I admit it, back in 2003 I was with those hipsters dancing on Valencia in support of Matt Gonzalez (aka The Dreamy One) over Gavin Newsom (aka The Shellacked One) during the last mayoral election (aka The SF Babe Competition). But any lingering doubts I had about Gavin, even after the gay marriage business, have now been completely swept away—I am in love!
Mayor fumes at hours-long lines at parking office
Sees for himself why the public is so angry, frustrated at wait to pay tickets, permits
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, August 18, 2005There's a lot of anger, frustration and just plain disbelief inside the walls of 1380 Howard St., a nondescript, four-story building full of city offices in San Francisco's South of Market district.
There, on the first floor, an average of 565 people show up at the Department of Parking and Traffic's customer service [HA! -ed.] center every weekday to pay parking fines, protest tickets and pick up residential parking permits.
But before they pick up what they came for, they wait. And wait.
"I was just here a few days ago,'' said Kirt Patel, who owns a small manufacturing company in the southwest part of town and needed a parking permit. "And I didn't come back here because I like it so much." On his first visit, he left after waiting in line for 2 1/2 hours, never having reached the customer service window. He was giving it another shot Wednesday.
...
Standing at the front of the line at one point Wednesday was Phil McGarvey, who said he had been hanging out for two hours to pick up his parking permit. "Why isn't someone at City Hall checking on this?'' he asked.
Actually, someone is. Mayor Gavin Newsom stopped by Tuesday to see for himself why his office was being flooded with complaints* about the center.
His assessment: "It's an embarrassment. I should go even further: It's absolutely unacceptable. There's no excuse.''
...
Perhaps the most galling aspect of the current setup at Howard and 10th streets is that the waits are so long, the people lined up to pay their parking citations pile up new ones. The nearby meters expire after an hour.
"I already accepted the fact that I'm getting a ticket while I'm here,'' Kelly O'Brien said after she had waited an hour to advance about two-thirds of the way through the line.
Moments later a man standing behind her shouted, "Oh s--- !'' as he looked out the window and watched a parking control officer slap a ticket on his windshield.
~~~~~~
* That's me! That's me!
Big thanks to Mme H- for bringing this to my attention.
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