A reader reported back in April:
“Why is DC DPW issuing bogus tix? Parked at location for 51mins, it’s NOT a zone 2 RPP ONLY as stated.”
And follow up this morning:
“Tix dismissed, but no answer from DC DPW regarding ofc fabricating pic ‘evidence’ from diff location”
Photo by PoPville flickr user Tyler Nelson
“Dear PoPville,
We live on a busy street in Dupont and had spots reserved legally through the city for our u-Haul. We paid the $55 fee and posted the signs the required 72 hours in advance. The morning of our move, a diplomat parked right in the middle of our spot (DC problems, right?). The city can’t ticket or tow them, so we are screwed trying to find new parking for a box truck in the middle of our very busy neighborhood, having to walk our heavy book cases, mattresses etc all the way down the block. Anyone ever had a similar issues?? Is there anything that can be done?”
“Dear PoPville,
This afternoon I landed a spot at the end of a Zone 1 parking only section demarcated by a sign. Being a good neighbor, I parked in the spot and backed as far up as I could and still be within the sign behind my bumper. This left a gap about a half car length in front of me, but since I move my car very infrequently, I think this is the right thing to do, so as to minimize any awkward spacing if I don’t move my car for a few weeks. Basically my car acts as the new end of the section. 4 hours later I found this mini’s bumper pressed into the front of my car, and leaving about a centimeter between it’s front bumper and the next car in front of it.
Should I have just rolled forward into the empty partial space in front of me to prevent this sort of poor decision-making by other parkers? I more than anyone get the desperation for a spot in my neighborhood having circled the neighborhood for an hour looking more than once, but is this kind of bumper car strategy fair game if the car can “fit”. First world problems I know but curious what other think.”
Photo by PoPville flickr user Josh Bassett
“Dear PoPville,
I recently returned from a 10-day vacation to find that my car was towed for parking in a street cleaning zone on P Street NW. (I expected a ticket, not to be towed.) The kicker, though, is what happened next: The city towed me to Massachusetts Avenue NW, where my car proceeded to rack up an additional $400 in rush hour parking citations.
Why on earth would the city tow my car to one of the district’s busiest streets? I’m guessing the answer is simple: Easy revenue (fairness be damned). Oh, and for the record: I’m challenging it.”
“Dear PoPville,
My boyfriend and I live in Shaw, and because we live in a building that has a parking garage (at a price tag of over $200 a month) we are not eligible for a DC street parking permit. We pay DC taxes, we have DC plates on our car, but we cannot park on the streets of the city where we live.
Because we cannot park on the street, we have to deal with the parking companies. The company that runs the lot in our building is U Street Parking. They own a significant amount of the parking garages and lots in DC (between U Street Parking and Laz, they seem to own almost all the garages). In this particular garage, they seem to make most of their money off of valet parking and those who park in the garage for work.
The company and the garage have the worst service of any company I have ever experienced (maybe save for Comcast). The parking fob that we use to get in and out of the garage almost never works. We have frequently been stuck in the garage unable to get out or outside of the garage unable to get in because the fob does not work. This is especially infuriating on a weekend when there is no one in the office. They will assign us a new fob, and the new fob is also non functional. When we call, staff is unapologetic about the recurring issues. I have left endless unreturned voicemails with the “manager,” but I’m sure my calls are going to some unanswered line. I know this is a very first world problem, but because we cannot park on the street, we have no other choice in where to park our car (and U Street Parking knows this). They get away with poor service and I feel like we are flushing money down the drain every month. Our building accepts our complaints, but claims they cannot do anything because the parking lot is owned and managed by U Street Parking and is not within their domain.
I wish we could get rid of the car, but my boyfriend needed the car to get to work in a non-metro accessible area of Virginia. And with all the track work and general metro dysfunction, without the car, we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere outside of the District on the weekends. I know others in our building are frustrated too, but other than moving, we don’t seem to have any options. Have others had similar experiences and/or dealt more effectively with this company?”
@kevin_caldwell1 tweets us:
“Car on Unit blk of V St NW overnite by hydrant, spots open nearby when both photos taken, def. not a parking academy”
A reader reports:
“I spotted this US Government van on the NW spoke of Ward Circle, just outside AU’s main campus. He flew around the circle, jumped the curb, and parked smack in the middle of the crosswalk as pedestrians were about to cross from either side. Ward Circle is dangerous enough for pedestrians (Those “DC Law | Stop for Pedestrians Within Crosswalk” signs only get people killed, as we saw a couple weeks ago on Wisconsin Ave), and this guy decided to park on one of the main crosswalks leading to the AU campus.”
“Dear PoPville,
New “Emergency No Parking” signs? I saw this no parking sign on the 1600 block of E. Capitol St. Has the district changed the no parking signs, or is this a knock off?”
“Dear PoPville,
There’s construction in my neighborhood, and this rolling debris container has been parked for quite sometime – For 2 weeks past the expiration date of their emergency no parking sign. This is in Newton St NW in Mt Pleasant. I’ve tried contacting the Department of Transportation, a few days ago. And it seems nothing has been done.
Parking is tight in my neighborhood and the workers try to block parking overnight every night with trash cans and caution tape. The construction vehicles have Maryland tags, and it appears that they park all day every day with impunity. (Which is interesting because the parking enforcement in my neighborhood is normally very strict, and the street parking only allows 2 hours for non residents.)
I also want to add that I believe that their permit is for 3 spaces but they routinely try to block off 4 to 5 spaces, and it’s unclear from the placement of the signs exactly what 3 spaces they are blocking.”
A reader sends in from Van Ness yesterday. Early caption contest?