My OperaParking
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:11:35 PM
Some few years ago, the discussion in the neighborhood was about crime. OK, "public safety". Then, in the space of about a year, the tone changed: Parking was a worse problem than crime, at least on this side of the Convention Center. The Residential Parking Program (which the editor helped bring to Foggy Bottom when it was new (RPP, not the neighborhood)) didn't seem to work well at all, since it simply wasn't enforced. Parking enforcement took the phone off the hook and proceeded to do whatever else they did. Finally, enforcement picked up a bit, but let's face it: unless your shift brings you by a block twice a day, and you can write down the licence numbers of the cars which are candidates for a ticket in two hours, and then read that in two hours and it isn't raining, offenders will still go ticketless.
RPP wasn't solving the problem.
Jack Evans managed to get an experimental program through the City Council for a few blocks around the Convention Center whereby the north side of the block was for residents of Ward 2, or at least those who had an RPP sticker for Ward 2 only. Made a huge difference. There are still some problems, such as the signs only go to 8:30pm on M Street, and later elsewhere. That needs updating.
What it does is give the enforcement folks (notice the political correctness: the editor didn't say "Meter Maids".) a simple task: If an unapproved car is in the zone, give it a ticket. Now.
And since the ticketeers can now make quota more easily by passing our way, the new restrictions really work.
And parking is still needs work.
Brian Shaughnessy and Colleen Corrigan have an interesting idea: Push back the start time for the meters on Ninth Street a couple of hours. Then, when all the parking is taken in the evening, the residents could park on Ninth and then go to work or move their car without having to feed the meter at 7:00am, an ungodly hour.
Here's their letter to Jack Evans:
July 23, 2008
Councilman Jack Evans
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Room 106
Washington, D.C. 20004
Dear Councilman Evans:
My wife, Colleen Corrigan, and I have been residents of your Ward for eighteen years. We have lived through the changes in the neighborhood from its fairly rough past to the more affluent state that now exists. As result of the development of the Blagden Alley neighborhood and the Convention Center, overnight parking has become a problem for Ward residents, particularly on the non-metered streets. On the other hand, overnight parking is plentiful on 9th Street, N.W. because there is no need for Convention Center parking. Metered parking is in force on 9th Street from 7:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. weekdays.
Naturally, we recognize that revenue from parking meters is a vital source of funding for the City, but we believe that a reasonable accommodation can be made that will serve residents as well as the City’s need for parking revenue. Since events at the Convention Center do not require parking until 10 a.m. at the earliest, the meters could be put in force, at least for Ward residents, from 9:00 a.m. weekdays. This would give residents overnight parking without ticketing until 9 a.m. when non-metered Zone 2 spots would become available, yet commence meter enforcement at a time when Convention Center and business parking is needed. Permitting non-metered parking until 9:00 a.m. for residents would not deprive the City of significant revenue, except, of course, for the revenue from parking tickets, which are doled out frequently to those residents who are forced by congestion to take their chances on 9th Street. Accordingly, we request that meter enforcement be commenced at 9:00 a.m. weekdays on 9th Street and other nearby streets that are metered, at least for holders of Zone 2 permits.
Very truly yours,
Brian W. Shaughnessy
RPP wasn't solving the problem.
Jack Evans managed to get an experimental program through the City Council for a few blocks around the Convention Center whereby the north side of the block was for residents of Ward 2, or at least those who had an RPP sticker for Ward 2 only. Made a huge difference. There are still some problems, such as the signs only go to 8:30pm on M Street, and later elsewhere. That needs updating.
What it does is give the enforcement folks (notice the political correctness: the editor didn't say "Meter Maids".) a simple task: If an unapproved car is in the zone, give it a ticket. Now.
And since the ticketeers can now make quota more easily by passing our way, the new restrictions really work.
And parking is still needs work.
Brian Shaughnessy and Colleen Corrigan have an interesting idea: Push back the start time for the meters on Ninth Street a couple of hours. Then, when all the parking is taken in the evening, the residents could park on Ninth and then go to work or move their car without having to feed the meter at 7:00am, an ungodly hour.
Here's their letter to Jack Evans:
July 23, 2008
Councilman Jack Evans
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Room 106
Washington, D.C. 20004
Dear Councilman Evans:
My wife, Colleen Corrigan, and I have been residents of your Ward for eighteen years. We have lived through the changes in the neighborhood from its fairly rough past to the more affluent state that now exists. As result of the development of the Blagden Alley neighborhood and the Convention Center, overnight parking has become a problem for Ward residents, particularly on the non-metered streets. On the other hand, overnight parking is plentiful on 9th Street, N.W. because there is no need for Convention Center parking. Metered parking is in force on 9th Street from 7:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. weekdays.
Naturally, we recognize that revenue from parking meters is a vital source of funding for the City, but we believe that a reasonable accommodation can be made that will serve residents as well as the City’s need for parking revenue. Since events at the Convention Center do not require parking until 10 a.m. at the earliest, the meters could be put in force, at least for Ward residents, from 9:00 a.m. weekdays. This would give residents overnight parking without ticketing until 9 a.m. when non-metered Zone 2 spots would become available, yet commence meter enforcement at a time when Convention Center and business parking is needed. Permitting non-metered parking until 9:00 a.m. for residents would not deprive the City of significant revenue, except, of course, for the revenue from parking tickets, which are doled out frequently to those residents who are forced by congestion to take their chances on 9th Street. Accordingly, we request that meter enforcement be commenced at 9:00 a.m. weekdays on 9th Street and other nearby streets that are metered, at least for holders of Zone 2 permits.
Very truly yours,
Brian W. Shaughnessy
