UT Reader Asks: Will New Parking Regulations Lead to More Problems?

• January 2, 2013
• 7 Comments

by Shilpi Paul

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

In this installment of UrbanTurf Reader Asks, a DC resident wonders if the more restrictive residential parking policies popping up around DC will lead to more problems than solutions.

What will be the result of the more restrictive parking policies implemented in some neighborhoods over the next year -- in particular, restricting parking to 'residents only' on one side of the street and/or the implementation of ANC-based rather than ward-based parking zones?

I worry that as long as one car is the width of a row house, there is no way these policies will work in the long run. As certain neighborhoods get wealthier row houses continue to be divided into multi-unit buildings, we can expect more than one car per household, so there will be more cars than space no matter how you divvy it up. Even if you devoted the whole street to resident only parking, space will eventually run out.

I worry that the policies will only embitter people, preventing them from finding better solutions. What do you think, and what might other solutions be?

Readers, what do you think? Post your thoughts in the comments section.

If you would like to submit a question for UrbanTurf Reader Asks, send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/ut_reader_asks_will_new_parking_regulations_lead_to_more_problems/6463

7 Comments

1. Daniel said at 8:14 pm on Wednesday January 2, 2013:
   I live in Logan and like the new resident-only parking options for one side of the street. While I imagine it now irks those coming to 14th Street at night, it is nice to know when I come home at night that there is at least a chance I will be able to get a spot.

1. A Resident said at 8:27 pm on Wednesday January 2, 2013:
   In Kalorama Triangle, it hasn't made much of a difference precisely because of the problem identified by the person who asked the question. There are more cars owned by residents than there are resident-only parking spaces. On the other hand, having a Zone 1 RPP would let me park in Logan Circle or the U Street neighborhood a little more easily even though I don't live there. I find resident-only parking incredibly protectionist, exclusionary and annoying. I live in DC, I should be able to park in DC, whether it's my own neighborhood or the neighborhood where I work or the one in which I take classes. But the resident-only parking in other neighborhoods makes it much harder for me to go there to spend money or participate in community activities there.

1. Politically correct liberal said at 9:29 pm on Wednesday January 2, 2013:
   Won't be any problems because people will give up their cars and we will all live in a carbon-free happy utopia

1. JJ said at 9:40 pm on Wednesday January 2, 2013:
   I own a dog walking company and it has been extremely problematic for my walkers. They drive cars and don't have the stickers for the zone they work in, and rely on close parking to the houses they enter. During the middle of the day it's usually doable but now that they can't even legally park there, they have to drive around a lot more. But basically it will be in the cities favor because they will just end up parking illegally and risk getting a ticket in order to do their jobs efficiently.

1. Adam L said at 10:50 pm on Wednesday January 2, 2013:
   A little history here: The parking zones were originally set up in the 1970s to prevent commuters from parking in city neighborhoods to park for free in neighborhoods close to downtown or Metro stations. The ward-sized parking zones and restrictions that go generally until 6pm make sense for this purpose. The biggest problem now in fast-growing areas of the city is not daytime parking, but the unavailability of parking after 6pm. As residents return home from work and visitors come into the neighborhood for restaurants, nightlife, etc. that’s when parking becomes stressed. And in many popular neighborhoods, visitors are creating the additional demand for parking, not additional residents. One proposal to help alleviate this problem, and address the needs of those who have to park, is to restrict parking on all residential streets but allow drivers to pay-by-phone on those streets. Such a move would provide a disincentive from using street spaces for long-term parking while being more adaptable. Such a policy would be fairer, in my view, than may surrounding jurisdictions that have many restrictions but few provisions for visitors.

1. parking dublin airport said at 2:20 pm on Friday January 4, 2013:
   Everything has positives and negatives. The rule to park vehicles at the side of house will provide space to people to park their vehicle. The row parking will take more space than parking them side by side.

1. trooperduper said at 4:13 pm on Sunday January 6, 2013:
   It seems obvious to me. If DC continues to grow its population (which it will), the number of cars per person in the city is going to have to decrease. It will become more expensive and time consuming to park and we'll just have to get used to other forms of transportation. We cannot keep adding people and keep adding cars... there just isn't enough space, and the only "solutions" we are coming up with will need to be rethought every so often to restrict the flow of cars into and around the city.