Hastings College Garage

Hastings College continues push for huge parking garage

Two proposals from Hastings College for a parking garage and housing at the corner of Golden Gate and Larkin received mixed reviews at a public hearing last June. TLC thanked the panel for reviewing alternatives to the 885-car garage originally proposed, but expressed disappointment that Hastings is still pushing for a massive parking facility at perhaps the worst possible location for more car traffic. Please write Senator John Burton and urge him to continue to pressure the University to meet community needs by reducing the parking and increasing the housing in the proposal (see below).

When Hastings first proposed its 885-car garage last June, the idea came under fire from neighborhood residents who wanted housing instead of parking. The location is within walking distance of some of the best transit service west of the Mississippi, and at the edge of the Tenderloin, the city's most densely populated neighborhood with the lowest rates of car ownership. Despite the potential for a thriving pedestrian neighborhood in the heart of the city, the Tenderloin suffers from the highest rate of pedestrian injuries as a result of massive amounts of commuter traffic that the Hastings Garage would have added to. In a city where many folks consider affordable housing the number one social problem, Hastings' garage proposal added insult to injury because the site is the former home of three residential hotels and Hastings' declared parking demand is overstated because they still provide subsidized parking to their employees and students.

Hastings College has said that the two proposals are just drafts and that they welcome suggestions in order to come up with a final proposal at a later date. Please give them that input (see below); we can still help build housing not parking in this center-city neighborhood.

Write a letter! If you were born in an even-numbered month, mail a letter to Hastings College; if you were an odd-numbered month baby, mail a letter to Senator John Burton. If you were born to be an activist, mail both letters!

Write a letter to David Seward, CFO, Hastings College (here's a sample letter you can edit for your own use)

Write a letter to State Senator John Burton (here's a sample letter you can edit for your own use)

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