“There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.” Most people agree that everything has a price for someone … except maybe curbside parking, which is – and ought to remain – free. Right?

Not if new legislation – introduced this month by Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells – is successful.

Wells' staff and the DC Department of Transportation believe that a change of attitude about parking is necessary for the ward to survive new ballpark drivers, in addition to ever-increasing daily traffic. Neha Bhatt, Wells' advisor on transportation and smart growth, says that drivers must begin to view parking as a commodity, not a right. Then parking, like any commodity, can be governed by market forces.

“We don't want to increase supply,” Bhatt explains. In the ballpark district, prior agreements already limit the number of surface parking lots, and there are no plans for additional parking structures in the area. Therefore, “we must manage demand.”

When parking spaces are too hard to find, parking is underpriced, and cars circle in search of an elusive spot creating as much as 30 percent of the traffic in some congested areas. If it's too plentiful, then it's overpriced. Wells' “Performance Parking” pilot – for a swath of Southeast and Southwest, from the old Waterside Mall on Fourth Street SW, to just east of Barracks Row on Ninth Street SE – aims for a curbside occupancy rate of 85 percent. This rate means that turnover is sufficient and drivers are finding spots without circling. A strategy that includes parking meters, non-residential parking restrictions and strict enforcement is proposed to reach this goal.

The legislation is designed to protect residential parking; support retail and other activities in the area; reinvest revenue (after meter and other costs are recouped) into sidewalks, bus shelters, and other non-car modes of transportation; and “brand Ward 6 as a multi-modal district, where not only cars thrive.”

Extended Non-Residential Time Limit
Within the pilot zone, extended curbside parking for non-residents would no longer be available after 6:30 p.m. on weekdays or on weekends in the residential zones within this pilot. Instead, the two-hour parking limit would remain in force at all times. Paid parking, however, would be available to non-residents on both commercial and residential streets for more extended periods – probably four to six hours.

The round-the-clock two-hour limit on non-resident parking is designed to “make residential streets inhospitable for Nationals games,” according to Bhatt and Rick Rybeck, deputy associate director at DDOT. Baseball games typically run three hours or more, but a non-Ward 6 fan could only park on a residential street – a “blue” or a “pink” street (see below) – for two hours. The new, extended restriction is also intended to manage parking near high demand areas – such as Eastern Market, Barracks Row and Garfield Park – year round.

New Market-Driven Parking Fees
The pilot would install new, programmable, multi-space parking meters on both commercial and residential streets in the target area. Drivers with Ward 6 residential parking permits would be exempt from fees on residential streets, while other drivers would pay the meter rate – a low fee, perhaps $1/hour. All drivers would pay the meter rate on streets in highest demand, those nearest the ballpark, around local parks and along commercial streets. This rate – $15, $30, “whatever the market determines” – would be matched to that of surface parking lots, to make lot and curbside spots of equal value.

The map for this pilot program was still being adjusted at press time, but the draft map included red, pink and blue streets as follows:

• Red – highest demand streets – including First Street SE from D to E streets SE; Pennsylvania Avenue SE from the Capitol to Ninth Street SE; Seventh Street at Eastern Market; Eighth Street at Barracks Row; streets on the perimeter of the ballpark and Waterfront Mall; M Street SE near the Navy Yard Metro; and streets adjacent to Garfield Park.
  
• Pink – most vulnerable residential streets – including those closest to high demand streets, primarily those perpendicular to red streets: blocks just south of Pennsylvania Avenue in the red zone, for example.
  
• Blue – less in-demand residential streets in the pilot area.

David Garrison, ANC 6B commissioner, which includes pilot areas north of the Southeast Freeway, and Andy Litsky, ANC 6C commissioner, which encompasses pilot areas south of the freeway, both commend Wells for this proposal. They are grateful that Wells is taking action to manage game day parking and that he is, as Garrison says, using “the stadium as an occasion for us to have a broader discussion about parking … He deserves big points for that.”

“Had Tommy not raised this issue, I don't know that it would be raised at all,” Litsky notes, adding, “We haven't heard from the city.”

Both commissioners are concerned, however, about community input as this proposal and its implementation rapidly develops in the remaining weeks before the ballpark opens.

Residents, Guests and New Thinking
Garrison says an important unknown is how residents' guests will be treated. Suppose grandma comes to take care of the kids, he wonders, or a grown child drives in from out-of-town for the weekend. Will these guests have to pay for parking? If not, how will that be handled? And how will residents be informed of the procedure? All of this needs to be ironed out and then communicated carefully to residents so they will be able to assimilate new procedures.

“This will be a new way of doing business,” Garrison says. “It will affect how we – and those who are coming to see us – come and go. … This is a fairly substantial change in the way we go about things in the neighborhood.”

Litsky believes a major public information campaign is necessary, and it “can't be left to the Nationals,” he says.

Litsky is also concerned that plans are not differentiating enough between Southeast and Southwest, where highrises can mean more than 1,000 residents on one block. “Southwest has been asking for a residential parking plan for three years,” he says. “We asked to be consulted early on. But to my knowledge, nothing is in place … Who is going to handle the myriad questions, the outreach?”
           
Enforcement, Implementation and Plan B
Wells' proposal includes enforcement as well as a change in ticket fines (so a parking ticket is never cheaper than legal parking). But Litsky and Garrison worry about funding and coordination for enforcement.

The pilot cannot rely on revenue built up through meter collections to fund the required enforcement, Garrison says. “In order for this to have any effect, enforcement must be in place for day one.”

“We also need to have DDOT and MPD working collaboratively and fully engaging the leadership in Southeast and Southwest to ensure that we're not going to be overwhelmed when they throw the first ball out,” Litsky adds.

In addition, DDOT must order the multi-space meters and will not likely have a sufficient supply to fully implement the pilot by April 1. A smaller supply is already on order, though, and could be used for the pilot, assuming the legislation is enacted. If forced to use a smaller supply, “DDOT will begin to install the meters closest to the ballpark and then fan out into nearby areas as additional meters arrive,” Rybeck says.

“Because DDOT does not expect to have the full complement of meters in place on opening day,” Rybeck adds, “DPW and MPD will be strictly enforcing the two-hour [residential parking permit] parking limit, thereby making parking in residential areas a sure way to get a parking ticket. DDOT's message to the public is simple: `Do NOT drive to the ballgame, because there will be severe congestion. If you do drive, make sure you have off-street parking reserved in advance. Curbside parking will NOT be an option."

Because council approval is not a given, “Plan B is underdevelopment,” according to Rybeck. “DDOT will be working with the community in January and be ready for implementation at the end of March.”