Monday, March 8, 2010

DC Saturday Metering

This weekend, driving into D.C. I go to my usual spot on a street where there are usually plenty of open spots where you can keep your car the whole weekend. To my surprise, I notice a new sign on the meters that says that the meters (as well as the 2 hour time limit for parking) operate on Saturdays from 7 AM to 10 PM! This, despite the fact that the parking sign on the street itself says that the 2 hour parking limit applies to Monday through Friday only. And on further inspection, the meters have a second sign on them that says that the meters and time limit only go from 7 AM to 6:30 PM on Saturdays. So we have three inconsistent signs applying to the same parking spot.

Now, I know the rule is that where the street sign and the meter sign conflict, the latter is the one that controls. But what to make of two inconsistent signs on the same meter? More important, what mouth-breather was responsible for this asinine development??? This sort of bottom level incompetence is sadly what I've come to expect from the D.C. city government. How do they expect to get statehood when they can't seem to do even the simplest things right?

It's also depressing because the area I usually park in is off the beaten path, and (judging from the number of available spaces I could usually find) was not a problem for residents with too many out of towners taking up spots. Clearly the only reason the city is enforcing meters on Saturdays (and until very late at night, too--the M-F metering still goes only until 6:30, and no this is not in a nightclub area) is to get extra revenue. This is understandable, as the city is so poorly run that squeezing every dime out of us is the only way they can keep solvent--though if they keep it up it's going to discourage us from coming to town and spending our out of town wages on beer and stuff. What's dismaying to me is the two-hour limit--who wants to move their car every two hours? And since it's a low-trafficked area, it hardly seems necessary--why not let us feed the meter for the full day (with a credit card, perhaps)? Besides, when they announced they'd be enforcing Saturday parking, I was led to believe that would only be on certain listed streets and parts of the city (my usual spot being safe, according to that info).

Fortunately, a friend of mine had a spot available in his building's garage, so a day of metering and moving the car was avoided. But DC government has earned yet another spot in my book of gripes.

7 comments:

  1. there are already so many reasons I hate the DC government. Thanks for another.

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  2. Well said. I could maybe, maybe, understand metering it from 8 to 7 on Saturdays, but through 10? Morons. All of them. Every penny they lose from someone not driving downtown and parking will instead go to WMATA or private parking garages. Well, looks like I'll be spending a lot fewer of my dollars in the District in the future.

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  3. I'm all for making it a pain in the ass to bring a car into a neighborhood that has traffic and parking problems - Adams Morgan? Downtown? Take the Metro! But neighborhoods that could use a little out-of-town love on the weekends should make sure they're welcoming to out-of-towners.

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  4. Brett--yes it never fails to amaze me. The problem goes right to the top, just no accountability.

    Foggy--exactly. The worse they make it for people in the city (residents and commuters alike) the more people will find a way to avoid it completely. The exact arrogant attitude of government officials who believe that they have a captive audience they can do whatever they want to.

    Shannon--sure, within reason--I'm all for "pedestrian only" streets and such. But it has to go hand in hand with better mass transit options. And residential areas or out of the way spots? No reason to gouge people visiting friends and parking in low-traffic areas.

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  5. DC has changed almost all street parking to run until 10 (M-S), although the meters and signs are inconsistent. I also think it's inane that you have to pay 25 cents for only 7 1/2 minutes. Who carries that much change on them? The idea was to encourage Metro use and garage parking. Sounds more like revenue generation to me, though.

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  6. Citygirl--totally agree. It's not even the cost so much as the need for change (and I don't carry bags of quarters around), and constantly having to run back to the meters. Maybe if the city put up some garages and ran some shuttle buses around town, this could make driving in more appealing. Though a better and more complete metro system would be even better.

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  7. You are really turning into a grumpy old man. But, I guess that's what blogs are for!

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