Patty Granado is a full-time nanny for 10-month-old Scott and his 2-year-old sister Julia. Every two hours throughout the day, this child care provider, like many throughout the city, has to do something that makes her very uncomfortable.
"I leave the kids here alone for 10 to 15 minutes," Granado said.
She goes to move her car so she won't get a parking ticket. The children's mother finds that unacceptable.
"The alternative is she has to schlep the kids with her, which is also difficult to do," mom Roxanne said.
She's organized a movement of moms pushing for parking permits for nannies. The SFMTA oversees the permits that have been around since 1976, to allow residents to park in their own neighborhoods without watching the clock. There are some non-residents who get the $98 yearly pass, like firefighters and until a recent re-interpretation of the policy, nannies got them too. They and their bosses want that benefit back.
Bloggers have been having a field day with postings such as, "No more entitlements for automobile drivers" and "How about a permit for your dog walker." but some at Muni are sympathetic.
"It's a very difficult situation -- on the one hand obviously we're pro family. We want people to have families and stay in San Francisco and for them this is a quality of life issue. But on the other hand, we are a transit first city," Bond Yee from the SFMTA said.
Muni officials are proposing one parking placard if the family provides a birth certificate for their child and signs an affidavit swearing it is for the nanny. The Muni board will vote on the proposal next week.
