“I was parked within the white boxes which I assumed designate legal parking, I also question why there is an officer ticketing my car at 3:00am”

Photo by PoPville flickr user BrennaLM

“Dear PoPville,

For two nights in a row, I’ve received a parking ticket for $50 while parked in front of my house for being parked less than 25 feet from a stop sign. (Mind you, these tickets are being issued at 3:00 am on a highly residential street in Truxton Circle where parking is only a problem on Sundays). A tow was requested. Both times I was parked within the white boxes which I assumed designate legal parking areas. Since my only parking option is street parking, I contacted DPW to get them to tell me how I could park “legally” so I can avoid getting the same ticket tonight. According to the woman on the phone, the white boxes were not painted by DPW (???) and mean nothing. One must be 25 feet from the stop sign even if the white box is painted closer. Is this real? 25 feet is quite a large distance and, being a life long DC resident, I would venture to suggest that cars on almost every street in the city could be ticketed for that same offense while being parked within the white boxes.

The woman further suggested that the only way I could get an additional explanation would be to adjudicate the tickets, but having gone through that process several times before (with mixed results), I can positively state that decisions are given without explanations.

As a side note, I also question why there is an officer ticketing my car at 3:00am for this type of offense on a residential street where parking is not an issue (note this is the 4th ticket we’ve gotten at similar hours from the same officer). Not exactly the best use of my taxpayer dollars, but perhaps that is the subject of another email.

Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.”