Motorcycle Parking, Lombard Style
The City of San Francisco grants a nice discount to motorcycles in its city-owned garages. But not all of them have motorcycle parking.
The Ellis-O'Farrell garage downtown saved my motorcycle from getting continually bashed by crackheads and bad parallel parkers. Unfortunately, moving to Cow Hollow, I was back out on the streets, and my motorcycle at the mercy of drunken Marina frat boys.
The Lombard Street garage is owned by the city, but when I moved here, there was ONE motorcycle parking spot. It wasn't even really a spot, it was taking up the bicycle parking area. So I complained. Which got me nowhere, until I wrote a few letters to my representative on the Board of Supervisors, who connected me with the department that oversees parking garages.
It took about four months and several rounds of complaining, but now, gloriously, THREE parking spaces for cars have been converted to motorcycle parking. Hallelujah.
posted by James Lamb @ 11:41 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
There is still weirdness regarding motorcycle parking at the Lombard Garage... First, the motorcycle parking area wasn't signed and striped until I made several calls to the city. Then, the people working on the elevator filled the motorcycle parking spaces full of machinery and garbage, and they tried to move my motorcycle (but due to locking handlebars, could only roll it in a circle).
THEN, the area was cleared, but the MANAGER of the garage started parking his car in the motorcycle area. I asked why there weren't any other motorcycles in the garage, and they said there are, but people are paying double, for CAR & MOTORCYCLE, and they never ride their motorcycles. More likely, they're paying motorcycle rate, and using their card to park a car, especially since the gate gives you a tag to hang on your rearview mirror, even if you only have a motorcycle.
Anyway, I got a space because I complained so much. If you've been trying to get a space with no luck, please contact me.
If you talk to the woman who works there during the day, she will tell you different stories about why yuo can't park, and if you talk to Fred, the manager, he will tell you something else (unless you happen to catch them on a day when they agree to keep their stories straight, which isn't often).
Also, the bicycle rack is not secured to the floor, and is prone to getting dragged around to different spots, including once when my bicycle front forks were scraped across the rough pavement.
Post a Comment
<< Home