You just got a ticket

Parking

by David Alpert • October 27, 2008 2:16 pm

Last week, I helped organize a focus group of young professionals in Dupont Circle talking about their impressions of the neighborhood, area businesses, city government, the ANC, etc.

Photo by Wayan Vota on Flickr.

When asked about interactions with local government, two people immediately mentioned parking enforcement woes. One person had a fairly typical experience: he parked on the street, came back almost a week later in time for the next street cleaning, and discovered his car gone. In the interim, someone had put up Emergency No Parking signs, then towed the car.

Someone else had parked a car on the street, but also found it missing one day. DPW had no record of towing this car, so she filed a police report for a stolen vehicle. Months later, she found out from the DMV that her car had been actually towed around the corner to a nearby major street, where it had been sitting for months. That street had a rush hour parking restriction, so during those months it had been blocking a lane every single day. It was never towed from there, but had accumulated hundreds of dollars in unpaid tickets.

Let's solve this problem with technology. The DMV already collects email addresses. I suggest they set, or DPW, up a simple system to email people when they get a ticket or are towed. People could go online to opt in, or we could simply do it automatically. Then, if someone's car gets a ticket for violating an Emergency No Parking zone and is scheduled to be towed, the owner might find out in time to move the car. If a car gets courtesy-towed around the corner, they will find out; and if, as in the above case, DPW manages not to record it properly, they'll at least receive a notification when the car is first ticketed.

Our government's needn't restrict its interaction with parked cars to putting notices on the windshield and occasionaly moving them. We have easy ways to reach many citizens electronically. Let's use them.

Update: Mention parking enforcement and everyone's stories come up. Here's Ryan's.

14 comments — Share	— tags: DC, DMV, parking, technology

I just got a parking ticket (Sep 23, 2009)
Let's talk about enforcement (Apr 28, 2009)
Replace bulk parking ticket discount with sensible curb management policy (Apr 3, 2009)
How performance parking worked for me (Jan 6, 2009)
The ridiculous world of Emergency No Parking signs (Jul 16, 2008)

Comments

In college you had to move your car on game day for alumni parking. Instead of towing everyone they would call you at 6am and tell you to come get it (after 8 you were towed and ticketed). As much as I hated a 6am Saturday morning wake-up call, it beat the pants off a parking ticket/towing.

This was in the early 90's, before the interwebs and widespread car phone usage.

by David C on Oct 27, 2008 3:02 pm

You know if those @$$hats in the DC government would spend half as much energy and resources ticketing for moving violations as they do parking violations we might actually have a few people still alive right now. They should not even be legally allowed to see parking enforcement as a revenue generator - the focus should be strictly on public safety. As someone who walks these streets and sees drivers speed, run lights, and intimidate pedestrians and cyclists with impunity, I've had bloody enough of the city's screwed up priorities.

by Sean Robertson on Oct 27, 2008 3:18 pm

GGW ... excellent idea!

by Tim on Oct 27, 2008 4:04 pm

So simple. And so sensible.

by nashpaul on Oct 27, 2008 4:12 pm

My car got stolen...or so I thought. It was towed around the corner, and when DMV had no record of a towing I called the police, who sent someone out. One quick walkie talkie exchange and the police officer revealed the actual situation. "Didn't you walk around the area to look for your car?" the officer asked. No - as much as my car enjoys playing hide and seek, that thought actually never crossed my mind.

I think this is a great idea.

by Jennifer on Oct 27, 2008 5:15 pm

DC police go far beyond what is reasonable and necessary in their so-called "parking enforcement" efforts. Ryan Avent's registration sticker story is telling in that regard. They aren't just out to enforce parking laws. They are out to make money off of you.

by Loves Having a Driveway on Oct 27, 2008 5:21 pm

There used to be a 72 hr limit on parking in any one spot. When there was, there wasn't a problem with the "emergency parking signs" since they were supposed to go up 3 days prior (in theory.) The problem is that the 72 hr limit got recinded when some of Jim Graham's constituents sqwacked about not being able to use our streets for long term parking. Personally, I don't think our streets should be being used for long term parking. If you're planning on not using your car for 3 days, you really shouldn't be taking up our limited street space with it. That street space is needed for people going around doing their daily stuff. Pay for parking. David, I'm 100% with you on this aspect of performance parking ... Our streets shouldn't be being used as "long term storage" places. Sorry, but your friend deserved their ticket.

by Lance on Oct 27, 2008 5:32 pm

Lance: I agree with you; the problem is, there aren't good alternatives. There need to be garages where you can park for a week... or, there should be a way to pay for parking longer than 72 hours. Right now, it's risk a ticket or pay a huge sum for daily parking at a garage.

by David Alpert on Oct 27, 2008 5:35 pm

David: ... the problem is, there aren't good alternatives. There need to be garages where you can park for a week... or, there should be a way to pay for parking longer than 72 hours.

I think you're starting see why I'm all for developers having to build (underground) parking as part of their developments ... We're short on "alternatives" ... ;)

by Lance on Oct 27, 2008 5:40 pm

I have no problem with some developers building a few alternatives. I have a problem with us forcing people renting or buying housing to subsidize these alternatives and force them in places where they aren't needed.

There's plenty of underutilized on-street and off-street parking in DC. We just need incentives to make a better market system that will allow people to pay for that parking in the chunks they need. Why not let me pay to park for 2 weeks in the totally underutilized Columbia Heights garage, or better yet, to purchase a temporary permit to park for 2 weeks on the street?

by David Alpert on Oct 27, 2008 5:48 pm

David asked: "(1)Why not let me pay to park for 2 weeks in the totally underutilized Columbia Heights garage, or better yet, (2)to purchase a temporary permit to park for 2 weeks on the street?"

1. Garage parking can be had for rental. It's just that it's not always as convenient as parking in the street in front of your residence and it's usually far more expensive. And that is the problem. If we strictly enforced 2 hr street parking in any one spot (or 3 hrs or something like that) and charged market rate for all minutes thereafter, people wouldn't find it advantageous to use the street for long term parking needs vs. paying $200 per month to rent a spot in a garage or from someone not using their own backyard parking. For now, it's essentially a free good. And paying for a garage space doesn't compete.

2. If we sold off street parking for 2 week chunks, it wouldn't be available for the many other uses we require of it. How would you feel if you wanted to move into your house ... but couldn't because someone had bought a 2 week pass and decided to park right in front of your house ... ? Ditto, how are people such as your guests or people coming to the hood for dinner going to find street parking if it's all been sold off to people who don't need it for "spur of the moment" parking but who have the opportunity to plan their parking needs ... and rent an off street parking space?

Of course, being able to have the alternative of parking off street means that there need to be more parking garages. Yes, you can argue that it is not fair for developers (and thus new residents) to be paying for the new required garages, but that is different from arguing we don't need them. Maybe they need to be funded by the District? Maybe they need to be funded by more taxes? Maybe they need to be funded by not making long term street parking an option for residents ... The solution now has been to have "new" folks pay for the new parking needs generated by their new developments. Maybe there is a better way of paying for and getting more alternatives out there. But doing away with the current way of getting these alternatives built before coming up with new ways of ensuring they get built is just ensuring that the number of alternatives goes down and not up.

by Lance on Oct 27, 2008 6:15 pm

Here's a much simpler solution: car free DC

by Wayan on Oct 27, 2008 6:57 pm

If you're going out of town for a while and don't want your car parked on a city street, why not stow it at an airport? Also, some underground garages may let you park for extended periods.

During the huge blizzard of 1996, I decided to park my car in an underground garage on upper Wisconsin Avenue for a few days. This was the storm in which the federal government, at the city's pleading, brought in heavy construction equipment--front-end loaders, backhoes, you name it--to assist in making the roadways again passable. To give you an idea at how bad it was, a few days after the storm, I was driving along M St., NW, (exactly why I was foolishly doing so I don't recall) and found that traffic was diverted south at 23rd Street because the city had given up attempting to plow M Street any further. I'm serious. An impassable two-foot wall of snow faced drivers at the 23rd Street intersection, and the deep blanket extended on M into Georgetown. With the city floundering trying to deal with M and dozens of other unplowed streets, several of which were arterial, the feds finally sparked in action, much to relief of residents.

Returning to the topic of parking, after extricating my car from the neighborhood, I realized on driving around that maybe I might not be able to get it back in, and even I did there was no place to put it. So I parked it in the underground garage and walked home. When I returned a couple of days later--by bus, I believe--the car was safe and sound, and the parking fee reasonable.

Does anyone remember that blizzard and the resulting week-long quagmire?

by Hmm ... on Oct 27, 2008 10:17 pm

"Lance: I agree with you; the problem is, there aren't good alternatives. There need to be garages where you can park for a week... or, there should be a way to pay for parking longer than 72 hours. Right now, it's risk a ticket or pay a huge sum for daily parking at a garage."

Wow! I thought I would never see something as that from Dave!

by Douglas Willinger on Oct 28, 2008 8:13 pm