Supes vote to expand MTA's power to parks

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to grant jurisdiction to the Municipal Transportation Agency over the city’s parks, strengthening the possibility that metered spaces could appear in Golden Gate Park as early as next spring.

Until now, the Recreation and Park Department controlled regulations in San Francisco’s parks. With this change in legislation, the MTA would be able to define locations and rates for metered spaces, providing a revenue boost to both city agencies.

The conversion of more than 1,800 spaces in the eastern side of the city’s largest park — in a region surrounding the most popular park attractions such as the de Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences — could generate as much as $1.4 million a year for the parks department.

Supervisor John Avalos noted that this proposal would help revive the Recreation and Parks Department, which “was decimated” in this year’s budget deliberations.

The MTA will have to come up with paid parking arrangements that will need to be approved by the board before they can be installed. The approval of the board's action means that the location and number of metered spaces is “not shall go, may go,” Supervisor Sean Elsbernd said.

“There is nothing in this legislation mandating parking in Golden Gate Park,” Elsbernd said.

Supervisor Elsbernd also said that the board will need to investigate the impact of paid parking in Golden Gate Park on surrounding neighborhoods such as the Richmond and the Sunset.

“We must consider the other ramifications of this,” Elsbernd said.

For additional information, read the original story on the vote by the board's Budget and Finance Committee here.