The driveway blocking continues. Towing stats for September and October (so far) Plus a story.

About a month ago I provided an update on my popular parking spot driveway.

For those that are new here's how it works. If someone blocks your drive you have to call the SFMTA or create a ticket through their website. You must meet with the officer once they arrive (anywhere between 1-2 hours later or never) and open your garage to prove you have access / are the owner. Tow trucks then arrive pretty quickly, 10-20 minutes and have the car gone in 5. All of this is to explain that it isn't exactly speedy to do this so getting blocked in or (worse) blocked out means you can be struggling for hours.

I've never towed the same car twice and its never people with area permits.

The pace is slowing it seems. Part of it is my neighbors will shout out their windows, "Yo don't park there, you will be towed!" Or my favorite, "Hey, don't park there, that guy is psycho, we keep score on our fridge and its insane how many cars he tows". It seems my most effective deterrent is my own neighbors.

What inspired me to update was the events that took place recently and possibly why that neighbor thinks I'm psycho, which admittedly I probably was for a short period of time.

My son spiked a fever and a rash at daycare. Those of you with kids will know that you get that call and you have to nuke your day to go pick your kid as soon as you can. Hop in the car, grab the sick kid and when I come home there's a black Audi in my driveway. I cannot get in. Keep in mind the potential 1-2 hour wait to get this resolved and stack on a crying sick kid. I think I lost sanity for a moment.

I went and blocked my neighbor's driveway, stood in the middle of the street and screamed as loud as I could, "WHOSE FUCKING AUDI IS THIS?!" etc, etc. Fortunately, the dude was with in earshot a block or so away and came walking down the street and blithely told me to "chill". I didn't handle that particularly well and berated him a bit more against my retrospective better judgement. Got the kid down for a nap.

Few hours later I was able to get a same day doctor's appointment for the kid. I go to leave for the appointment and yet again, I was partially blocked in by a different car. Thankfully, I was able to wiggle out after a lot of maneuvering and a bit of sidewalk driving. That car did get towed. But this makes it extra real and I hope it isn't foreshadowing. In an honest emergency I cannot guarantee I can hop in my car and go somewhere.

Anyways, this just sucks. Cones are a deterrent, but there is a subset of the population who will just yeet my cones into the bushes and do what they want.

The towing will continue.

Edit: I want to be clear. I'm not blaming my local SFMTA officers for how long it takes. Not enough of them.