Woman alleges SF painted new red zone where her car was parked, then issued ticket

By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez : sfexaminer – excerpt (includes photo)

Most San Francisco drivers have a painful parking story to tell. But one woman’s parking complaint takes the cake.

Becca Derenthal, a San Francisco resident, alleges The City painted a red zone where her car was parked at Lombard and Franklin streets in July — then ticketed her for parking in that new red zone.

Derenthal said she went out of town for business and, before she left, “found a parking spot that was not painted red at the time and would allow me to park there until I returned without running into any street cleaning issues.”

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency confirmed Derenthal was ticketed under transportation code 7.2.25, a red zone violation.

SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose said the curb was painted in July. “We have records going back to July saying [the curb] was red.” He added, however, “Our policy is not to cite someone at a newly painted red curb.”… (more)

No wonder people hate the SFMTA so much.

California Pilot Program Providing Commuters With Tax-Free Transit Benefits Becomes Permanent

businesswire – excerpt

Employers in the San Francisco Bay Area must Provide Tax-Free Transit Benefits

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–California’s Governor has signed into law SB 1128, making permanent a pilot that provides employees in the Bay Area with tax-free transit benefits. Under the program, employers in the Bay Area with at least 50 full-time employees must provide their workers with the option of tax-free transit and vanpool benefits.

The legislation defines a “full-time employee” as one who performed an average of at least 30 hours of work per week during the previous calendar month. The number of full-time employees is the average number of full-time employees per week, on payroll, during the most recent 3-month period.

Transit benefits stem from a Federal law which allows employees to be provided, or withhold, up to $255/month for transit or vanpool expenses so long those funds are provided or withheld by employer. Employers that do not currently have a commuter benefit program in place will be pleasantly surprised at how easy this benefit is to provide to employees. There are no required plan documents and no defined open enrollment periods. By offering commuter benefits, employers can save up to 7.65% on average in payroll taxes, and employees can save up to 40% on their commuting costs by using pre-tax money… (more)