Public Drive

San Francisco literally wanted to tax your street:

The pitch was simple: Charge any property owner with a driveway $100 a year. Spend the money on Muni bus and rail service. It originated from the Muni Funding Working Group, a sprawling task force formed to brainstorm solutions for a projected $322 million deficit. Though highly imaginative and almost certainly controversial, the driveway fee could have been a reliable source of revenue: Public records reviewed by the Chronicle estimate that billing people for driveways and “curb cuts” — the term of art for a ramp carved into a sidewalk — would net $15.4 million in the first year, and $16.5 million every year thereafter. “This is a more equitable way to use public space,” said Luke Bornheimer, executive director of Streets Forward, a nonprofit that promotes cycling, walking and transit. Under the current system, Bornheimer said, San Francisco essentially subsidizes car owners — and building owners — by allowing them a free strip of the public right-of-way in the form of a sloped curb. .... ...San Francisco “likely has more private driveway curb cuts than any other city of its size and density, since most east coast cities of similar density make more use of back alleys for trash and car access,” representatives of the working group wrote in their summary. “These curb cuts are essentially permanent privatization of public space,” the summary continued. “Charging an annual fee to the owners of curb cuts would put a fair price on this privatization of public space, encourage owners whose curb cuts no longer lead to active driveways to return those curb cuts to the public, and generate significant revenue for the agency.” An economic analysis from the city estimated that San Francisco has 196,000 curb cuts that could generate $19.6 million annually at a rate of $100 apiece, though officials would have to subtract roughly $3 million for administration and staffing, including collections. In the end, they predicted that roughly 90% of landlords would pay.

It wouldn't be your driveway anymore. Also, the Beatles were right: