San Francisco residents meet over Lombard Street congestion

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Some Russian Hill residents in San Francisco sounded off Tuesday at a community meeting focused on solving the problem of congestion in and around the crooked part of Lombard Street.

People are upset with the amount of footed-traffic that's been going on for years and it's getting worse.

Residents at the meeting wanted officials to know just how frustrated they are.

It was supposed to be an informal open house for those living near or on crooked street. But it turned into much more. "It is a small catastrophe, every weekend, every three-day weekend," one man said.

Anger filled the room where city staffers and the transportation authority thought they were just answering questions and handing out surveys abouthow best to relieve tourist congestion in the area.

Some ideas are to require a toll or reservations for drivers using the street, hire more parking control officers, ambassadors or make crooked street for pedestrians only.

Some want staffers to remember that many of them were there first. "People who say those 'people on Russian Hill, if they didn't know what they were getting into they should move.' Sixty-nine years ago, I can assure you my mother did not know what she was getting into," Russian Hill resident Anne Brubaker said.

It's not hard to see the problems. At least 16,000 people visit crooked street every day.

Some are loud and inconsiderate.

Most tourists don't see much of a problem. "People should really expect that they're going to get tourists in these kinds of places," one man said.

The transportation authority will analyze residents' feedback and make a recommendation to the board of supervisors at the end of the year.