Can you buy a city street? Is that even possible?

It's possible when it's a privately owned street, like this one.

Presidio Homeowners Association failed to pay their taxes, so it

was auctioned off.

i would immediately implement a tollbooth and parking meters.

I am surprised to read that there are 181 private streets in San Francisco, as reported in the Chronicle.

If you have enough money, anything is possible.

You didn't even need that much money in this case.

I hope they make municipal parking spots.

This woman accidentally bought one.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/08/04/vacant-lot-street-mix-up/

Private roads are not uncommon, especially out in the country.

I used to live in a cabin up in the woods in Montana and the last mile or so was on a private road.  Other neighbors used it too and we all chipped in to pay one of the neighbors with excavating equipment to periodically grade the road and plow the snow in winter.

The Bronx lot lady rocks. She knew what she was doing when she bid on the lot (now street) that she is now asking above market price for (from NYC)

>>I am surprised to read that there are 181 private streets in San Francisco

that was the biggest surprise in the story to me also Judit. IIRC there are a lot of what I would call "alleys" downtown that are signed as private streets. I guess that way something like "the loading dock behind the Hyatt" can have a real address for Google maps to find it.

Our neighborhood roads are private. There are about 10 miles if you include the dead-end spurs. We have an official Road District to which we have to pay a portion of our property taxes for maintenance. There's talk of turning the roads over to the county to hopefully get more timely snow plowing.

Of course, that would be hard on some residents who have had their driving privileges rescinded for one reason or another. They've been used to driving down to the highway - no license required on private road - and having their buddies pick 'em up for work.

I'm familiar with rural, even suburban, private roads/lanes, but that this is in The City is what surprises me.

Here is a picture of the neighborhood.  As you can see, its more like a private, gated community and the road in question is not much of a thoroughfare:

What's really wild is that the purchasers bought the street for less than $1000 at a public auction.  They plan on selling it back to the owners and you would think they could turn a tidy profit on their investment.

Technically, the dirt under most public streets in America are owned by the neighboring property owners right to the middle of the street.  What happens is when a new subdivision or town is laid out, the developer dedicates the street to public use, thereby creating an easement or right of way which the public can use normally forever.   Sometimes, when a road is not used for a while, the neighboring properties can seek to vacate the street, whereby the right of way is closed and the area used as a street is then handed back to the neighboring property owners for their exclusive use.   The issue of who owns the dirt under public streets also comes up when you are dealing with environmental contamination in the right of way.  In those cases, the city or county usually distances itself from the street, claiming they only have an easement and are not responsible for the cleanup, which they try to push onto the neighboring property owners as the true owners of the area in question. 

Less than $1000? The article says it was $90,000, if I didn't misread it.

>>>>Less than $1000? The article says it was $90,000, if I didn't misread it.

You are right.  The amount of the tax lien was less than $1000 (which is pretty amazing), but the buyers paid $90,000 at the auction.   What can you get in SF these days for $90,000?