parking

Photo by PoPville flickr user Wayan Vota

“Dear PoP,

My parents are driving down to visit for a couple weeks and have already used up my DC 2 week guest parking permit. I’m wondering where the best place would be for them to park their car. I live near the CH metro and I thought they could just park in the Target garage on weekdays but this would add up fast at $20 a day. They would want to use their car a few times and aren’t savvy with metro travel yet, so leaving it way out at the end of a metro line would be less desirable. Any suggestions for medium term parking that’s not too expensive and is nearby?”

I don’t know how kosher this is but do you have any roomates or friends you could ask for their 2 week guest parking permit? Do you guys know of any medium term parking for a reasonable price? Or would you suggest some unzoned street parking?

photo by M.V. Jantzen

“Dear PoP,

So what gives with the new parking policy at DC USA? They no longer allow motorcycles or scooters to park in the actual garage. Instead you have to enter by the Park Street entrance and park up on one of the sidewalks where there’s a security guard to watch over the motorcycles and scooters. That wouldn’t be bad except that (1) you then have to walk all the way around to get into the building, and (2) it always seems to be raining when I’m doing this. The first couple times the security guards wouldn’t give me an answer when I’d ask why I couldn’t just park my Vespa in the garage. All they’d say is that I shouldn’t be complaining because now I can park for free. One of the guards I spoke with today said something about DC USA’s insurance no longer covering motorcycle or scooter parking in the garage. I’m assuming this is because there’ve been a number of thefts.

Have you heard anything about this policy? On the one hand, I guess I’m happy that they’re trying to prevent further thefts of motorcycles and scooters. But I sure wish there were a way to do this and still allow people to park in the actual garage, not around the corner. And the whole thing would go down smoother if the security guards did a better job of communicating what was going on. All they do is scream at you that you can’t park in the garage and that you have to park around the corner. And to top it off, they seem put off by the fact that people might have any questions about this policy. I mean, it’s pretty strange when you try to park in a parking garage and they tell you can’t, but they don’t give any further explanation. It made me feel like *I* was the criminal, and it sure didn’t make me want to go inside and spend my money there.”

Anyone familiar with this new policy? I thought they had like a million parking spots in this complex?