Please stop giving your suburban friends DC guest parking passes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not the OP, but I work in zone 6 and I have a coworker who lives in outside the District who uses one of those residential passes that she got from a friend. (It's not a guest pass-- those only last for two weeks. These are residential passes that last for a year.) They are horribly misused and I don't know why the city sends these things out.

They are actually guest passes. It's a pilot program in certain wards. They're a huge convenience for families with nannies, home health aides, housekeepers, etc. Before getting one, we had to get a new pass at the police station every 2 weeks. But there is certainly lots of potential for abuse. I think the best solution is for the city to create much smaller RPP zones so that the permit/pass is only valid within a few blocks of your home.

I would agree with this. I used to babysit for someone in DC for 2 - 2.5 hours once a week after work. I was really glad she was able to get the pass because while I was usually only there for 2 hours, sometimes I would have to stay a few minutes longer and end up with a parking ticket for being there for 2 hours and 6 minutes. She also used it for her housekeeper. I can see how they could be misused, but I can also see the benefit.

[Anonymous]

I hear there's a black market in parking stickers in Edgemoor (where streets are restricted to residents 24/7), so that folks can park free there to eat at Bethesda Row or take the Metro downtown. Market solutions are always the best.

[Anonymous]

I've seen student cars with MD and VA plates use the guess pass placards on streets near Maret and National Cathedral School. Clearly there is abuse going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Actually I think the nanny thing is BS, too. Why do some people in my parking zone get free parking for their nanny, while others don't? If the District wants to give passes to residents for household employees, then fine, but don't give it to some people but not others. It's arbitrary and stupid.

It's based on the availability of parking. If you live farther from commercial areas, you generally don't have timed restrictions on parking so you and your guests don't need permits or passes.

Of course, then you can't drive to a commercial area within your ward and park for free all day on an RPP street, whereas I can. I think that's unfair, which is partly why I favor small RPP zones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I would just worry about trying to fix the problem of parking cheats from the suburbs by reducing the RPP areas and preventing DC residents from parking near the commercial districts of their own Ward."

But the purpose of the program is so that residents have some reasonable chance of finding a parking spot in the vicinity of their residences. That's why it's called the RESIDENT PARKING PERMIT prograom. It is not intended as a benefit for a DC resident to find free street parking so they can go to a restaurant or movie in Georgetownn or Cleveland Park!

YES. This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Actually I think the nanny thing is BS, too. Why do some people in my parking zone get free parking for their nanny, while others don't? If the District wants to give passes to residents for household employees, then fine, but don't give it to some people but not others. It's arbitrary and stupid.

It's based on the availability of parking. If you live farther from commercial areas, you generally don't have timed restrictions on parking so you and your guests don't need permits or passes.

Of course, then you can't drive to a commercial area within your ward and park for free all day on an RPP street, whereas I can. I think that's unfair, which is partly why I favor small RPP zones.

Unzoned streets in DC are few and far between. I don't live in a "commercial" area but the neighborhood is all zoned. Where is all this unzoned parking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So let me get this straight. Guest pass to nanny for the entire work day = OK. Guest pass for friend for the entire work day = not OK. I see no difference, other than one benefits you directly, but a car is still a car, and the nonresident is still a nonresident.

Exactly. This is why the OP is full of it. Parking enforcement doesn't work like that. If they see a guest pass they just keep walking.

Again you fail to see the point. The nanny working for someone in a residential neighborhood is ok. The person who parks on Albermarle and then takes the metro downtown is NOT OK. Jesus are you people that daft?

I wish I had a warning for that one, almost spit my coffee out. Are you really honestly that obtuse?

I think he/she IS that obtuse. Someone died and made him/her a parking enforcer.

Here is the DC page on the program: http://www.dc.gov/DC/DDOT/Services/Parking+Services/View+All/Visitor+Parking+Passes

Please point to where it says you can't have a visitor every weekday from VA or MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Actually I think the nanny thing is BS, too. Why do some people in my parking zone get free parking for their nanny, while others don't? If the District wants to give passes to residents for household employees, then fine, but don't give it to some people but not others. It's arbitrary and stupid.

It's based on the availability of parking. If you live farther from commercial areas, you generally don't have timed restrictions on parking so you and your guests don't need permits or passes.

Of course, then you can't drive to a commercial area within your ward and park for free all day on an RPP street, whereas I can. I think that's unfair, which is partly why I favor small RPP zones.

Unzoned streets in DC are few and far between. I don't live in a "commercial" area but the neighborhood is all zoned. Where is all this unzoned parking?

West of Rock Creek, just look for the streets where all the taxi cabs are left. The drivers park them on unzoned streets until the next driver comes along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Actually I think the nanny thing is BS, too. Why do some people in my parking zone get free parking for their nanny, while others don't? If the District wants to give passes to residents for household employees, then fine, but don't give it to some people but not others. It's arbitrary and stupid.

It's based on the availability of parking. If you live farther from commercial areas, you generally don't have timed restrictions on parking so you and your guests don't need permits or passes.

Of course, then you can't drive to a commercial area within your ward and park for free all day on an RPP street, whereas I can. I think that's unfair, which is partly why I favor small RPP zones.

Unzoned streets in DC are few and far between. I don't live in a "commercial" area but the neighborhood is all zoned. Where is all this unzoned parking?

There was a surprising amount in Mt Pleasant through the mid-2000s. I don't know if it's gone now. There's also still some in Petworth, around the Kansas Ave EL Haynes campus.

[Anonymous]

There is unzoned in NW off of Connecticut. If you go behind Politics and Prose it is all unzoned as is some on Tilden? (I think it is that, between Reno and Connecticut) and also a little block off of 36th by Nebraska. Just one side though.

Always odd to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the DC page on the program: http://www.dc.gov/DC/DDOT/Services/Parking+Services/View+All/Visitor+Parking+Passes

Please point to where it says you can't have a visitor every weekday from VA or MD.

Of course you can have a visitor every day from VA or MD, but that is hardly what's happening IF, say, you live in CC DC and you give your pass to someone who uses it to park in Tenleytown every day and ride Metro to work.

(I take no position on whether or not this happens or how often, but if that is the type of scenario under discussion, I don't see how it could be considered a reasonable use of the pass.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they have a residential parking pass, how can they get towed?

B/c there are time limits on how long (like how many days in a row) you can use a guest pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's with all the parking harpies lately? I never realized parking your car could be so controversial.

You clearly don't live in the city where parking is at a premium. I agree with OP, it's super annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got one of these passes in the mail the other day. We didn't apply for it or request it. Does every household just get one?

Yes, this has been going on for three years already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they have a residential parking pass, how can they get towed?

B/c there are time limits on how long (like how many days in a row) you can use a guest pass.

What are those limits? Are they posted somewhere? I have had passes when I lived in the district and have never seen any limits on them.