Misuse of disabled parking placards costing S.F., other drivers

Disabled parking placards are displayed near Civic Center Plaza on Friday May, 17, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. People with disabilities are having trouble finding parking in San Francisco making it more difficult to access their destinations. Current disabled parking placards and blue zone policies are failing to increase access for people with disabilities and reduce parking availability for all drivers. The City's Accessible Parking Policy Advisory Committee has worked together to present a better plan. less Disabled parking placards are displayed near Civic Center Plaza on Friday May, 17, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. People with disabilities are having trouble finding parking in San Francisco making it more ... more Photo: Michael Macor / Michael Macor / The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor / Michael Macor / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Misuse of disabled parking placards costing S.F., other drivers 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The use and abuse of disabled parking placards in San Francisco cost the city $22.7 million in lost meter money last year, a new report shows.

The misuse of the blue placards has another price — it means everyone else who parks in the city has to pay more, according to the city controller’s report.

There were 60,750 placards held by drivers in the city in 2012. That’s nearly twice as many as in 2001, the report says — and it’s also more than double the number of metered spaces in the city (28,000).

That doesn’t even count the 453,000 placards issued by the eight other Bay Area counties — a total that is up 80 percent since 2001 and far outpaces the Bay Area’s population growth during that period of 5 percent, the controller’s report says.

And all those placards are good for parking in San Francisco.

A 2008 Muni report found that almost half the cars in downtown metered spaces had blue placards hanging from their rearview mirrors, and that 57 percent of the cars were registered to out-of-town owners.

A disabled placard exempts a driver from paying the meter for up to 72 hours. In San Francisco, that can save $55 or more a day in parking costs.

Lately, there’s been a rash of complaints about possible improper use of placards, and even a state Department of Motor Vehicles sting — Operation Blue Zone — against people suspected of obtaining the free-parking placards illegitimately.

For the rest of us, the consequences of the wrongful use of placards amounts to more than just lost parking spaces.

Under San Francisco’s congestion-pricing parking system, meter rates in some areas are based on the number of spaces that are occupied. Having spaces filled for hours on end by cars with disabled placards keeps parking tight and prices at a premium of up to $6 an hour.

And of course, the more expensive the parking, the more valuable the cards become.

California is one of just five states that provide disabled-placard holders with free, virtually unlimited parking.

Last year, San Francisco’s transportation agency floated the idea of charging placard holders for parking. It was quietly deep-sixed by the city’s own lawmakers in Sacramento after activists for the disabled objected.

Sheriff’s race: After months of mulling it over, former acting Sheriff Vicki Hennessy has made up her mind about running against incumbent Ross Mirkarimi next year.

“I’m definitely in,” she said.

Hennessy, whose resume includes more than 30 years with the Sheriff’s Department and two years as head of the city’s emergency services operation, was tagged by Mayor Ed Lee to be acting sheriff when he suspended Mirkarimi after the sheriff was charged with domestic violence.

Mirkarimi was later reinstated to his job, thanks to the votes of Supervisors Jane Kim, John Avalos, David Campos and Christina Olague.

Olague subsequently was defeated at the polls, in part because of a campaign by anti-domestic-violence activists.

This month, Campos lost his bid for state Assembly after the same activists backed his opponent, Supervisor David Chiu.

And chances are, they’ll be taking direct aim at Mirkarimi this time out.

Mirkarimi tells us he looks forward to running on his record but added, “This year’s election demonstrated that the mayor’s billionaire bullies, along with their proxies who receive city contracts, will stop at nothing to smear with their vile tactics.”

Should be interesting.

Sports go-round: Firefighters unions in the East Bay are spraying cold water on the idea of appointing former state lawmaker Guy Houston to a $245,000-a-year contract to run the day-to-day operation of the Coliseum complex.

Houston, a Republican former state assemblyman who now works as a lobbyist, was tentatively picked by the Coliseum’s governing commission back in September after two other finalists priced themselves out of the job.

No sooner did word get out about the pending appointment than questions began bubbling up about a decade-old lawsuit saying that Houston and his father had defrauded senior citizens out of $340,000 in a real estate investment scheme. The case was settled out of court in 2007 for an undisclosed sum, with Houston and his father not admitting to any wrongdoing.

The real kicker came when representatives of the International Association of Firefighters Local 55, representing firefighters in Oakland and other Alameda County cities, hit the phones to demand that the Coliseum board squelch Houston’s appointment.

Why? Because Houston, while in Sacramento, supported a 2005 measure put on the ballot by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to curb the power of public employee unions by prohibiting their dues from being used for political campaigns and ads.

“We just have concerns about his dedication to working-class people,” said Local 55 political director Shawn Stark.

The Coliseum board is now said to be reconsidering its choice and is taking a second look at Scott McKibben, the former boss of the Rose Bowl, who has dropped his price for taking the job.

Or the board may re-post the job — because with the election of Libby Schaaf as Oakland mayor, there’s interest from former 49ers and A’s executive Andy Dolich.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross