Long Term Parking Options Near Logan Circle?

by Prince Of Petworth September 14, 2016 at 1:45 pm 47 Comments

street sweeping

“I’d like to start a thread regarding long term street parking near logan circle – aka no street cleaning.”

Ed. Note: Residential street sweeping goes until October 31st. We spoke of some Ward 1 options here.

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Former DC Resident

If you want uninterrupted parking for long periods of time because you don’t drive your car regularly, consider selling your car. The cost of an Uber or rental car every few days is probably still cheaper than maintaining and insuring a car and you won’t be wasting valuable limited parking.
- Anon
  
  Street parking is a public resource and is not reserved for daily commuters. Some people are willing to pay more to avoid the hassles that attend those other options.
  - James W.
    
    Sure street parking is a public resource. Meaning you do not have exclusive right to park there indefinitely. If the city requires 2 hours a week to clean the street then so be it. We need to stop cleaning streets because someone can’t be bothered to find some other street on which to park?
    - Anon
      
      You have the exclusive right to park there as long as you’re allowed. If you can find a space where you’re allowed to park indefinitely, you have that right. The OP is not asking for special treatment, they’re asking where those parking spots are.
    - navyard
      
      Or maybe people could just sweep the streets in front of their houses. I love picking up the fried chicken bones and fast food boxes that people apparently just dump out of their cars on my street. Also, I think there is a bear loose in the city because yesterday he took a dump on the only patch of grass that I have. sigh.
- Ampersand
  
  I’ll be jumping on this boat next month and I can’t wait. My street-parked car is just a money vacuum and I’m tired of dealing with it. You’re welcome, neighbors!
Anonymous

Um, what’s to talk about? Rent a spot. No one is going to tell you where there’s no street sweeping. You learn that by driving the neighborhood.
Even if you have a car that can be legally parked, you still need to worry about temporary no parking signs going up for people moving, road work, utility work, etc.
- Tsar of Truxton
  
  Some might. Like me, for example. It’s not exactly Logan, but 17th between R and S did not have street cleaning when I lived over there a few years ago. You can still get tickets if people put up no parking signs, etc., so you are still supposed to check on you car every 2-3 days.
  - Aero
    
    I believe much of the left side of 15th St NW also has no restrictions, as well as at least one side of 17th St NW between P and Mass.
    
    Because I believe in helping people, not hoarding public resources.
    - Mike
      
      re: 15th, that is still correct. Just look out for any temp reserved signs tied to trees or poles.
    - anon
      
      “I believe in helping people, not hoarding public resources”
      .
      OP is trying to hoard public resources. He doesn’t really need his car much, but wants to park it for free for his convenience on public land in an area with super-high parking demand without even having to move it once a week to allow for road upkeep. If you’re helping someone hoard resources, are your hands clean of hoarding public resources?
      - Tsar of Truxton
        
        OP is paying just as much for residential parking as everyone else. I am not sure how that is hording public resources, so perhaps you could elaborate. Your main argument seems to be that if OP moves his/her car once a week, that is fine, but otherwise it is hording? Maybe we should just put meters in everywhere so everyone has to move their cars every 2 hours!
      - James W.
        
        The point is really that it’s public parking. Not your permanent, reserved space for as long as you need it. We went through this nonsense over the winter with people who thought that since they dug out a space on the street, it’s de facto “their” parking spot. For the n’th time, if permanent, available parking is a big deal then splurge the $250 or whatever a month to buy one.
      - Arouet
        
        It’s public parking whether it has street cleaning restrictions or not. As such, the public is entitled to use it to the full extent allowed by law. Where there are no street cleaning restrictions, that includes long term parking so long as you move it when signs directing you to do so are posted.
        
        That doesn’t mean you can expect to find a spot without street parking, but if you do, you have every right to use it.
      - Tsar of Truxton
        
        James W., you realize that whether OP moves the car once a week for street cleaning or finds a space with no street cleaning, he/she is still using one public space 7 days a week, right? This is not even close to the same as people trying to claim a specific space because they shovelled it. In that situation, those people are leaving and expecting others not to use it in their absence. OP never said, once I find a spot on a street with no street sweeping, I will claim it as mine and leave objects in it when I am away to make sure others can’t use it.
      - anon
        
        “Maybe we should just put meters in everywhere so everyone has to move their cars every 2 hours!”
        .
        This would be perfect. I acknowledge your points about it being fine as long as he’s playing by the rules everyone else is. You are right, but as someone who’d prefer your (presumably dystopic) scenario where people truly internalize the costs of their car storage over the massive subsidies we currently provider drivers ($35/year is not a fair market rate for parking based on any non-government-provided scenario in these neighborhoods), I’m annoyed that we even have spaces like this. Was it oversight? Is there something special about these street segments that make them impossible or unnecessary to sweep?
        .
        All that is to say I agree with you but will reserve the right to be annoyed by it.
      - Aero
        
        Street sweeping is an opt-in program. The residents of those blocks failed, for whatever reason, to opt in.
      - anon
        
        Oof. We really need to stop letting residents decide things like this. The more hyper-local the decision, the more capricious and less-organized things get. Getting a random set of residents who happen to live on a block at a given time to permanently determine going forward where the city cleans makes no sense, and was clearly implemented that way to satisfy some very vocal complainers who wanted to keep doing what OP wants to do to the detriment of the public at large.
      - textdoc
        
        “He doesn’t really need his car much, but wants to park it for free for his convenience on public land in an area with super-high parking demand without even having to move it once a week to allow for road upkeep.”
        .
        1) For all we know, the OP is a daily car user but is planning an upcoming trip of more than a week and is thus asking for that reason.
        .
        2) On streets with alternate-side street-sweeping restrictions, you don’t have to move your car once a week; you have to move it twice a week — once to the side of the street that doesn’t have sweeping on (say) Mondays, and then after Monday’s sweeping is done, once to the side of the street that doesn’t have sweeping on (say) Tuesdays.
wdc

OP wants to know how to get something for free that most other people either pay for, or forego entirely?
- Tsar of Truxton
  
  Hmmm, I am pretty sure that all the people parking on streets with no street cleaning paid exactly the same as OP for their zone sticker and they are definitely not forgoing anything.
  - dcboooooo
    
    What is OP?
    - Anonymous
      
      Original Poster, i.e. the person who wrote in asking about long-term street parking.
Kathryn

I know! The SW corner of 14th and T, right outside of Room & Board. There are about 4 parking spaces that say you have to pay the meter, but there aren’t any meters. :) You’re welcome!
U st.

I wish I had some helpful info, but the best money I spend every month is to rent a spot. Yes, it’s about a 10/12 mins walk from my apt, but it’s worth every penny. Even when I try to park my car close to my apartment (for groceries, leaving again soon or simply not feeling like parking in its spot and walking) I usually can’t find a spot any way. I circle a few times around the blocks, get frustrated and put it back in my spot. WELL worth it.
Aero

I’d like to start a thread regarding why the heck we have to move our cars for street cleaning once a week, as opposed to say once a month. Many other cities have far less frequent cleaning than this – it’s way beyond what is necessary.
- wdc
  
  And yet it still doesn’t get the job done.
  I’d like to see them for most of the year (maybe breaks for leaf collection) in two-person teams, one driving, and one walking along with a rake to get the trash from the treeboxes. I do my stretch, but I can’t do it all.
  - textdoc
    
    +1. As far as I can tell, residential street sweeping is basically “brushing” the street.
    .
    My street doesn’t need to be brushed; it needs to be vacuumed to get the litter up. As does the sidewalk and treebox area.
  - Kevin
    
    According to DC, treeboxes are to be upkept by residents. The city’s responsibility starts at the curb.
    - AsAMother
      
      I always wonder about that about the Russian Trade Federation at the corner of Connecticut and Columbia. Are they not responsible for those plants in front of their building? They’re constantly so overgrown that they take over half the sidewalk, to the point that you can only walk down it one person at a time.
      - JohnH
        
        Don’t think there’s any responsibility of people (I.e. You aren’t assigned one). Most people either adopt one themselves and take great care or just ignore it.
      - textdoc
        
        JohnH is not correct here; the Russian Trade Federation is indeed responsible for keeping the sidewalk passable and for keeping the treebox area from becoming overgrown.
        .
        As I was mentioning below, homeowners/businesses are supposed to keep the sidewalks and treeboxes in front of their properties free of litter, and to keep grass/weeds from becoming overgrown. Businesses/commercial establishments are required to clean partway into the street, too — 18 inches beyond the curb.
        .
        There’s been some discussion here about businesses (and maybe sometimes embassies?) neglecting their responsibilities as far as shoveling sidewalks of snow, but I’m not sure if the overgrown-treebox issue has come up. Try reporting the Russian Trade Federation to DPW by using 311, category “Sanitation Enforcement.” The current 311 website’s setup is crap, so you might have to check non-applicable boxes on the page that asks about the nature of the violation for it to let you advance to the next screen.
      - JohnH
        
        Thanks for the info. I think on the list of priorities, overgrown weeds on a sidewalk is probably not at the top. It would be helpful if they communicated to residents though – they communicate about snow, but don’t mention the boxes (I’ve lived in a rowhouse for years and never have received anything that I noticed mentioned that…).
      - textdoc
        
        Unfortunately the responsibility for enforcing the rules on overgrowth/litter is split between two agencies: DPW (treebox/sidewalk) and DCRA (yard). Meanwhile, the agency that deals with the consequences of overgrowth/litter — the Department of Health, home to the Rat Abatement Team — has no enforcement power with regard to overgrowth/litter.
    - textdoc
      
      Homeowners/businesses are supposed to keep the sidewalks and treeboxes in front of their properties free of litter, and to keep grass/weeds from becoming overgrown. (Businesses are required to clean partway into the street, too — 18 inches beyond the curb.)
      .
      However, far too many people can’t be bothered to do this. If you report offending properties to DPW, they’ll provide “education” and sometimes citations… but it’s not enough to get people into the habit of maintaining the space properly. Drives me up the f***ing wall.
- Mike
  
  On my street (N b/t 14 and 15 NW), it seems at least half the cars don’t bother moving on street sweeping day by 9:30, when it’s’ supposed to start. I have no idea if they’re getting tickets later in the 2 hour window.
- textdoc
  
  The reason your block has street sweeping in the first place is that at some point, 80% of the people on the block (if I’m remembering the percentage correctly) asked for it. I think you can undo it with signatures from the same percentage of residents.
  - Aero
    
    Personally I can’t understand for the life of me why 80% of people would want it, but yes, I’m aware. I just wish there was also a once or twice monthly option.
    - textdoc
      
      Fair enough. I suppose that would make it somewhat more complicated as far as signage and enforcement — maybe that’s why they don’t offer it as an option.
- Shawz
  
  There’s no scientific reason the streets are swept every week, rather than once a month, as in all other cities in the U.S. The reason we do is that they are the same people employed in snow cleanup. That’s why there’s no street sweeping after Oct 31. However, we need to find those people employment during the summer months, so we have this make-work position of weekly street sweeping. The added ticket revenue (and it’s a lot) is no small disincentive, either.
  - textdoc
    
    “All other cities in the U.S.”?? Some examples, please? Do they include compact/dense cities like D.C. with rowhouses and widely used street parking? And do they have signage indicating when people are supposed to move their cars?
  - e
    
    In some places in Manhattan, streets are swept multiple times a week. Just fyi re: your “all other cities” comment.
jaybird

When I travel for more than 1 week I park across the P street in Georgetown where its is zone 2 and they have no street cleaning.
- JohnH
  
  Don’t tell Jack Evans that. He thinks the parking demand is there because Georgetown is so hip, not that we leave our cars there when we go on vacation…
Loganian

I know some but I ain’t sharing! Logan is a tight area close to downtown. If you live there you can park in the Zone 2-only areas but there will still be street cleaning. You can move your car like everyone else or pay for long term parking until Oct. 31.
- Morgan11
  
  So after October 31st street cleaning ends until March? Sorry just moving here from NYC so not entirely sure how it works.
  
  Thanks!
  - Aero
    
    Yes, that’s right. Dear lord I can’t wait for Oct. 31.

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