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| Click on the map to view an enlarged version. (Image credit: City of Hayward) |
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Beginning tomorrow, December 1st, the city will enforce restrictions by issuing warnings to those who exceed the posted time limits. After a grace period of a couple of weeks, citations will be issued. The fine for parking over the time limit is currently $77.50.
The new parking restrictions are in response to BART's plan to charge for parking at the Hayward Station. Hayward is the last station where drivers can still park for free. But this will come to end on December 8th when BART will begin charging a $1 fee to park between the hours of 4 am and 3 pm.
BART's new fee will undoubtedly increase desire for free off-site parking. The city hopes to limit this by enforcing the new restricted parking zones. Doing so, however, creates two potential problems.
First, those who reside on streets within the new restricted zones and who park their vehicles on the street for lengthy periods are at risk of being ticketed. Fred Kelley, the City's Transportation Manager, acknowledges that this is a possibility. But he assured me that the City will attempt to avoid citing vehicles of those locals who reside within the restricted areas and will dismiss tickets of those locals who are mistakenly cited. The alternative is to establish a parking zone that requires parking permits. While such permits are a possible future consideration, the City's current plan, if effective, is preferable, since locals won't have a need to purchase permits.
The other problem that will probably arise from the City's parking restrictions will surely frustrate many BART patrons who currently park at the Hayward Station. Currently, there is an insufficient number of parking spaces available at the station to accommodate demand. The lot and garage are typically filled to capacity by 8:15 am every Monday through Thursday. Those who arrive later are forced to find parking off-site in competition with those who prefer city streets or the City's garage to that of the BART parking lot or garage. If nearby off-site parking is effectively eliminated by the City's parking restrictions, the station's parking capacity will likely be reached considerably earlier. Those not arriving before then may have to park many blocks away, find another way to get to BART, or give up on it altogether.
Bart has an empty lot on A. St, that currently contains construction equipment. If there isn't enough BART parking for riders why not utilize that empty lot?
ReplyDeleteIf demand is adequate, why not build an additional parking garage on the empty land? We should be encouraging people to park and ride transit, not disincenting the use of transit!
DeleteThe lot between A and B streets at Montgomery is BART's construction staging area for its seismic retrofit project. I believe this project is scheduled to continue for another 1.5-years. I'm not aware of any plans for the lot beyond that.
DeleteIt would make sense to temporarily use the lot in the future to accommodate demand while adding another level to the parking structure at Grand St. The existing structure was designed and constructed to allow for at least one additional level to be added.
Once that's done, a second parking structure adjacent to the first should be considered with shops at ground level fronting B Street. The lot at Montgomery can then later be developed to greater potential.
Thank you for taking the time to research this for us, Larry. I wish that the city had written it and emailed it to all those citizens who have given their email addresses to the city in order to be so informed. I wish that had been done before I saw a sign being installed in front of my house on Alice Street, a sign that reduces the availability of parking there, adds one more ugly sign to the collection of signs and poles, power and telephone lines that now mar my view of the Hayward Water Tower and gorgeous sunsets above the roofs and treetops on Pamela court. I wish I didn’t fear another permit fee coming on top of all the fees and taxes we are now forced to pay to live in Hayward. I did send a request for information about the parking signs to Access Hayward, but I have not received an answer yet nor do I think reading individual requests for information and then writing individual answers is an efficient use of city staff time in a case like this.
ReplyDeleteI used to get my information from The Daily Review, but the prices kept going up and the reporting went down. Now I have gone to the online edition for some of the bits and pieces of local information I need. The “Hayword” blog had a lot of promise at one time too, but it often got bogged down in inter- personal conflicts and finally, the reporter moved out of Hayward.
Your blog offers the same kind of benefit to Hayward – a forum for citizens to share information and to discuss Hayward’s issues of the day in more depth. It could grow into a place where our elected officials and city staff could really connect with the people they serve around issues that beg to be debated before decisions are made. For now, I am just grateful “Hey Hayward.”
I appreciate the city's desire to be reasonable about this parking issue and not give tickets to residents, but I do not see that as a very practical plan. How are they going to know the difference? How much staff will be necessary for that? It seems to me that permits are the inevitable next step as the population and BART ridership increases - if we continue in this direction. I believe that was in the back of the minds of the staff that developed this plan from the beginning. Otherwise the signs would have simply said, “No BART parking allowed” without taking parking availability away from residents.
I think the right direction in the future is for the City of Hayward to insist that BART be responsible for providing adequate, affordable parking for all its patrons. That should have been the cost of doing business in Hayward. (If there aren’t enough places now, they could start by converting the ground level BART parking lot at the corner of Grand and B Street into another multi-level lot, for instance.)
BART parking should be affordable for all BART riders. That way they won’t be so inclined to park in nearby residential areas. There are many schemes for making transportation AND parking affordable. Free or low cost passes that include parking is just one idea.
This whole issue might not seem important to many, but it is. A plan that veers slightly off course in the beginning will be way off in the future. Ask any sailor. This is not just about Hayward either. It is about the entire region. Hayward should work regionally with other like communities BART and insist on a better plan, one that does not require that nearby residents suffer for those who travel by BART. It’s about planning for a future when the population will have increased and public transportation will be more important. As that time approaches, it will become essential that people feel they are being treated fairly so that inter-group conflicts can be avoided. It’s about planning for a better quality of life. And by the way, it would be nice to run the power lines underground because Hayward’s sky and sunsets are assets that help to make Hayward beautiful.
Oh and one small thing, the gray area on your map do not extend to my house. I believe signs were installed all the way down Alice to Meek.
Thank you Sherry for your kind words and considered comments. I agree with you. I agree that plans have not been adequately disseminated. I agree that we're being inundated by sign pollution. I agree that there really is no good local source for news or discussion. I agree that the City's effort should be appreciated even if its not practical. I agree that there has to be better coordination between the City and BART. And I agree that the issue is important. As for the map, it was prepared by the City. If there's a discrepancy of concern, you may want to contact the Transportation Division to question the deviation.
DeleteWe have received parking ticket for parking in front of our house. Who do we go to to get the citation dismissed? We have called the citation department and were told there is nothing they can do and just pay the ticket.
ReplyDeleteContact Fred Kelley, Transportation Manager, 510-583-4781, Fred.Kelley@hayward-ca.gov
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