If someone’s vehicle blocks your driveway, San Francisco's 311 service will resolve it easier and safer for you

SAN FRANCISCO — Almost all motorists have experienced being blocked by other vehicles to leave their parking spaces or driveways. William Weng, a florist shop owner in San Francisco Chinatown, was one of them. Weng, who was also a crime victim in the recent incident, learned that the 311 service offered by the City and County of San Francisco would be an effective option to protect him from violence and confrontation.

911 is an emergency phone number in the United States and Canada for members of the public seeking immediate services in crime and medical-related situations.

311 is San Francisco’s official customer service center that provides information and assistance to residents, visitors, and businesses for non-emergency incidents 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.

People may call 311 instead of 911 or submit requests for services via web and mobile apps for non-emergency situations like noise issues, graffiti, illegal dumping, street cleaning, garbage issues and illegal parking or blocking driveway.

Kin Lee, who serves as the Community Lieutenant at Central Police Station, and Chinatown beat officers visited Weng after the incident to provide follow-up service and crime prevention information.

One night in October 2025, Weng and his wife needed to stay later in the shop that evening until around 8pm to finish an order for flowers on the next day. When they planned to leave the shop, they found a vehicle illegally parked on the street blocking the entrance of a parking lot where he had his vehicle parked.

Weng thought the driver of that vehicle would return very soon, so he and his wife waited for the driver and did not take any action yet. But that wait lasted for almost two hours.

A young Chinese-speaking man returned to pick up the vehicle and did not apologize for the illegal parking that blocked the driveway. Instead the unidentified man started to verbally attack and challenge Weng for fights. The man threatened to beat Weng up. Weng then went inside his shop and called 911 for immediate police service.

However, Weng was told that officers were busy at the time and might take a while to respond to the scene. Weng and his wife were afraid of their safety and called their son about the situation. Their son who was at home called the Police Department and provided more details of the situation for his parents.

"I believe the man knew that we called 911 and he had a feeling that the police would come. The man fled the scene by driving his vehicle away before three police cars arrived," said Weng. "The police officers responded very quickly after our son called for police service and told them more about our situation. We were very scared to walk out. We couldn't go home."

Interim Police Chief Paul Yep created the pilot Community Lieutenants Program in September in the San Francisco Police Department adding an extra Lieutenant position in both Central and Mission Stations. Under the pilot program, Community Lieutenants would engage in more community events with their bilingual skills to communicate directly with the large Chinese and Hispanic immigrant communities in Chinatown and Mission District respectively.

Lee, who speaks fluent Chinese and grew up in Chinatown, has served as Central Station's Community Lieutenant since the program was launched in September. He visited Weng at his florist shop with Chinatown beat officers after the incident occurred.

In getting first-hand information from Weng on the incident, Lee introduced the City’s 311 service to Weng and hoped community members would make good use of 911 and 311 services that would also help to keep them safe.

"To avoid direct confrontations with any drivers who park their vehicles illegally or block your driveway, William [Weng] could call the 311 Center for towing service in the beginning," said Lee. As a result, Weng might not need to wait for almost two hours for that driver to return.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is responsible for removing illegally parked and abandoned vehicles from city streets. Most requests from the public to tow vehicles are for blocked driveways. The public can make requests for towing via the SFMTA website, https://www.sfmta.com/services/enforcement-requests, or calling 311. For calls outside of San Francisco, dial 415-701-2311.

The vehicles to be towed are cited for violations by the Parking Control Officers of SFMTA before the vehicles are hooked up by towing companies and go to a city impound lot.

When Weng or anyone was unfortunately facing a threatening or frightening situation with other drivers, Lee said the only option was to call 911 to focus on reporting his safety concern, not about blocking the driveway.

"Dispatchers would ask many questions for better knowing the callers' situations. It is how dispatchers are trained to get more information and pass on to police officers who respond to the scenes," said Lee. "The questions and answers would also help dispatchers decide if the calls are listed as A- or B- or C-priorities. Police officers will respond to A-priority calls immediately."

The latest information provided by the City indicates that the 311 Customer Service Center received 934,000 service requests in 2024. Its mobile app is available for the public to submit requests via cell phones in four languages, English, Chinese, Filipino, and Spanish.

Most frequent reports or requests for services are blocking driveway or illegal parking, followed by street cleaning, abandoned vehicles, homeless encampments, damaged or fallen trees, pothole issues, graffiti, water leaks and flooding, curb and sidewalk problems.

From June 19 to December 19, 2025, a total of 85,742 requests were submitted in the past 6 months for parking enforcement related to abandoned vehicles, blocking driveway and illegal parkings. The neighborhoods with most requests or complaints on illegal parkings included Downtown, Union Square, Mission District and Tenderloin.

More information about San Francisco 311 services can be found online at sf.gov/topics--311-online-services.