Civil Grand Jury Report: Parking For The Disabled—Abuse Or Overuse?

 San Francisco Chronicle: Big fines ahead for disabled parking abuse.

Those who live, work or visit San Francisco understand how coveted a curbside parking space can be.   Small business owners in San Francisco are especially sensitive to this issue as convenient, available parking is key for people who want to patronize almost any business in the city--especially in these tough economic times where our local small businesses need as much help as they can get.

Moreover, the lack of parking availability is exacerbated by the abuse/overuse of disabled placards in San Francisco.  Indeed, the San Francisco Chronicle reported recently that the:

[a]buse of disabled parking permits in San Francisco is a serious problem that steals money from the [San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's (SFMTA)] already lean budget and makes it difficult for those needing disabled parking to find available spaces. The state Department of Motor Vehicles has issued 52,600 disabled plates and placards in San Francisco - 1 for about every 15 residents.

In 2007, a Civil Grand Jury in San Francisco produced a report that sought to find a balance between the needs of those with mobility limitations to have access to convenient parking and the need for all to be able to have access to curbside parking.  The Grand Jury found (among other things) that :

Demographic Trends and Statistics on Disability

• In 2007, approximately 50,000 blue placards have been issued to residents of City of San Francisco. That is more than double the approximately 24,000 assigned to San Francisco residents in 1996. This, according to statistics from DMV and the California Department of Finance, is slightly less than 7% of the City's population. This 7% is statistically very close to the ratio for each of the other Bay Area counties and for the State of California as a whole. The other eight Bay Area counties have also experienced a doubling in the numbers of authorized blue placards in the past ten years.
• The number of people in the Bay Area with any form of disability (15-20%) is more than double the number of currently-authorized blue placards in each of the Bay Area Counties (7%). These statistics do not bode well for citizens who routinely engage in the competition for curbside spaces. In other words, if everyone with a permanent disability also acquired a blue placard, then practically overnight there could be another doubling of blue placards issued. Additionally, the aging of the population in San Francisco, as well as the longer life expectancy, means there could be even more people who would qualify for a blue placard under current criteria.
• Misuse of a blue placard by the able-bodied makes it harder for the disabled to maintain independence and mobility, if they cannot find convenient parking.

Enforcement Difficulties

• Legal requirements more cumbersome than those required for issuing normal parking violations impede the issuance of citations for violations of blue placard laws.
• The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's Department of Parking & Traffic's (DPT) policy requires the presence of two Parking Control Officers for the issuance of a citation regarding blue placard laws.  One officer interacts with the driver, while the other officer is there as a potential witness, in the event the citation is challenged. This burdensome process results in the issuance of fewer citations for blue placard violations than for any other type of parking offense.

Application Process and Implications

• State law authorizes many and various health care practitioners – from audiologists all the way through to some categories of social workers -- to certify someone as eligible for a blue placard. This very multiplicity of types of certifiers also makes it easier for anyone to shop around for a practitioner who will quickly sign one’s application for a blue placard. Further, since certification does not automatically require an actual full-scale exam by the practitioner, the application can be completed by office staff -- figuratively rubber-stamping the application. There is little incentive for practitioners to say no, but considerable incentive to agree to the certification. Practitioners might worry that their failure to sign the authorization may result in the loss of their patient to another practitioner.

Conclusion

• Misuse of placards hurts people with disabilities. Misuse also lessens cash revenues for both the City's General Fund and the SFMTA.
• The low staffing levels at the SFMTA impede all enforcement efforts, such as citing individuals and conducting neighborhood stings. This difficulty of enforcement, plus the wide-open eligibility criteria, the multiple types of health care providers authorized to sign-off on eligibility – all contribute to the probability of abuse -- first, in the issuance of and, second, in the use of blue placards.

Recommendations


The SFMTA should request the City of San Francisco's State Legislative delegation to consider requesting some form of state legislative hearing on blue placard abuse and on updating criteria for issuance and for use.

Specifically the State Legislative delegation should look at:

• Authorizing and requiring DMV to affix to the back of a blue placard a photo of the certified disabled user, so as to make easier and faster any determination of appropriateness of use.
• Consideration of whether eligibility criteria, written prior to the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act are still fully appropriate for California's changing population, or whether blue placard eligibility criteria should be changed;
• Consideration of whether there should be any time limitation[s] on curbside meter parking.

Full Report 

The full report can be found here.  

In addition to the recommendations contained within the report, BOMA San Francisco also recommends that state legislation be introduced to change the free parking allowances for disabled parking as the association sees no correlation between disabled parking and the inability to pay for metered parking.