 38.
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