“Is this allowed?”

“Dear PoPville,

A ward 8 council member with the car in the photos was parked two blocks from Eastern Market on Capital Hill this past Monday night (approximately 7 pm). They were using their official parking permit to park and do not have a residential parking permit despite having DC tags. Is this allowed? Was he/she on official business? Is this an abuse of the permit?”

As we’ve discussed many times in the past, from the DC Code:

“Members of Congress or the Council may park their vehicles in any available curb space in the District of Columbia, when:

(1) The vehicle is used by the member of Congress or the Council on official business;

(2) The vehicle is displaying a Congressional or Council registration tag or parking placard issued for the current session or by the District; and

(3) The vehicle is not parked in violation of a loading zone, rush hour, firehouse, or fire plug limitation.”

It certainly seems possible that they could have been attending a meeting Monday night but it’s really impossible to know for sure.

Ed. Note: For the record I also continue to get Ward 2 Council Member “illegal” parking spot photos pretty regularly.