At last night’s ANC6B meeting, it was announced that the ANC is looking into the possibility of (and hoping to explore the positive and negative effects of) expanding the Performance Parking Pilot Program north to East Capitol Street and east to 11th Street SE. Right now they say they are just exploring the options; they are not yet taking any formal actions or petitioning the city. You can read about the history of this program on Capitol Hill on Tommy Wells’s website.
One impact of this would be an expansion of the Enhanced Residential Parking Permit program, meaning that on one side of the street, only cars with Zone 6 stickers can park. Each household is then given one visitor parking pass, and for dinner parties or other occasions where you might have several guests over, residents can get one-day parking passes at the police station. These are special one-day passes that can be given out in bulk and do not require you to have your guest’s license plate number when you request the pass.
We have this on my street and I personally do not think it does a bit of good. But I guess I’ve learned to live with it since I have never made the effort to have it changed. But say you had the chance to bring it to your street — or to stop it from coming. Would you want the Enhanced Residential Parking Permit parking on your block?
What is it that you don’t like about the program on your block? We had Resident Only signs installed on my block, but have seen relatively little compliance with them and zero enforcement from DPW. Unfortunately, we have not been able to obtain the visitor passes yet on this side of the hill, so consider yourselves over in 6B lucky on that front.
Wish we were so lucky. In 6A there areas of completely undesignated on-street parking (no RPP, no nothing). 9th and Gst NE around Sherwood Rec Center and near-by pocket parks (10th) are the worst. Every morning MD commuters and folks with non-District tags circle like sharks for free all-day parking. Residents reached out to DDOT trying to get reasonable 2hr RPP-type restrictions in place, but were was totally rebuffed for no good reason.
It’s a good idea, but as with everything else, it only matters if it’s enforced. We have cars from Maryland and Virginia parked on our street all day, despite the 2-hour restriction, and parking enforcement doesn’t seem to care.
@Phil – my problem with it is that it just doesn’t do any good on my block. There are areas that can benefit from it, but I do not think it’s necessarily the right answer for every block in our neighborhood. And residents should be able to voice their opinion. My ANC commissioner at that time did nothing to inform us about the process and we didn’t find out about it until it was a done deal.
The two-hour restrictions kept MD drivers from parking there all day. Extending the 2-hour limit has only made having guests over in the evening much more difficult. And then restricting one side of the bock to only cars with Zone 6 stickers at all times made the parking for our guests even more difficult.
Things were made easier by the 1-day passes that we can get in bulk, and I am grateful for that option and think that it should be offered to more parts of the neighborhood. But considering we didn’t have a problem to start with, why do we now have to jump through these extra hoops to keep our guests from getting parking tickets?
I chose to live in the city and do not have any expectation to be able to park on my street or in front of my house whenever I want, but these restrictions did put more of a burden on having guests come by. And before the metro option is brought up — while the metro is not far from my house, it is not an accessible option for many of my friends who live in, say, Leesburg. And with the Metro service being so slow and unpredictable on weekends, it’s just not always a feasible option.
I think they should also look at implementing this around public housing as well.
At Potomac Gardens, guests (and there are lots of overnight guests) aren’t allowed to park in the parking lots after a certain time period. So the parking lots have empty spaces, yet residents and guests take up a lot of the street parking in the evening and night. Add to this the visitors/residents of Jenkins Row parking on street and its getting tough for traditional row house owners to find parking.
90% of cars parked around NY Ave Metro during the weekday are from Maryland. Where is DPW? Why do they not ticket these commuters?
I would LOVE to have this on my street. Although it wouldn’t help, as half of Ward 6 likes to park on my block and use the Metro.
The problem is that the city wants to decide for us without considering the specific needs of residents on a block-by-block basis. Yes, some of you need more restrictions. Some of you are fine. Some — particularly those near places like Results have more problems with other Zone 6 residents than with commuters. City officials (particularly our anti-auto councilman) think they know best what is good for us. I want to tailor the restrictions to the needs of my block. I do not want a city-wide policy that makes some people feel good while burdening others.
I would love more flexibility with visitor passes! Right now, with the 15-day limit on visitor passes, my mother in Bethesda cannot visit with her granddaughter for more than two hours at a time. There is no non-zone 6 two hour parking anywhere around my house at 10th NE.
semi-related: since most of the streets in ward 6 have the “no parking during RFK stadium events” signs, how does one know if there’s a stadium event? is this ever enforced?
GM – I am going to assume the answer it that it isn’t enforced because those signs were put in place when baseball was at RFK.
Those RFK signs might come in happy this weekend for the Shamrock festival at RFK. Will DPW bother enforcing it?
happy should be handy in the above message.
Is the 15 day visitor parking pass in anyway enforced/monitored?
The problem on our block is too many residents have cars. Trying to park late at night is a real challenge. I think we should raise the price of a resident parking sticker. The first car is the same price but multiple cars per address the price should going up exponentially.
@also around public housing — It seems like you think “traditional row house” owners have more right to street parking than other people. You and your guests don’t have any more right to street parking than other residents or guest. It’s shared public space.
Condo bashing is different than public housing bashing.
I have found this system helpful on a heavily over-parked block that is close to the metro and PA ave. I deal with enforcement by calling parking enforcement. If it is just one car I don’t bother, but when I see 5 out of state cars parking illegally one call to MPD sends a message.
I can’t even count the number of times I have watched folks move on after looking at the sign and leaving me a spot on my block.
So my personal experience has been good. But here is the other advantage that is worth raising.
Once an area is inside the performance parking zone some of the revenue from enforcement goes back in to those blocks covered by the zone. So a portion of those five tickets is going to go in to bike racks, an information kiosk or other similar types of amenities that are there to help non-drivers.
So, its not just about parking but is about those little improvements to the neighborhood which seem to be generally popular and appreciated.
In my ANC district there needs to be a lot more conversation about the details and options of how this might work before any decision is made but my bias is based on a pretty good experience with it, and so I want to be up front about where I am coming from as the broader conversation happens.
In encourage any folks from ANC6B02 who have questions or concerns to email me at ivanfrishbergANC / at / gmail.com.
Ivan
Ditto Ivan. One of the positive features of the program is the ability to revenue generated from meters in the pilot area to make non-automotive transit improvements within the boundaries of the pilot (CaBi, bike lanes, green space improvement, etc.). Funds thus far have been used to purchase Bi Belly compactors around Eastern Market plaza, benches at the bus stops and bike racks along 8th St.
My understanding is that the actual implementation of the PPP is flexible, it does not have to follow a “one-size fits all” template. This, however, needs further research.
In 6B05, we’ll use an “opt-in” petition method prior to any implementation. If people don’t want it, then it shouldn’t be forced upon anyone. That said, the merits and demerits need to be equally considered.
Brian
Be careful waht you wish for. I live in one of these zones and if you have guests from outside Ward 6 be prepared for added expense. Went to 1D substation 3 times for passes and got 3 different answers. Wells immediatley cave into the churches since all the congregants live in MD and VA and it’s okay for them to clog the streets on Sundays while guests on weekdays and Saturday get a $25 thank you note. Wells is a clown.
My problem is finding parking AFTER 6p.m.. I guess it depends where you live. During the day when everyone is at work there is no problem finding a parking spot, but after 6p.m. you may have to park several blocks away.
I would like this because I don’t have a car, but can’t even borrow my boyfriend’s from time to time, because it gets ticketed in the middle of the night. For instance, at this very moment I have a very ill cat that needs to go to the vet. I don’t have a car to get her there and no cab I’ve called will let me bring my cat carrier. I’d like to have my boyfriend come and leave me his car overnight so I could drop her off first thing in the morning, but after 3 4am tickets in the last year he just never visits me anymore overnight. One pass for a household to use seems reasonable. Or at least some one day passes I could use when I really need them for a flexcar or car rental. I get so frustrated, I might as well go buy a car- but then it would just sit taking up a space all the time!
Some kind of distinction between DC tags and all others could also be considered, if a large part of the problem is MD and VA parkers, but that is also handled by the two hour limit (which I think should be longer) if it is enforced (and it is in my neighborhood).
We also have the issue of people from wards 7 and 8 who have no where else to go for shopping and dining and as dinner guests, etc. I don’t want to chase them away–that is why I think the time should be increased to at least 3 hours and ending at 9:30 or earlier.
Also, it is hard to be sympathetic to two+ car households. This is the city after all. Maybe the idea expressed in other comments should be explored–a larger cost for the second+ car, but it would have to be a cost that is commensurate with the inconvenience to other neighbors–say $1000 per year–that might make people think about alternatives such as bikes, the metro or zipcar.
I also wish this poll would ask how often people have to park more than a block or so away from their house. My take is that it is very few times per year.
Lastly, if we want retail on the Hill, given that we do not have the population to support retail, we need to be viewed as friendly, and people from outside the Hill have to be able to park and shop and visit. There needs to be some balance, and having too much resident parking only is counterproductive to that.
Somehow we have to be neighborly and not selfish, but find a way that is fair and open.
@Katie — I’ve got an old sick cat and no car too. Yellow Cab has been willing to pick me up with the cat carrier when I’ve called ahead.