San Francisco construction is booming from new towers to home renovations. But with progress comes pain as Michael Robinson found out.
"It took me 20 minutes yesterday to find a parking spot and that ended up being about four blocks from the house," Robinson said.
Construction crews are taking over the already-scarce street parking in the city.
"I do see a lot of construction and a lot of limited parking signs," resident Laura Marrero said. "I do think it's an issue."
Supervisor Mark Farrell's district has the most construction permits in town. Farrell is asking the board of supervisors to consider a new plan for easing the parking pinch.
"We're asking them to put together a parking plan for their project so to look at off-street parking, nearby garages or what have you and talk about the parking spaces and exactly why you need them," Farrell said.
Farrell said supervisors are most concerned with late-hour permits.
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In the plan, if a space is not used by a construction crew by 4 p.m., it goes back to the public.
The Residential Builders Association of San Francisco said builders need to provide for their families, and it is difficult if they are jumping through even more hoops.
"It's the layers and the layers of red tape in order to get your permits. Without permits there is no work and without work you can't provide for your family and you will continue to see the exodus of the blue collar worker in San Francisco," said Sean Keighran of the Residential Builders Association of SF.
The proposal now has to work its way through the legislative process -- meaning the parking pinch will not be easing for at least a few months.
