Trouble Parking Near Your Logan Circle Home? Life May Get Easier

• March 5, 2012
• 23 Comments

by Shilpi Paul

Early morning parking: A few spots available on R Street.

As the 14th Street Corridor fills up with restaurants, bars and new developments, finding street parking has become an increasingly difficult task for those that live in the neighborhood. Busy nights mean residents spiral farther and farther away from their home in search of an elusive spot. Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans has come up with a plan to make life a little easier in that regard.

According to ANC 2F Commissioner Nick Barron, Evans has introduced a proposal that would make one side of several streets within the Logan Circle neighborhood “24-hour permit zones” six days put of the week, which essentially means that parking on those sides would be reserved for residents. The two-hour parking restrictions on the other side would remain in place for non-residents. Blocks can opt out if they present a petition signed by the majority of residents on a given street.

If adopted, the city may treat this as a test program for similar setups in other busy neighborhoods (sections of Capitol Hill already enforce similar rules). ANC 2F will be discussing the proposal at their monthly meeting this Wednesday.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/trouble_parking_near_your_logan_circle_home_life_may_get_easier/5239

23 Comments

1. Suzanne Des Marais said at 6:17 pm on Monday March 5, 2012:
   Hmmm. Well, with the residents only restricted parking around The Hill, it means that I no longer go to Barracks Row restaurants because I can't park. At least if I really did want to go to Barracks Row, I could Metro. In Logan, it will mean that I won't be able to park when I am trying to show property to buyers who are willing to pay a premium for the location.

1. Whitney said at 6:51 pm on Monday March 5, 2012:
   It is a problem when DC enacts these rules in some parking zones but not others. It just pushes the problem of visting drivers a few blocks down. For example, I'm on the cusp of parking zone 1 and 2, and have a zone 2 RPP. Some of the zone 1 residential areas around Adams Morgan have these restricted parking areas now, which is understandable given the weekend traffic. But because there is no equivalent restricted parking in my neighborhood, now every weekend and many weeknights my residential street is filled with cars from Maryland. I think we need to have more of these restricted parking areas around the city...otherwise, you're just pushing your parking problems onto your neighbors. Also, while I do sympathize with the above poster who clearly relies on her car for business purposes, your taxes aren't paying for street sweeping, road maintenance, etc...mine are. While I don't expect to park in front of my house every day, street parking is a commodity that should be available to me as a DC resident more readily than to someone from Maryland or Virginia.

1. MP said at 9:25 pm on Monday March 5, 2012:
   @Suzanne: "In Logan, it will mean that I won’t be able to park when I am trying to show property to buyers who are willing to pay a premium for the location." I live on the Hill and love the way our parking is setup, but you do bring up a good point and I have often wondered about this when we have contractors work on our condo building, etc. Perhaps DC should have stickers that would allow you to park in any zone for a fee and if you were in certain professions such as real estate agent, plumber, etc. Now I can see that there would be the opportunity for this to be taken advantage of if not done correctly, but I if they set the price right, it could be high enough to deter people from just buying one (coupled with needing to be in a certain profession) and low enough that it wouldn't kill small businesses... say $300-500 a year?

1. Anon said at 9:29 pm on Monday March 5, 2012:
   Whitney, the first poster lives in DC too. Her taxes are also paying for street cleaning, etc.

1. Michael said at 9:34 pm on Monday March 5, 2012:
   Barrack's Row has lots of metered parking available right in front of the restaurants one might go to for lunch. Is paying a dollar or two to park really keeping you from going to lunch where you want to go?

1. mona said at 9:56 pm on Monday March 5, 2012:
   this doesn't mean you can't still park the 2hrs with out an RPP. You can still show your houses and you can still have lunch but you just can't stay beyond the 2hrs and this will go on for 24hrs. Right now you can park from about 6-7 pm till 7am with no problem. That is what is going away.

1. MP said at 10:08 pm on Monday March 5, 2012:
   @Mona: "this doesn’t mean you can’t still park the 2hrs with out an RPP. You can still show your houses and you can still have lunch but you just can’t stay beyond the 2hrs and this will go on for 24hrs. Right now you can park from about 6-7 pm till 7am with no problem. That is what is going away." I think you are interpreting this wrong. The 2 hour time limit will stay for one side of the street, but the other side of the street would be Zone 2 only either 24 hours a day or for a set time of the day.

1. Paul said at 10:12 pm on Monday March 5, 2012:
   All parking should be charged for, with the receipts going to lower city income tax and property tax. Under the new system in San Francisco, rates are set to ensure that there is always a spot or two available. What do we want? People to live in the city, earn salaries, and invest in their homes. What don't we want? Traffic, pollution, noise and crash fatalities. Free parking encourages car ownership and driving, and there will never be enough space for all city residents to have cars nor is it a good idea. I have a car and am happy to not have my non car owning neighbors pay for it.

1. dj said at 10:45 pm on Monday March 5, 2012:
   The proposal sounds good until you invite people over to your home for a dinner, a holiday party, or for the weekend. A 2-hour time limit at all times doesn't work well. Urban planners should be realistic that people still use cars. as they allow neighborhoods to grow with unchecked nightlife, they should plan for some more garages in areas such as U Street and Adams Morgan where there is little or no off-street parking.

1. Frankie said at 11:13 pm on Monday March 5, 2012:
   In tired of all thess people from Va and Md parking by my house, stepping on my lawn, my manicured curbside boxes, making lots of noise, leaving their trash on the street and sidewalks, leaving their cigarette butts all over the place, and bringing their bad fashion sense into the city. I'm serious on all counts. I spend a lot of money to drive, to park, to keep up my house for all that mess. It's annoying when you are the one who lives in the city. I say call a cab, take a bus, ride the metro. That is what it's there for. Use it!

1. Notlawd said at 12:47 am on Tuesday March 6, 2012:
   @Paul: "Free parking encourages car ownership and driving, and there will never be enough space for all city residents to have cars nor is it a good idea." Not all district residents live in an area that is metro accesable, and/or work in DC as well. I live in upper NW and it's at least a mile to the metro. I also work in VA and there is no metro station nearby. Same for my husband but he works the opposite direction in MD. Granted, my neighborhood is probably not in danger of being subjected to these rules, but one of the prime reasons we bought so far uptown is so there would be place to park the cars and i would be none too pleased about living someowhere that is not metro accessible and having to pay an extra parking tax.

1. Jim Downing said at 1:15 am on Tuesday March 6, 2012:
   Parking in this city just gets worse and worse. I pay (a lot) of DC property taxes and DC income taxes; but to say I can't park in certain parts of the city while people from out of DC can - makes be a bit crazy. I have seen in other cities; "Resident Parking 6pm - 6am" (or something like that). Why do we need 24 hour parking? If a resident has a spot at 6am and isn't moving their car that day - then no problem. But why keep business people; people running errands and the like from parking when many people will be at work?

1. Suzanne Des Marais said at 2:07 am on Tuesday March 6, 2012:
   @Whitney, as Anon mentioned, I am indeed a DC resident who pays property taxes and income taxes which pay for street sweeping, etc. I also live in a downtown neighborhood that gets visitors from other neighborhoods, and lots of Sunday church parking from out of state visitors. @Michael, I am happy to pay for a space when they are available.

1. Eliza said at 2:25 am on Tuesday March 6, 2012:
   While I understand the need for residents to be able to park in their own neighborhoods, I also know just how annoying it is to drive around over and over again just to go to the gym or just to grab a cup of coffee at starbucks or a salad at Sweet Green. I live in the District and almost always drive out to MD or VA to run errands on the weekends because parking can be such a pain. And with these Nazi meter maids, you can bet on getting a ticket even if its just for 10 minutes. The restaurants and shops should allow for validated parking at Colonial parking or some other lot that would make it easier on everyone. I do like the idea of residential parking or paying for a nominal fee if you must. And to the person who noted that its not great when you want to have friends over, exactly! I lived in Foggy Bottom, Rossyln and Georgetown for a few years and guess what? I hardly ever got visitors because no one wanted to deal with the hassle of parking!

1. Mike said at 3:27 am on Tuesday March 6, 2012:
   Parking has always been an issue in the city, even in the early 90's when few people lived there. Back then, there was a proposal to build a parking garage that would alleviate lack of parking. As a resident of the city at the time, I thought this was a great idea. But, it never came to pass because the city needed the ticket revenue. So, now that the city's population is beginning to swell, the city's solution is to restrict parking further. This town just never seems to get it, does it? Even Silver Spring, Bethesda, and National Harbor have built parking garages which eases the strain on residents and encourages visitors to visit and spend their money at our local businesses. But, DC values parking fines but will not fund the public transportation system to make it a 24 system. No wonder people are really starting to hate this city despite the fact there's more to do here than ever before.

1. H Street Landlord said at 4:27 am on Tuesday March 6, 2012:
   @ Suzanne D M - the 90/92 buses run frequently to Barrack's Row. @ most people - you always have the option of leasing a private space, or of course, not having a car. Public space is too valuable to have a ton of free public parking.

1. tom said at 5:23 am on Tuesday March 6, 2012:
   Lets face it, this isn't NYC here. People can get by without a car. But, in many cases it is nice to have one. I have been living car free in Capitol Hill. It has been a mixed success. I walk to work, so the commute is under control. But, I work on one of the federal office zones and live in leafy Capitol Hill. On my 20 min walk I don't pass a single retail store. If I want to do something simple like pick up milk, I need to add an extra 20 minutes. When I am home, the closest drug store is a mile away and the closest grocery store is almost 2 miles. With the lack of downtown retail, I am better of just heading out the Pentagon City to shop. I can take the metro, but I better time it right or I will be waiting 18-20 minutes for the next train.

1. Kevon said at 6:05 am on Tuesday March 6, 2012:
   @Tom Hopefully you are putting that BikeShare program to good use to cut down on walking time or just get a motor bike.

1. jag said at 8:10 pm on Tuesday March 6, 2012:
   @Frankie That's pretty hilarious considering plenty of suburbanites say the exact same thing about city folk. I think it's safe to say some people are just bitter and spiteful towards others, no matter the zip code or state.

1. Dana Hollish Hill said at 7:03 pm on Wednesday March 7, 2012:
   Bethesda has numerous parking garages, but the spaces are still metered. So there a lot more parking spaces in a smaller area, but the city does not forgo the parking revenue. Residents can still have the spaces outside their buildings, but there are enough spaces for all the visitors who are supporting the local businesses, regardless of where they come from to do it. Seems like this could work for Logan Circle area as well.

1. nodecomms said at 8:19 pm on Friday March 9, 2012:
   As much Jack Evans' proposed parking changes are a small step in the right direction - just making resident only parking on one side of the street will make little difference to us here in the Logan Circle/14th St area. The issue for us is not just people from the burbs coming in to play - it's much bigger than that. The issue we face is a plethora of new developments adding to the parking burden because they aren't required to provide underground parking. Until parking requirements for new development approvals are tightened this situation will only get worse. And when I say "new developments" I include conversions of existing buildings. I've number crunched the impact of three new developments in and around my block (1400 bock of R Street): two on the corner of 14th & R and a new one on 14th St where AYT repair shop was located. I haven't included the proposed Central Union Mission development because they're still silent about the number of units in that development. The guys in the AYT condo won't have resident only unlimited street parking availability at all as they've 14th St at the front and an alley at the rear of their building. So for my block the number of cars potentially being added to our parking situation is, using one car per unit: 32 at the Aston (18 parking spots included in the development), and 36 at Northern Exchange = 50 cars). Add to this say 30 cars for the AYT condo building and you get potentially 80 new cars daily competing for the 10 spots which are located outside of the two new condos. That's pretty dire! So "one-side of the street" unlimited parking will not make one bit of difference to us. Re bike share and Zipcar, they don't work for everyone. The Zipcar lot on 14th & Corcoran is slated to go with the Central Union Mission development. I own a bike and use it to get around but my neighbors work in the VA and MD burbs so can't get to work via public transport. And we also have handicapped people on our block who rely on their car to get around. Taxis are not cheap!

1. anon said at 9:34 pm on Tuesday March 27, 2012:
   Nodecomms: 1 to 1 cars per unit? Not a highly likely mix for the residential buildings of 14th Street. I would love to see what the existing ratios are for buildings in the area, but I can guarantee it is not 1 to 1. The area has an amazing amount of alternative transportation modes and a large number of residents that walk as their primary mode. The number is something like $8000 a year extra to get around, when you don't have the expense of a car. For those that absolutely must have a car there are spots to lease in the neighborhood. The goal should be to provide as many viable transportation options as possible, but we cannot cater to every extreme in providing those solutions. The one side of the street approach will make some difference for existing residents, though it would be far more effective as part of a comprehensive approach. Though I still haven't heard how they will choose which side of the street gets is residential only. I hope it is not some convoluted petitioning process and that the city would propose a map for review by the local community.

1. lilkunta said at 3:04 pm on Friday March 30, 2012:
   i agree that the new developments and conversions need to be MANDATED to have underground parking. DC is an ancient city. the streets were not made for the 3 cars per family of today. I'm wrting from 1444 W Street and not only do we compete with the condos across the street, we compete with U street visitors.