Wells wants to legalize night parking near corners

DC has a secret law that only select residents know about: It’s actually legal to park closer to many corners than the signs say.

Or actually, it used to be, but the law expired, according to Councilmember Tommy Wells’ office. Unfortunately, the DC Secretary doesn’t keep laws up to date online, so it’s difficult to get all the details.

At most corners, signs prohibit parking closer than 40 feet to a corner. A number of years ago, former Councilmember Carol Schwartz won passage of a law prohibiting police from ticketing residential permit holders between 25 and 40 feet during evenings. And according to Lance, she and the Council then extended it to apply all the time.

In a recent discussion on the Adams Morgan email list, Lance wrote,

I learned recently that it only applies if the block is otherwise designated as “Residential Parking Only” … (i.e., the green signs) AND you have a residential permit for that zone. If there are meters (or any other non-green signage) in the ‘regular’ parking area adjacent to it then it does not apply. I think it’s also in effect nowadays 24 hrs a day (i.e., no longer just during evening hours.)

Which of course makes one wonder why they don’t just move the parking sign from 40 feet back from the intersection to 25 feet … ? I mean, is it only people who read blogs and/or follow Council hearings who are supposed to know that the real residential parking area extends 15 feet further (i.e., from 40 down to 25 ft from the intersection) than is signed? Given this inaccurate signage, are we really surprised that the MPD or even parking enforcement doesn’t know when to ticket … or not?

The discussion arose when one resident wondered why she was ticketed parking in the zone. Some officers seem to write tickets and some don’t; some drivers know about the law and most don’t; and even those who know about the law aren’t sure of the exact details. Since this was just a moratorium on enforcement but didn’t actually legalize the practice, nobody changed the signs.

Kicking off election season, Councilmember Tommy Wells has introduced a bill to make it officially legal to park up to 25 feet from such intersections, and to within 10 feet at night. According to Wells’ press release, concerns about public safety prompted this effort to make parking near homes easier late at night.

I’m not persuaded this will really help; most likely, even more people will just warehouse cars on the street unless we raise fees for the second, third and subsequent RPP stickers in a household. However, it won’t hurt much either, except for corners where fire and other emergency vehicles can’t make the turn with cars parked so close.

Resident Nohti wrote on the ANC 6A email list, “The initial proposed legislation had 10 feet from the corner as the minimum but during the hearing the fire department requested that it be raised to 25 feet so that their equipment could make turns into the smaller streets.” Wells’ bill allows DDOT to determine that parking close to the corner is “inappropriate and unsafe” for specific corners.

If this will vary corner-by-corner, then it’s even more important for such a change to correspond with new signs. Otherwise, residents will unknowingly park at a disallowed corner and block fire trucks after all. Moreover, Lance is right (for once) that it’s ridiculous to have a secret privilege that few know about.

Of course, if new signs are involved, the bill will suddenly develop a large fiscal impact, making passage unlikely unless its sponsors can find some revenue somewhere. Either way, DC should clarify the legal status of parking spaces, and when replacing signs, ensure that the places people are allowed to park are the same places signs say they’re allowed to park.