“(lack of) enforcement of reserved parking signs”

Photo by Wayan Vota

“Dear PoPville,

Last year in May, I reserved spaces on my street for a moving truck, posted the signs before the required 72 hours, and had them validated by DDOT. The morning of my move, several cars were still parked in the reserved parking spaces. When I called the provided number to tow the cars, I was told that there was a long waiting list and that likely they would not be able to come within the required time frame. I asked to be added to the waitlist but never heard back beyond that. My moving truck had to park far away, increasing the expenses for my move. I was a bit annoyed that I had paid a $55 fee and gone through the trouble of getting the signs printed at the police station during COVID and following all the rules for nothing. So, after seeing some conversations from years ago on PoPville where folks had success getting their reserved parking fees refunded in incidents like this, I contacted different folks at DDOT several times over the past year. I’ve gotten a few responses routing me to different people who can supposedly help me better than the prior contact, but so far, no one has been able to refund my fee or give me an answer as to whether or not that is something they might do.

I had basically resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t getting that fee back and given up, but I am once again moving in May and am in a quandary. If I knew signs would be enforced, then I would reserve spaces for the moving truck again in the locations where I am moving to and from. However, I am having a hard time considering paying over $100 in fees for these parking signs when the first time it was useless.

My most recent communication was with a Community Engagement Specialist at DDOT, who said, “Parking enforcement during the pandemic has been a challenge, and as of now DPW is still only enforcing safety-related violations. I do not know their plans for ramping enforcement back up this year, but I can tell you that yours is the only issue of its kind that has been brought to me since last year. (as an update, I finally got through to someone who said they will refund my original fee (almost a year later) That said, the other parts of my question still stand).”

I read this email as “these signs are not being enforced, but you’re the only one that’s bothered by it enough to email me.” Ha. Anyway, I am wondering about others’ experiences with reserving spots for moving trucks at this time– is there even a point in doing it (beyond possibly scaring some people from parking in the spot, but no actual ability to guarantee that spots will actually be clear for a moving truck)? Have most folks really had success with people complying with/enforcement of reserved parking signs? Also, has anyone had success getting their fees refunded during the pandemic when these signs are not enforced, and if so, what’s your secret?

I am in Capitol Hill if it makes a difference.

Hope to hear others thoughts on this!”