Uber's Daly City satellite support center driving some residents crazy

DALY CITY, Calif. (KTVU) - Some families in Daly City are butting heads with Uber. They say ever since Uber moved its driving support center from San Francisco to Daly City, Uber drivers have turned their quiet neighborhood into a noisy, congested and dirty Uber hub.

On May 1, Uber moved its offices from Potrero Hill to 950 John Daly Boulevard, into an old bank building next door to Original Joe's of Westlake Restaurant. The office space may pack more square footage, but there are only 13 designated parking spots. Neighbors say Uber drivers have taken to parking on their residential street, North Mayfair Drive.

"I feel after 33 years that I'm a prisoner in my house," said Katherine Reiterman. The longtime resident says hundreds of Uber drivers inundate her street every day, leaving no parking for visitors. "They have no respect for the people that live here and it is dangerous. We're afraid, they go so fast up and down this street, and I don't move like I used to!"

"My daughter-in-law had a newborn and a two-year-old in the car and he almost had a head-on collision because the Uber driver was so busy doing their smartphone," said Carlos Cheng who also lives on North Mayfair.

Neighbors have banded together, posting signs to remind the drivers not to trash their streets.

"After Uber came," said Terry Dong, "the streets were littered with Starbucks coffee cups, I've seen diapers outside, people's leftover lunches... takeout boxes. I even saw one man urinating on a tree!"

Residents have complained to Uber and the city, but say nothing has been done to mitigate the problem.

"At two o'clock in the afternoon when people are pulling into your driveway, doing u-turns in the middle of the street, speeding down over 35 miles an hour; it's insane," said Kelly Reiterman.
Uber

says it is cooperating with the city to find solutions. Uber officials released this statement, "We have opened up eight other satellite support centers around the Bay Area to reduce flow to Daly City. We want to make sure [drivers] who use Daly City are local residents."

But KTVU met drivers from Petaluma, Oakland and even Sacramento at the Daly City office. All told us that they weren't aware that parking was a sore subject for neighbors.

One driver, Vijay Khanal said that Uber hadn't addressed the parking situation at all. Another driver told KTVU that Uber staff said it was ok to park on North Mayfair.

Daly City's City Manager Pat Martel spoke to KTVU's Tara Moriarty by phone. "Uber misrepresented its use of the building," Martel said.

"When it applied for its business license, it asked for a dozen parking spaces for administrative staff. It never mentioned anything about Uber vehicles inspections onsite or hundreds of drivers needing to visit this location daily."
Uber

said that it has met several times with city officials and it recently created teams to pick up trash along North Mayfair.

"Uber needs to patrol itself better," said Vice Mayor David Canepa.  ”Uber, I encourage you to contact my office.

Let's sit down with the neighbors, and find concrete solutions. Because right now, according to the neighbors, you're being a bad neighbor!"

If the issue with Uber doesn't get resolved soon, the city says it will take legal action.