Petition to Oppose Establishment of Part-time Passenger Loading Zone, 7:00AM to 4:00PM, School Days

It has been proposed and on August 31, 2007, the SFMTA/DPT City Traffic Engineer is to consider establishing a passenger loading zone ("white zone") in tne front of Alamo School located at 250-23rd Avenue (between Clement and California Streets) in San Francisco.

The planned zone will eliminate parking from 7AM-4PM in this proposed 80-foot zone.

This is considered a solution to 'safety' issues in and around the school area and considered a part of the school's "Drop of and Pick Up" plan. Part of this 'safety plan' identifies the school population as 700.

Establishment of this zone would considerably affect what is already an extremely limited supply of long-term parking spaces.

Establishment of such would severely affect our already challenging parking situation: a white zone already exists on the southern end of the east side of 23rd Avenue, a limited 'green zone' is at the north end on the west side of 23rd Avenue, meters comprise 1/3 of the block at the south end on the east side of 23rd Avenue.

Congestion caused by drop-off and pick-up of children occurs for a small portion of the day; to cut off parking for a nine (9) hour period is unjustified.

The passenger zone will only provide a total of 80 feet, accomodating 4 cars; as it is now, cars double and triple park-how would this alleviate the congestion? It is unrealistic to think that this space, taken from us, will make the traffic of 600 cars disappear.

This is not a solution that will make the area safer, since it will not change behaviours of parents who consistently leave their cars unattended, aggravating the congestion.

Though the population of the school is stated to be 700, the school reduced it's enrollment in 05/06 to 80 students (http://orb.sfusd.edu/sarcs2/sarc-413.pdf) which makes the population approximately 594; the attendance numbers will steadily decline in the next 3 years accordingly, to 400, 40% less than the stated population of 700. The need for the additional white zone compared with other schools may be a false comparison.

The neighbors were not actively recruited to give input regarding the 'safety' solutions nor on specifics regarding the 'drop-off/pick-up' plan.

There are better solutions to making the area safer for children during drop-off and pick-up; this is not a viable solution.