ISSUE 29
Park›ng Lots ›n the Heart of the Bay Area here are 450,000 official vehicles in San Fran-
San Francisco – Those living in San Francisco face the same problem as residents living in
Tcisco, a city of 740,000 residents and 126.9 mil-
lion square meters (49 square miles). The San Francisco Transportation Agency owns 40 parking lots and 24,000 meters, which bring in a combined 30 million dollars a year. There are also privatelyowned parking lots. These publicly- and privatelyowned lots struggle to meet the parking needs of the city.
other expensive cities such as New York, Chicago, and Boston: finding that elusive parking space...
56 • TurkofAmerica
Businessman Cihat Eflrefo¤lu’s U.S. Parking, Inc. operates 30 parking lots and provides nearly 15,000 parking spaces for the city's downtown, which has 50,000 spaces in all (outside of the spaces large hotels provide). Eflrefo¤lu's American adventure began in 1989, when he followed his girlfriend from Turkey to the US. He was engaged to her for ten years, after which he married her in 1999.
STATTED WITH 80 CAR CAPASITY Using money from his family, Eflrefo¤lu began his parking lot business with a bid for a prime location in the center of the city. Within time, the 80-car capacity parking lot he bought in 1993 became too small for his needs. He increased the capacity to 250 cars. After 15 years and bid upon bid, he now owns more than thirty lots in the San Francisco Bay Area. The following are all parking lots operated by U.S. Parking, Inc.: CalTrans Transbay Terminal, San Francisco´s Financial District, Moscone Center, AT&T Park, San Francisco Giftcenter and Jewelrymart, the Federal Building, Golden Gate University, San Francisco Department of Public Works, Alliant International University, San Francisco Shopping Center, Westfield Shopping Center, and Momo´s Restaurant Valet Service. (Issue: 29, May 2008)!