Somewhere on Restani Way near Balboa Park, a neighborhood parking feud has escalated to the point where one resident is publicly inviting strangers to park on their block — specifically to spite their neighbors.
The complaint? A household that went from two cars to three, allegedly using the extra vehicle to claim street parking like it's a homestead. The response? An open invitation for anyone in the area to roll up, park all week, and — direct quote — "feel free to take up both spots" if you've got a big enough car.
Street cleaning is Fridays, 8–9 AM, in case you were wondering. How thoughtful.
Look, we get it. Parking in SF is a blood sport. But let's zoom out for a second, because this petty turf war is really a symptom of something much bigger: San Francisco's chronic refusal to build adequate housing and infrastructure in a city where car ownership, for many residents, isn't optional — it's a necessity born from a transit system that still can't reliably get you across town.
Balboa Park is one of those neighborhoods where BART access should reduce car dependency. And yet, inadequate density planning, sluggish development, and a city government more interested in process than results mean that residents are still fighting over 18 feet of curb like it's beachfront property.
Here's the libertarian reality check: public streets are public. No one owns the spot in front of their house. Your neighbor adding a third car is annoying, sure, but it's entirely legal. Posting passive-aggressive invitations to strangers on the internet to wage a proxy parking war on your behalf? That's not community problem-solving. That's HOA energy without the HOA.
The real villain here isn't your neighbor with three cars. It's a city that's spent decades making it nearly impossible to build garages, add density, or create real transit alternatives — then acts surprised when people are at each other's throats over a patch of asphalt.
Want fewer parking wars? Build more housing with parking. Improve transit so people don't need a third car. And maybe, just maybe, talk to your neighbors before you invite the entire internet to their block.