TO: Honorable Members of the Board of Supervisors

FROM: Office of the Legislative Analyst

SUBJECT: Employee Suggestion No. 92: Eliminate Free Parking for All City Employees

The employee suggests eliminating all free parking for city employees.

The amount of free parking provided to different departments is significant enough to conclude that were it to be eliminated, the city could not only save money, but make money. However, in certain instances, departments may require reserved spaces. The Office of the Legislative Analyst (OLA) does not believe that one policy can be applied to all departments uniformly. The OLA recommends that the Board request from each department a justification for maintaining their current number of reserved parking spaces in order to determine if the city can increase the number of revenue generating parking spaces.

The Board recently amended the San Francisco Administrative Code by adding Section 4.24, allowing the City to charge $95 a month for single slots or $65 a month for tandem slots or "the existing amount being charged as of May 31, 2004, whichever is higher." This ordinance is broad and gives the city the right to charge departments this fee, but does not specify which departments would be affected. Some department employees, such as those who work at Francisco General Hospital, already pay a $40 - $95 monthly fee.

This ordinance has no effect on parking facilities under the control of the Department of Parking and Traffic and the Parking Authority. The Parking Authority sets the rates for the garage per Proposition E, passed by the voters in 1999. This amendment placed all fares, fee and rates under MTA’s control.

The Parking Authority allots free garage parking to certain city departments. Administrative Services receives 20-30 spaces in the Civic Center garage to accommodate their fleet. The Central Police station, the only police station in the city that does not have its own lot, receives 100 monthly parking cards at the Vallejo Street garage for employees’ personal cars. At any given time police staff occupy 25-35 spaces at the Vallejo garage. Police staff are supposed to use these cards only while on duty. San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) administrative staff receives 100 free parking cards per month for operational needs. In the mid-1990s, SFGH turned over a 900 space surface lot to the Parking Authority, who was building a parking garage on the premise. As part of this exchange, the Parking Authority gave the hospital these 100 spaces. The arrangement has not been officially re-examined since it was enacted nearly 10 years ago.

Supervisors’ aides each receive free parking spaces in the Performing Arts Garage located at 360 Grove, as their job can require travel throughout the day. The Performing Arts Garage, run by the Parking Authority, charges city employees a monthly fee of $100, but does not charge the city for the 22 aide spaces.

Currently the garage does not reach capacity during daytime hours and therefore, the city does not lose potential revenue by renting these spaces at no charge to the Board. However, the demolition of the 101 overpass resulted in the loss of approximately 20 parking lots. This reduction in parking is predicted to increase the demand for garage parking around Civic Center. The Parking Authority is preparing an RFQ/RFP to investigate the feasibility of the build-out of the Performing Arts Garage. The San Francisco Ballet, The San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Opera, responding to complaints about the lack of parking for performances, have offered to gift/loan the Parking Authority $50,000 toward the cost of conducting a feasibility study. If the MTA/Parking Authority Board does not approve the build-out and demand for the garage does increase, then the city will lose revenue by offering Supervisors’ aides free parking.

Some city employees receive reserved on street parking, rather than free garage parking. It costs approximately $400 to install a parking meter with average revenue of $4 a day (approximately $1,252 per year, per meter). An ordinance rescinding permit-parking areas would be required to amend the San Francisco Traffic Code. A separate ordinance would then be required to convert the former permit-parking area to a metered parking area, further amending the Traffic Code. These ordinances must be crafted within the parameters of the California Vehicle Code.

Supervisors, the Mayor and a select number of City Hall employees receive access to free, permit parking in front of City Hall. The decision whether or not to rescind access to these spaces may rely more on the needs of elected officials and their staff than on the potential revenue to be gained from converting their reserved spaces to meter spaces. In addition, some elected and public officials may receive permit parking through an MOU or contractual agreement.

Significant revenue could be generated for the city if all free parking for its employees was eliminated. According to Administrative Services, the city is planning to downsize its fleet in the coming year. Therefore, it may be possible that certain departments, such as Administrative Services, will require less reserved parking. These spaces could then be changed into revenue generating meter spaces. It is possible that other departments, such as SFGH or the Police Department, could function with fewer free, reserved spots.

The OLA recommends that the Board request from department heads a justification for maintaining their current level of reserved free parking. The Board will also need to ascertain whether or not certain employees’ free parking is protected under a contract or MOU. The OLA also recommends that the Board direct DPT to study utilization at sites where there exists reserved, free on street parking for employees in order to determine whether there is sufficient traffic to warrant installing meters. Ho