SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The Teamsters Union is calling for the closure of more than a dozen downtown parking lots it claims have cost the city $7 million in lost revenue that is supposed to support Muni.
The 7,000 spots on the lots are priced cheaper than the cost of a roundtrip BART ride and deprive San Francisco of much-needed parking tax revenue, said Mark Gleason, president of Teamsters Union Local 665.
“When you’re skimming money out of that revenue, you’re skimming it out of services that could be helping the elderly in our city,” he said at a news conference on Monday.
KCBS' George Harris reports
The low prices go counter to San Francisco’s Transit First policy by cutting into Muni funding and encouraging driving, Gleason said.
Most of the 18 or so single vehicle passenger parking lots being targeted by the Teamsters campaign are on Caltrans property South of Market and leased by the state to independent operators.
The San Francisco Chronicle’s Matier and Ross column points out the lots also happen to employ non-union workers.
Gleason said leaflets would be distributed at busy Muni stations this week calling on the Board of Supervisors to hold a hearing on closing the low cost parking lots.
Campaign organizers want to see the properties turned into green uses such as parks and public art.
Caltrans has yet to return KCBS calls for comment.
(jro)
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