Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation Parking topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Grand jury urges state action on blue placards; MTA to pursue local enforcement measures
Summary
The Civil Grand Jury argued San Francisco's 50,000 blue disabled-parking placards have contributed to downtown congestion and recommended tighter issuance rules, photos on placards, a hotline and stronger enforcement; the MTA and the committee agreed on further study and partial support while noting practical constraints on some ideas.
A Civil Grand Jury report on disabled parking placards prompted calls for state and local action after jurors said placard issuance and abuse have grown markedly: "approximately now 50,000 blue placards in San Francisco, which has doubled in the last 10 years," grand juror Lawrence Kern told the committee.
Kern urged revisiting the eligibility standard, tightening which medical providers may certify placards, adding cardholder photos to placards, forming a local oversight committee with DMV access, increasing enforcement staffing and creating a hotline on signs for reporting abuse. He recommended state legislative hearings to address portable placard abuse, saying local authority to change rules is limited.
Judson True of the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) praised the report, said the MTA is preparing an ordinance to establish a disabled-placard review panel and to increase fines, and described practical obstacles: DMV data limitations restrict detailed issuance analysis and printing hotline numbers on signs would require changing thousands of manual of uniform traffic control devices signs. The MTA said it will integrate 311 into reporting and has increased parking control officer staffing and planned training.
The committee amended its draft resolution to focus on required responses, expressed full agreement with several recommendations and "partial agreement" on others where further public hearings or analysis are needed; it will forward the amended resolution to the full Board.
