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Comment by rahimnathwani | Hacker News Reader

  I've had drivers cited for this in the past.

I'm curious how you've managed to achieve this?

I haven't found SF311 very responsive to requests related to illegal parking. Even if they respond, wouldn't the car be gone by the time they show up?

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Yeah, they ignore SF311 reports by policy. I've managed it by flagging down an amazingly helpful parking control officer that happened to be in the area, or else by calling and reporting an obstruction of traffic (not mentioning the bike lane) and then waiting until the PCO arrived and talking to them.

The officers have almost always been helpful, but I think they generally tend towards lower confrontation and more "efficient" violations like street sweeping or expired meters by default (or perhaps directed by management).

  by calling and reporting an obstruction of traffic

Would you be able to share the rough process, and how long it usually takes?

e.g.

- Do you call 311 or a different number?

- How soon have you had someone arrive at the scene?

This was years ago when I was younger and had more free time. I called SFMTA traffic directly (you learn the menu tree quickly). It varied but I want to say it usually took between 20 minutes to over an hour, including multiple callbacks to check on status and ensure they knew I was serious

Thank you for sharing that. It clears up my confusion. I thought perhaps you had found some magic way to get them to do something without you needing to disrupt your day.

It doesn't seem worth the time investment, as it won't have any effect beyond the particular incident you're reporting. It won't increase the threat of enforcement such that people decide not to break the law.

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