Photo by Steve Wampler.

The Budget Support Act for the Mayor’s proposed 2010 budget would repeal a key provision of the performance parking pilot set up over a year ago. Instead of dedicating performance parking revenue to the local neighborhood, the amendment would place that revenue into the same general DDOT budget as other meter fees. Reserving extra meter revenue for the neighborhood is a key part of a real performance parking program, and the DC Council should strike that amendment from the Act.

Under performance parking as described by Professor Donald Shoup, cities should set their meter rates high enough to keep about 15% of the spaces free, but low enough to prevent too many spaces from going empty. This encourages some to travel by alternative means, like transit or bicycling, and guarantees that others can find a space without circling for half an hour.

Of course, the higher prices also discourage some people from traveling to the area, which could hurt businesses. To counteract this, performance parking requires dedicating all the new revenue to improvements in the local neighborhood. That could spruce up the streetscapes, which helps businesses, or improve transit, pedestrian and bicycle access, which brings in more customers by other means.

DC’s pilot law requires revenue from the Capitol Hill/ballpark and Columbia Heights zones to go toward improvements in those zones. That’s the right policy. Unfortunately, the neighborhoods haven’t seen demonstrable benefits from these policies yet, because DDOT has still not fully implemented performance parking after a whole year.

Now, the Budget Support Act repeals the section of the performance parking pilot that dedicates revenue from the higher meter rates to the surrounding neighborhoods. The Council should refuse to adopt this change.

Capitol Hill and Columbia Heights agreed to try performance parking, and we told them they would benefit. Before we even give them anything in return or even properly implement the program, we’re taking apart its core principles. Not only will this shortchange those neighborhoods, it will dissuade others from agreeing to the same deal. Let’s not kill performance parking before it’s begun.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.