Parking/Tow Question

“Dear PoPville,

My car, which was legally parked in a Resident Only Zone on 3rd Street NE, between L and M Street (East side, closest to M Street) was ticketed and towed on Monday at 9:37am. I learned of the ticket on Tuesday morning, via an e-mail notification from the DMV Ticket Alert Service. I didn’t learn of the tow until the third inquiry call made to the Towing Control Dispatch Center, but that’s another story.

The stated reason for the ticket was that I was parked in an Emergency No Parking spot which, per the DMV Associate I’d spoken with, had been reserved for the day by a resident/neighbor. It’s my understanding that these notices are supposed to be put up 72 hours prior to the time the area is being reserved, meaning that there would have been a sign up on Friday on/before 9:37am. There was no sign up on Friday at 4:00pm and there was no sign up when my boyfriend walked by the car on Saturday.

DC issued the ticket on Monday morning and, on that ticket, requested that my vehicle also be towed. They did not move my vehicle to another spot within the neighborhood, but used a private contractor, who hauled my car across town. I’m now out $140 dollars for the tow, $50 for the ticket, and roughly $30 for the Lyft. I called DMV and was informed that they had a photo of my car parked beneath the sign, taken that Monday by their Parking Enforcement person, but do they have pictures of my car in front of this sign posted on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, 72 hours before my car was declared “illegally” parked? Nope. If someone from Parking Enforcement is not coming out to verify that the signs have been hung within their required timeframe, aren’t those signs utimately invalid?

I’m obviously contesting the parking ticket, but I have no idea what to do about the tow fee. I’ve emailed the DC GOV Ombudsman for help, but am not feeling confident about the odds of receiving reimbursement for any of this. This seems as if it’s my word vs theirs, which basically means I’m sh*t out of luck, but I do wonder if anyone else has had this happen and if they were able to do anything at all about it. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!”