Stop the GGNRA parking fees! Submit a comment TODAY

 

Public comments on proposed parking fees at the GGNRA are due Sept. 26

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is proposing to introduce parking fees at seven parks and sites in San Francisco and Marin to help pay for the costs to provide operations for the growing numbers of visitors at parks. These places have not charged for parking in 50 years since the inception of the GGNRA.

If the fees go into effect, visitors will be charged $3 an hour with a maximum of $10 a day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day at these locations:

  • Baker Beach

  • Lands End

  • Sutro Heights

  • Navy Memorial

  • China Beach

  • Rodeo Beach

  • Fort Cronkhite

  • Stinson Beach

We urge you to submit a public comment to the GGNRA opposing these parking fees. (See sample comment below.) Public comments are due by Sept. 26 and can be sent by email at goga_business@nps.gov or by phone at (415) 561-4700.

SFDOG opposes these fees, because they would primarily impact the millions of Bay Area residents who use the GGNRA every day to get into the outdoors, walk, bike, surf, and, of course, walk our dogs.

The fees will discourage Bay Area residents from using the GGNRA as it was intended to be used—as an urban recreation area. They will disproportionately impact frequent or daily visitors to the coast, especially those of low or fixed incomes, as well as:

  • Threaten and damage private property when visitors park in unofficial lots or pull-outs and neighborhoods trying to avoid parking fees;

  • Increase pedestrian traffic along roadways and increase traffic congestion, resulting in safety hazards for pedestrians, bikes, and cars;

  • Set a precedent for fees to be enacted without the necessary assessment for the impacts to impacts to resources and public access.

Sample comment

I am writing to express my opposition to the parking fees proposed by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I use the GGNRA on a regular basis to walk my dog and get physical exercise in the outdoors. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I rely on these GGNRA locations more than ever.

A parking fee will discourage me and other local residents who use the GGNRA as it was intended, as an urban recreation area that services Bay Area residents who have limited access to outdoor space. They will especially create a barrier for entry for low-income visitors to the GGNRA.

Because I walk my dog in the GGNRA, I am not able to get to GGNRA locations via public transit. And, in many of these places, there is no other parking.

These new fees, if approved, will set a negative precedent to implement more fees at similar parts of the California Coastline without a proper assessment of the impact on resources and on the local community.

We need to protect access to outdoor spaces for everyone in the Bay Area—not just the people who can afford it.

Please submit a public comment to the GGNRA opposing these parking fees. Public comments are due by Sept. 26 and can be sent by email at goga_business@nps.gov or by phone at (415) 561-4700.

Be sure to copy your supervisor and member of Congress: San Francisco Board members https://sfbos.org; Marin Board members www.marincounty.org/depts/bs

More information about the various proposed fees can be found at https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/news/fees-proposed-for-2022-to-aid-park-operations.htm

 
Dogged Editor