At a March 18 meeting to discuss the planned removal of parking spaces on Polk Street, several people expressed concern that a parking shortage would be exacerbated by the construction of the nearby California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) Cathedral Hill campus on Van Ness and Geary. But the reduction in the number of beds at the medical facility’s Van Ness site is expected to somewhat alleviate that threat.
The plan negotiated by the city will reduce by a couple hundred the number of beds at the Van Ness location, but the number of parking spaces in the building’s underground parking garage will not decrease by the same proportion. This means there will be relatively more spaces for employees and visitors to the hospital; but that didn’t sit well with everyone. SF.Streetsblog.org said the new plan is “more car-centric” than the original plan.
As part of the agreement between CPMC and the City, announced by the Mayor’s office in March and explained by District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell in last month’s Marina Times, CPMC will give $14 million to SFMTA for transit facilities serving the Cathedral Hill campus; it will also monitor traffic conditions around that campus, manage traffic congestion, and encourage public transit.
