S.F. milks drivers with pricey parking tickets

Drivers in San Francisco have long seen themselves as the city's cash cow.

Now they have validation of that. This week a Municipal Transportation Agency official frankly said that parking revenues are down, which means more tickets will need to be issued to help balance the agency's budget.

In a city that likes to push transit over driving, this clearly isn't the news drivers want. Usually just a $65 ticket on their car ($55 outside downtown ) gets them sputtering. They think they are being singled out because they own a car, drive in the city, and reliably pay their bills. And they are tired of being treated as the city's cash cow.

So it was probably not the best public relations move Tuesday for Joy Houlihan, deputy director of enforcement for the Municipal Transportation Agency, to say publicly that revenues are down, so parking officers should issue more citations and bring in more money.

For some, it was a look-behind-the-curtain moment.

"They always used to say it had nothing to do with revenue," said Lesley Leonhardt, an art gallery owner on Union Street. "We all knew that was a bunch of malarkey."

The agency's spokesman, Paul Rose, took another crack at explaining the push to write more citations Wednesday.

"We're not in the business of profiting," Rose said. "That's bad form and not what we are about. Citations (revenue) are down $7 million and we wanted to make sure we were deploying our officers as efficiently as possible."

Still, the net result is pretty clear. The Municipal Transportation Agency projected $99 million from parking ticket revenue for the fiscal year - that's right, nearly $100 million from parking tickets - and numbers are running $7 million short.

"It's outrageous," said termed-out Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier. "Look at the numbers. Are you kidding me? This is such a gouge. C'mon, you've got to find another way to balance your budget."

Alioto-Pier, a potential mayoral candidate, happens to have the numbers handy. Last October she ordered up a report from the budget and legislative analyst on meter rates, fines and late penalties.

We can summarize that report in three words - they're really high.

Hourly parking meter rates have quadrupled (50 cents to $2) outside the downtown core since 1992 and parking fines have increased $30 outside of downtown and $40 in the city core since 1995.

But then prices have shot up in all big cites haven't they? Not quite.

Looking at eight cities, from Boston to Los Angeles to Portland, the report found San Francisco's biggest fine, $65, was the highest of all for parking meter violations. (Boston, San Diego and Sacramento were all at $30 or less.) It also found that the downtown meter rate of $3.50 was the second-highest after Los Angeles, and well above the median rate of $1 per hour in those cities.

Tom Nolan, chairman of the MTA board, says he certainly understands the heat and passion. He's still cleaning out his e-mail in-box from the time the board proposed extending meter hours to 10 p.m. and adding Sundays.

"It's been said it is a war on drivers," Nolan said. "I get it. But ... we don't have a lot of other things to balance the budget."

Actually, the new credit card meters may go a long way to stemming the red ink. In trials, drivers don't seem to mind paying for parking as long as there's a more convenient way than a bag of coins or a card that has to be purchased separately. More revenue from meters would mean the city wouldn't depend so much on busting someone who missed his expiration time by a few ticks of the clock.

But that's in the future. For now, it is hard to escape the reality that MTA is stepping up enforcement and writing more tickets to level its budget.

Houlihan probably wishes she'd phrased it differently on Tuesday, but that's what happens when you get caught accidentally telling the truth.

C.W. Nevius' column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail him at cwnevius@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle