Disabled drivers say there are not enough handicapped blue parking zones in San Francisco, where parking is a problem no matter who you are. Right now, placard holders can park for free and with no time limits at the blue zones and at regular meters. Placard misuse by those who don't need them is rampant.
On one block in Chinatown, there are 23 regular parking spaces. On Friday afternoon, 19 of them were filled with cars with handicapped placards. There is a medical center on that block, but a woman who works at an adjacent building says she doesn't think it's patients parking with the placards because the cars are there all day.
"I want to be charitable, but the fact is there's simply not enough parking and there's not enough turnover, for everybody, and there's no enforcement," she told ABC7 News.
A special mayor's committee will be asking the city and state to add at least 470 new blue zones, a 70 percent increase, to improve enforcement of placard misuse increase, DMV oversight of placard approvals, reasonable time limits for placard parking, and the removal of the meter exemption.
Committee member Paul Planthold says the recommendations include asking the DMV to link placard numbers to a digital photo of the placard holder.
The SFMTA board will vote November 19. The supervisors will vote November 25. After that, it would be up to a state legislator to go for changes at the state level.
