Archive for the ‘san francisco’ Category

Many police departments around the U.S. impound the cars of drivers caught behind the wheel without a license.

But starting Sunday, San Francisco plans to abolish that policy, calling it unfair to illegal immigrants.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, police chief George Gascón, and supervisor David Campos (himself a former illegal immigrant) all agree that impounding cars is particularly punitive for undocumented aliens, who are unable get licenses under California law.

Instead, police will give any license-less driver time to call a friend or relative to come drive the car away. The driver will still be cited for driving without a license, however, and...

A number of cities large and small are coming around to think of public parking spaces not as a subsidized right but a privilege worth a fee—more specifically, a sliding fee, depending on the demand for a particular spot.

As the LA Times reports, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. have already phased in market pricing systems that vary the cost of spaces depending on the neighborhood or street, or even the time of day.

The city of Santa Monica is one of many smaller cities phasing in such a practice. It found that nearby business employees were using the short-term shopping spaces and simply moving their cars every few hours,...