parking

Photo by PoPville flickr user Tim Brown

“Dear PoPville,

Anyone have experience getting a “reserved” (I.e. one permit holder only) parking space in front of their house? My house doesn’t have its own parking space, but my back fence is right on the street, no sidewalk. I noticed some houses around DC have a specific permit number requirement on the parking signs for just one space, which I assume is for just one car owner. I know it is a public street but how have others done this? Pay a fee to the city and agree to maintain it or something? I’m thinking about getting an electric car, so having a reserved space would be great, if possible.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user DCbmyers

“Dear PoPville,

We have a neighbor (flipper?) who is renovating a house a few doors down from us. In April, they put up emergency no parking signs for a rollaway debris container, reserving three out of four parking spots in front of our house. They ended up only having the dumpster there for a week or so, but they kept the signs up for the full month to use it as parking for their contractor (MD plates). In May they put up new signs for another month, and this time-with just four days left on the permit- no dumpster has showed up, at all. They’ve just been using it as reserved parking this whole time, and the spaces sit empty on nights and weekends. (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user Pablo Raw

“Dear PoPville,

I have a sincere question: is there some sort of DC law that a car owner must check on their parked car every single day (if parked on a public street)? I parked my car on Sunday afternoon (3pm) on a residential street in my neighborhood where I have parked many times before. My registration and tags are current, and I have the appropriate zone sticker. There were no-parking signs up, but they had expired and were for the previous week (ending the Friday before the Sunday that I parked there). On Thursday I walked by the street where my car should have been, and it was no longer there, and there were NEW no-parking signs indicating that there was no parking allowed for the current week, starting on Monday. My car had been ‘relocated’, and I had 4 parking tickets from the original parking spot totaling $250. The first ticket was received on Tuesday morning, the second on Wednesday, and then the 2 remaining tickets were received on Thursday (the day my car was towed to a new spot, and one of the tickets was for a relocation tow). I believe the no-parking signs were put up the construction crew of a new building being built across the street from me.

My question is twofold: (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user Jim Havard

“Dear PoPville,

I would like to get some clarification on a DC parking violation a friend of mine received. The violation was for obstructing the sidewalk. He parked his car in my driveway and the rear end of the car stuck out into the sidewalk. My house runs from street to street so the driveway and the sidewalk is in my back yard.

Does anyone know how far into a sidewalk a car may go? (more…)

“Dear PoPville,

In follow up to your recent post on possible scam parking signs please find the attached photo. I’ve never seen any other signs reserving street parking for a singular business so I assume it’s a scam. Extra points for painting the curb, another rarity in DC. From Michigan Ave, NE near Brookland Metro.”