With fees of $34 proposed for entering lower Manhattan and an even loftier $50 fee for entering central London, we are seeing the future as our recently enacted Enhanced Residential Parking regulations take effect.

With the passage of the Performance Parking Pilot Program, (DC Act 37-320), a law that surprisingly expires in 90 days, there are new metered parking obelisks to deal with as well as the new residential parking regulations to be mastered in the new purple, red, gold and green overlay zones.  

This is part of an effort led by Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells to get ahead the parking problems many predicted would come as a result of the new baseball stadium. The District’s Dept of Transportation (DDOT) looked hard at parking models in other jurisdictions: Seattle, Toronto, Alexandria and Cambridge. 

What is clear after a few weeks is that this is a work in progress with lots of pushback likely as jockeying has already begun among business interests which often collide with those of the residents for whom this parking plan was adopted.

Wells has scheduled a May 7 community meeting to review phase one of the plan. The meeting will be held at Capitol United Methodist Church at 421 Seward Square SE at 7:00 PM.

One of the biggest issues is the guest pass. Each household of the affected areas is entitled to one embossed visitor pass.

An accompanying letter from DDOT lists conditions for its usage:

“The visitor pass may ONLY be used to permit the occasional guests to your home such as friends, relatives, or persons providing household services.”

DDOT strongly cautions against abuse of the visitor pass ( www.ddot.dc.gov). The sanction with the most bite is the threat of losing residential parking privileges.

According to David Garrison (ANC6B) there are two strategies for dealing with the issue of one guest pass and multiple guests. The first is to trade with your neighbors. It seems to me there is more than a little mischief in encouraging neighbors to initiate a trading system of guest passes even if it might possibly strengthen community camaraderie. Even a suggestion of the wink and the nod in Washington opens a Pandora’s box of Ebay and Craigslist abuses among the even wider array possible.   

Previous to the new plan, visitors secured their own passes from the police. Now as part of the new regulations for multiple guests, e.g., for a dinner party, we must to go to our local police station to secure a pass for each vehicle.  

According to DDOT s Damon Harvey, Project Manager for the Enhanced Parking Program, there is an agreement in place for the police to issue as many “as are reasonable.” Harvey emphasizes this is a pilot plan.

However, when I called 1D1, the fast-talking desk officer told me that he would issue as many visitor passes as I was able to produce tag numbers. The burden is on the resident. And the proof required? It’s all about honor.

And if I requested 100 passes, I asked hypothetically? “I wouldn’t be happy about it but the answer is yes,” he responded. Something to keep in mind when planning a quiet Sunday brunch for 200. Or a fund raiser.

Another issue which the legislation does not address concerns the more than 20 churches impacted and how their “visitors” will fare. There have been tensions between the religious communities and residents, many increasingly unsympathetic to the parking plight of congregations whose members are no longer residents.

One proposal floated by Wells was to bend a little and begin enforcement after 1 PM on Sunday. But those are the very hours which overlap with the start of National’s games. One exception can quickly beget another. This one size approach clearly needs customizing.

One source told me that many of the churches have been “taken care of” and issued an undetermined number of passes. The churches in turn have been asked to apply for a public space permit. So far only a handful have made the proper application even as they insist their members need to be given consideration.

And what about the enforcement component deemed vital to this program’s success? Andy Litsky (6D04) who has been involved in this issue, as well as the stadium’s impact on Southwest, insists the guest pass is a moot point because there has been very little enforcement. “Enforcement has been sketchy as far as I have seen in the first days. Guest passes are secondary and beside the point,” he adds.

Wells’ Chief of Staff Charles Allen concedes that on Opening Night 103 cars were towed, but with all fees waived. Allen emphasizes the May 7 meeting will be about “what is working and not working. We need time to look at this and then make changes that need to be made.”

DDOT Parking Enforcement representatives suggest residents call 311 or the Mayor’s Call Center, 727-1000, if you wish to report a violation.

The Barrel of a Gun
Chandler Goule, a five-year Hill resident works for Congress, often working the congressional calendar’s long hours. It was this late night schedule that put him on his way home at midnight last July 13 when he began to suspect, shortly after bidding goodnight to friends, that someone was following him.

Goule, showing some street smarts, entered the middle of the street as he drew closer to his home. His growing fears were quickly realized when one of three young assailants following him quickly, moved in with a gun. In the next moments Goule found himself on the ground being robbed. Not exactly how he intended to end his day.

His assailants took his cash, wallet, credit cards, cell phone and the keys to his house. No words were exchanged other than “Get down” and “Give me your money.” He was bruised but essentially unhurt. Goule is grateful to be alive. 

Within an hour the police had caught the young gunman though the others escaped. Goule identified him, keys and credit cards still in his pocket though no gun was recovered.  

Case closed. Or so it would seem. And the arrested juvenile? He was 17 with no prior offenses and lives nearby. There were 220 armed robberies in District One in 2007, up 28%.

Then in late winter Chandler learned something that has him as upset as the evening he was robbed. Months after undergoing the trauma of that evening and enduring the flashbacks that have seriously unsettled his life, Goule learned that the US Attorney’s office had accepted a plea deal and that the assailant, tried as an adult, would be sentenced under the DC Youth Rehabilitation Act for one crime, armed robbery. If the alleged assailant behaves himself, his 3-5 year projected sentence will be reduced considerably and his criminal record will be expunged.

Goule understandably does not believe that this should be so and has begun a campaign to have the law changed even as he insists he is not heartless and just seeking revenge. He wants an exemption made in the case of violent crimes. In this effort, he has contacted Councilmember Wells office as well as Congresswoman Holmes-Norton. Both have offered their good offices, but in a meeting with Wells, according to Goule, it was pointed out how difficult the road ahead lies to effect these changes. 

Here is the problem. Under the current law, if the perpetrator, tried as an adult, follows the straight and narrow, that is, does not commit another crime, his record is expunged. This is what we call a second chance.

I can understand Goule’s point when he says that like the “public branding of sex offenders,” he wants the community to know this guy is out there, once he serves his sentence for armed robbery. And that makes sense.

John Copacino, Director of the Criminal Justice Clinic at Georgetown University, although sympathetic to the ordeal Goule went through, points out the reason for this law:  “You do stupid stuff when you are a juvenile. If you come out and do well then you have this stigma removed. If you change your ways, then there is no good purpose served having this mistake follow you through life. “