Tag Archives: Performance Parking

March 6, 2014 · 6:36 pm

ANC6B Committee Lists Projects Seeking Part of $1.4 Million for Barracks Row/Ballpark District

 

Barracks Row Seeks Parking Funds to Repair Pedestrian Hazards on 8th Street, SE

Barracks Row Seeks Parking Funds to Repair Pedestrian Hazards on 8th Street, SE

ANC6B Committee Lists Projects Seeking Part of $1.4 Million for Barracks Row/Ballpark District

Ballpark District Bids for Major Chunk of Performance Parking Community Project Funds

by Larry Janezich

Last night at ANC6B’s Transportation Committee, commissioners from ANC6B and representatives from Barracks Row MainStreet and Capitol Riverfront BID submitted non-automotive transportation projects they hope to have funded by the $1.4 million available under the Neighborhood Performance Parking Fund.  The committee will decide which projects should be prioritized and forwarded to the full ANC for approval at the March meeting next Tuesday; after that the projects are submitted to DDOT for review.

Michael Stevens, Executive Director of Capitol Riverfront BID, had a long list of projects – all for the Ballpark District – with an estimated cost for some of them:

  • Enhanced lighting for Tingey Street, SE (pedestrian route, Ballpark)
  • New Trash Cans – $84,000
  • New crosswalk striping for intersections
  • Enhanced lighting for New Jersey Avenue underpass – $150,000 (pedestrian route, Ballpark)
  • Signage for attractions – $190,000
  • Establishment of tree farms for growing street trees – $50,000
  • Bike Racks – $l5,700
  • Capitol Bike Share stations
  • Feasibility study for a third entrance/exit for Navy Yard Metro – $170,000

Martin Smith, Executive Director of Barracks Row MainStreet listed the following projects for Barracks Row:

  • Replace tree box surrounds on Barracks Row – $240,000 – $250,000
  • Replace or repair slate pavers on Barracks Row

Committee Chair Oldenberg listed the following projects for ANC6B:

  • On behalf of Commissioner Frishberg, treebox surrounds for Eastern Market Metro Plaza
  • On behalf of Chuck Burger of Barracks Row “Sign Tigers,” landscaping for Eastern Market Metro Plaza – $150,000
  • On behalf of commissioner Brian Pate – pedestrian improvements, Gessford Court between 11th and 12th Streets, SE
  • On behalf of resident Bob Bresnehan – repair sidewalks on Seward Square
  • Improve pedestrian crossing markings at 8th and L
  • Pedestrian improvements at 9th and Potomac and 10th and Potomac
  • Capitol Bike Share Station, SW corner, 11th and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
  • Replace ADA access at 10th and D Streets, SE
  • Replace ADA access at 10th and G Streets, SE
  • New sidewalk on South side of Virginia Avenue Park

The Neighborhood Performance Parking Fund comes from a portion of the increased parking fees in the three areas of the city where the Performance Parking Program has been implemented:  Ballpark Area (including Barracks Row and Eastern Market), Columbia Heights, and H Street, NE.  Within these areas, the following entities are eligible to apply for funding for projects: ANCs, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), and Main Street organizations.

DDOT gives the highest priority to projects according to location, key walking streets, pedestrian high-injury corridor, missing sidewalks, bicycle network, Capitol Bikeshare, and surface transit routes.

Since applications are due to DDOT by March 21, next Tuesday will be the last opportunity for ANC6B to weigh in on them.  Residents who feel strongly about any of these projects should contact the ANC6 B commissioners here http://www.anc6b.org/ (click on “About the ANC’)

or the ANC6D commissioners here http://www.anc6d.org/

DDOT will announce awards on May 12, 2014

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July 2, 2013 · 6:03 pm

DPW Objection Delays Expansion of Performance Parking Plan on Capitol Hill

DDOT's Damon Harvey Listens As ANC6B Commissioners Express Concerns About the Stalled Performance Parking Plan

DDOT’s Damon Harvey (left) Listens As ANC6B Commissioners Express Concerns About the Stalled Performance Parking Plan

 

DPW Objection Delays Expansion of Performance Parking Plan on Capitol Hill

by Larry Janezich

Damon Harvey, DDOT’s Parking Performance Based Parking czar, told ANC6B’s Transportation Committee last night that expansion of the Performance Parking Program north of Pennsylvania Avenue to East Capitol Street has encountered opposition from the Department of Public Works.  The reason, he explained, was ANC6B’s request for special parking restrictions around Eastern Market designed to protect residents on one hand and accommodate Eastern Market vendors on the other. 

Harvey explained that DPW had declined to sign off on the request for restrictions on Sunday parking and on different parking restriction times for different sides of the same blocks around Eastern Market.  Harvey did not have the objections of DPW in writing, saying only that DPW had asked for “more specificity” and that DPW was “not comfortable with the concept.”

Commissioners faulted Harvey for not bringing DPW’s reservations to the ANC’s  attention in April when he learned of them and was only now bringing the issue back to the ANC. 

The Performance Based Parking Plan, which Harvey described as “dynamic pricing on curbside parking” started in 2008, and will begin to go city wide in every major traffic corridor later this year, with a series of public meetings scheduled to start in September.  The first expansion will be in the downtown’s Golden Triangle, followed by Penn Quarter/Chinatown, and McPherson Square.  Parking in these areas will increase per elapsed time, just as metered parking does around Nationals Stadium on game days. 

Harvey also mentioned new rules for sharing Performance Based Parking funds with the community, saying that the Mayor had “changed the configuration of how the funds would be shared,” taking into account the new zones which will be participating in the program. Details will be forthcoming.  Commissioners expressed disappointment that ANC6B’s request for $50,000 from the Performance Parking Fund for landscaping improvements at Eastern Market Metro Plaza was not in the pipeline as ANC6B had believed. 

Also forthcoming, will be details on the new visitor pass system for residents and businesses located in Performance Based Parking Zones.  Harvey was not at liberty to share everything he knew regarding this new system but said more information will be released in the next few months.  It seems certain, however, that costs for all aspects of resident and temporary visitor parking will increase – perhaps substantially.

The Transportation Committee subsequently agreed to set up a meeting with DPW to see what their specific objections to ANC6B’s expansion request are.  If no way forward is apparent after this meeting, the four commissioners whose single member districts are directly affected:  Pate, Frishberg, Garrison, and Oldenberg, will attempt to formulate a fallback position that will result is something less than a full loaf in order to accommodate moving ahead with the Performing Parking Plan north of Pennsylvania Avenue so as not to fall behind the other zones where the plan will be implemented this fall.  The consensus was also to reach out to Councilmember Grasso, who serves on the Council’s Transportation Committee.  Finally, Committee voted 7 – 0 to recommend that ANC6B formally request inclusion in the new system for administering visitor’s passes which will be announced in the coming months.  Commissioner Frishberg also urged colleagues to push for inclusion of the $50,000 in landscaping funds for Eastern Market Metro Plaza, to be used in conjunction with the forthcoming redesign of the Metro Plaza being proposed by a group of Barrack Row stakeholders.  Councilmember Wells will host two public meetings on the redesign, one on Monday, July 8 and a second on Saturday, July 13, details TBA.

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February 9, 2013 · 11:08 am

Wrapping up the Week…. Hine, Security Cameras, New Development, Parking, Etc.

Two new town houses are slated to replace this white brick building facing Stanton Park, at 513 C Street, NE

Two new town houses are slated to replace this white brick building facing Stanton Park, at 513 C Street, NE

Wrapping up the Week…. Hine, Security Cameras, New Development, Parking, Etc.

by Larry Janezich

Hine Project to Get Underway Mid-Summer

According to word from Stanton Development, neighbors of the Hine project are likely to see the beginning of demolition activity at the Hine site mid-summer as the building is boarded up for asbestos removal prior to demolition scheduled to begin in the fall.  Still to be hammered out with neighbors are the details of the construction management agreement.  Group representatives will meet with the ANC reps and Stanton soon to begin this process.   

Security Cameras for Eastern Market Metro Plaza and Nearby Streets?

ANC6B Commissioner Ivan Frishberg has asked Tommy Wells’ office and other city officials for information on costs of high tech security cameras in order to explore the feasibility of tapping into the Performance Parking Fund for this new crime fighting technology.  MPD Chief Lanier has embraced the use of cameras as a crime fighting tool, noting that while the new technology is very helpful it is expensive.  Software associated with the technology looks for certain movement such as the gathering of crowds and fast motion.

Regulations provide that a portion of the parking fees derived from the Performance Parking Pilot be funneled back to the community for non-automotive transportation projects.  Frishberg says he thinks the cameras would contribute to a walkable neighborhood.  The funding of such projects is limited to the area in which the parking restrictions are actually in force, which would include Eastern Market Metro Plaza, the area around Eastern Market, nearby Pennsylvania Avenue.  “The idea is exploratory at this stage,” Frishberg emphasized, “saying the ANC should see what the costs and options are.” 

New Development:  Two “Elegant” Townhouses to Face Stanton Park

Plans are in the works for development of two “elegant” town hours (read $1.5 million+) for the space now occupied by the building pictured above at 513 C Street, NE, on the south side of Stanton Park. 

Architect Carmel Greer of District Design brought the concept designs before the CHRS Historic Preservation Committee last Monday, which as usual, wanted to see some tweaking.  The concept drawings will go before HPRB in March. 

Delay in Extension of the Performance Parking Pilot Restrictions North of Pennsylvania Avenue

Extension of the Performance Parking Pilot parking restrictions north of Pennsylvania Avenue to East Capitol has been delayed by a bureaucratic snafu.  City attorneys have informed ANC 6B that city regulations will have to be amended before extension of the program owing to the unusual inclusion of different parking restrictions for Saturday and Sunday in some parts of the plan.  Faced with the decision of plunging ahead with a half measure of parking under the normal Performance Parking restrictions and going back to change signage after the regulation change, or wait out the regulation change before doing anything at all, the ANC Transportation Committee elected to wait for the city to change its rules.  Additional background can be found here: https://capitolhillcorner.org/2012/09/14/anc-votes-to-expand-performance-parking-and-to-protest-ambar-liquor-license/

Disgruntled ANC6B Unhappy with Dysfuntionality of DDOT

ANC6B Commissioners plan on testifying before the City Council at the March 4th DDOT Oversight hearing.  The consensus of the ANC’s Transportation Committee was that while DDOT deserves credit for some projects such as the 17th and 19th Streets Project, the 11th Street Bridge Project, and Capitol Bike Share, the list of grievances against DDOT is a long one.  Among the items the ANC is unhappy about are problems with DDOT’s administration of public space, unilateral decisions affecting traffic control infrastructure made without public notification and input, administration of the Performance Parking Fund,  lack of attention to the Barney Circle Project, lack of follow-through on ANC requests and a general lack of responsiveness to ANC concerns.   

ANC6B  Zoning Regulations Task Force

Zoning Regulation Task Force has had three meetings and continues, according to Chair Dave Garrision, to work through the process.  The Task Force hopes to have recommendations for the ANC’s Planning and Zoining Committee to consider by the Committee’s March 5 meeting.  Garrison noted that there will be two opportunities for ANC input:  first, when the recommendations of the ANC go to the Office of Planning, second, when the Office of Planning submits the final proposal to the Planning Commission later in the spring.   The Task Force has scheduled two meetings this month on Thursday, February 14, 2013, at 6:00 pn, and Thursday, February 28, 2013, at 6:30 pn.  Both meetings will be held in Hill Center.

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September 14, 2012 · 9:58 am

ANC Votes To Expand Performance Parking – And To Protest Ambar Liquor License

ANC Votes To Expand Performance Parking – And To Protest Ambar Liquor License

by Larry Janezich

On Tuesday night, ANC6B voted 10 – 0 to ask DDOT to expand the Performance Parking Program north of Pennsylvania Avenue.  The area encompassed is South Capitol to 11th Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue up to but not including East Capitol.

The ANC requested that one side of each block retain the existing Residential Permit Parking allowing two hour parking for non-residents of Ward 6.  The other side of the block would be designated Resident Parking Only, Monday through Saturday, from 7:00am until 8:30pm.  A special zone around Eastern Market bounded roughly by 5th Street, 8th Street (both sides), East Capitol, and Pennsylvania Avenue would extend the Resident Only restrictions to 7:00am – 8:30pm seven days a week

Randy Steer, candidate to succeed retiring commissioner Norm Metzger, asked if the seven day a week restriction could be extended to 7th and 9th Streets on either side of Barracks Row.  He noted the difficulty residents on those streets have finding parking on weekends.

Commissioners said that there was some urgency to press forward with the resolution immediately and assured that it provided latitude to seek those additional restrictions in the future.

In other ANC action, the commission voted to protest the liquor and entertainment license requested by Ambar, the new Balkan cuisine restaurant coming to Barracks Row.  Despite assurances from the owner that he would endeavor to complete a voluntary agreement regarding restaurant operations with the ANC prior to Tuesday night’s meeting, no discussions had occurred.  Attorney Andrew Klein, representing Ambar’s owner reiterated that he hoped a voluntary agreement could be signed in the near future, but implied that Ambar would pursue the license before the ABC whether there was a voluntary agreement or not.  The DC Alcohol Beverage Review Board will have the last word on the license, though it is charged with giving “great weight” to the recommendation of the ANCs in issuing liquor licenses.

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May 3, 2012 · 9:41 am

Mayor Gray Eyes Performance Parking Funds to Salvage Metro Budget Crisis – Wells Prepares Counter Move to Keep Capitol Hill Funds for Ward 6

Mayor Gray Eyes Performance Parking Funds to Salvage Metro Budget Crisis -Wells Prepares Counter Move to Keep Capitol Hill Funds for Ward 6

by Larry Janezich

For the past several years, Capitol Hill has received money from the Performance Parking Transportation Fund, which collects parking fees from specially designated areas and uses that money for non-automotive transportation projects in the community.

The PPF was originally instituted in 2008 to manage curbside parking around National Ballpark.  The concept involves varying the parking rate according to demand and is marked by the singular large parking kiosks, one on each side of the block.  Any monies accruing to the program in excess of the level which would have accrued had the “stick” meters remained in place go back to the community in the form of non-automotive transportation projects.

Examples of PPF projects on Capitol Hill include the Big Belly Solar Powered Trash Compactors, ornate metal benches, Capitol Hill Historic Disc signs, and ornate bike racks for Barracks Row, Pennsylvania Avenue and Southwest DC

According to ANC6B Commissioner Brian Pate, there is currently $3.5 million in the fund in the city’s Performance Parking Fund.

The cash resource has now caught the eye of Mayor Gray, according Charles Allen, chief of staff for Tommy Wells who attended last night’s ANC 6B Transportation Committee.   A move to redirect PPF funds to other purposes would be in keeping with Gray’s decision last year to use the PPF money to help balance the budget.  Now Gray is looking again to the Performance Parking Program as a source of income.   For the new Fiscal Year beginning October 1, Gray’s budget proposes sweeping up all of the unobligated funds in the PPF and similar accounts and using it to subsidize WAMATA.  As many readers may already be aware, the federal government has proposed dramatic cuts to its funding of Metro rail, despite the fact that many of its employees rely upon it in order to commute to work.

Gray has also proposed extending the PPF throughout the city and using those funds as well as future funds from the existing programs on Capitol Hill near the Ballpark, on Barracks Row, and on H Street to subsidize WAMATA, in effect changing what was once a ward-by-ward funding process into a general city revenue to fund public transportation.

There are four Capitol Hill non-automotive projects in the pipeline:  the information kiosk at Eastern Market Metro Plaza, landscaping for the Plaza, a CHAW signage project, and new sidewalks on the east side of Garfield Park.  These would not be affected, but funds accruing to the project in the future would go to WAMATA under Gray’s proposal.

On Thursday, Councilmember Wells will attempt to grandfather the Performance Parking Funds for the National Ballpark, Capitol Hill, and H Street, NE, thus preserving those funds for community use alone.  The transportation budget will come up in Councilmember Mary Cheh’s Committee on the Environment, Public Works, and Transportation, which is comprised of Cheh, and Councilmembers Wells, Alexander, Bowser, and Graham.  Wells reportedly has the support of Cheh and Graham for his budget amendment.  The proposal will then have to be passed by the Committee of the Whole and the full Council.

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March 1, 2012 · 11:40 pm

Residents Weigh Extending Parking Restrictions North of Pennsylvania Avenue

ANC Commissioner Brian Pate (white shirt at table) Explains Performane Parking Restrictions to Constituents

Residents Weigh Extending Parking Restrictions North of Pennsylvania Avenue

by Larry Janezich

About 25 residents of ANC6B Commissioner Brian Pate’s Single Member District (SMD05) met Thursday night to hear a proposal to extend the Performance Parking Pilot north of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Recently, DDOT informed commissioners in ANC6B that the department would support extending the program north of Pennsylvania Avenue, but the initiative had to come from the ANC and subsequently the residents of the streets affected.  DDOT has also stated that the program must be extended in the four adjacent ANCs, 6B01, 6B02, 6B05, and 6B04, rather than piecemeal.  Commissioners Pate in 6B05, Garrison in 6B01, Oldenburg in 6B04 support the extension.  Commissioner Frishberg in 6B02 is still assessing the views of his constituents.  (See map:  http://www.anc6b.org/map.html)

The program anticipates addressing parking problems by imposing restrictions, as follows:

  • one side of each block will be restricted to Zone 6 Permit holders only during the days and hours of enforcement; the other side of the block continues with a current two-hour grace period for cars without permits;
  •  each residence receives annually one guest parking pass for permanent parking;
  • coverage extends Monday through Saturday;
  • normal Monday through Saturday hours are 7:30 am to 9:30 pm (effectively meaning that cars without permits can park on the grace period side of blocks after 7:30 pm and let the remaining enforcement hours expire.)

As Commissioner Pate explained it, residents will have to weigh the pros (the permanent guest parking pass, parking protection, access to Performance Parking Funds for non-transportation projects) vs. the con (difficult parking for guests for dinner or other gatherings who park between 7:30am and 9:30pm).

The Performance Parking Pilot program was started in 2008 around Nationals ballpark to address the parking problems associated with the ballpark.  The affected areas benefit from a “Neighborhood Revenue Share” program funded by the parking pilot under which the affected areas receive grants for non-automotive transportation improvements.  Currently, some $750,000 is expected to accrue to the fund from parking proceeds.  Applications for grants are processed through the ANCs or directly by DDOT.

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June 2, 2011 · 12:14 pm

City to Reduce Cost of Parking at Barracks Row Lot under Freeway to 75 Cents per Hour – Transportation Issues Move to Front Burner for Community Organizations

City to Reduce Cost of Parking at Barracks Row Lot under Freeway to 75 Cents per Hour

Transportation Issues Move to Front Burner for Community Organizations

by Larry Janezich

Two prominent community organizations are gearing up to focus on transportation issues.  Last night, new the ANC6B Transportation Committee held its first meeting.

The news coming out of the meeting of immediate interest to the community is that DDOT has agreed to reduce the parking rate to 75 cents an hour in the 8th Street lot under the freeway.  This idea came out of the recommendations of the work last year of the ANC’s Retail Mix Taskforce and was facilitated by subsequent discussions with DDOT by Commissioners Garrison, Oldenburg, and Metzger.  Garrison said that the new parking rates would become effective once DDOT had reprogrammed the parking meters and could begin in several weeks, though the timing is uncertain.  The Retail Mix Taskforce made the recommendation in an effort to encourage use of the lot to relieve parking pressure in residential areas around Barracks Row.

The new ANC6B Committee is chaired by Commissioner Oldenburg.  Commissioner Garrison is Vice Chair.  All ANC6B Commissioners are also members of the committee, which will include resident members from several Single Member Districts.  (Commission by-laws permit one resident member per single member district to serve on committees.)

One of the first acts of the new committee was to select itself to lead the effort to find ways to spend the monies accruing from the Performance Parking Fund.  Commissioner Garrison characterized the fund as being akin to the Federal Reserve’s ability to print money.  20% of the funds from the additional parking created by the impact of the new ballpark go to a fund which can be tapped for non-automotive improvements to the area most affected by the stadium parking.  So far, the funds have been or will be spent on the new biking program, digital signs for real time announcements of bus schedules, solar powered trash compactors, the soon-to-become-real information kiosk at Eastern Market Metro Plaza, and landscaping for the Plaza.

The committee will solicit ideas for using the funds from other commissioners and other community organizations.  Garrison singled out CHAMP’s Chuck Burger for his work in promoting the information kiosk, saying it was valuable infrastructure and a significant addition to the community.  Garrison emphasized that it is essential to bring forth a structured process for effecting the completion of a project, and not just having an idea.

Looking forward, the Committee intends to concentrate on changes associated with the 11th Street Bridge Project and the CSX tunnel reconstruction.  To that end, the committee began laying the ground work for a meeting in July where commissioners would be briefed by representatives of DDOT, the 11th Street Bridge Project Contractors and CSX regarding how the community will be affected while transitioning to new traffic patterns during the construction of these two projects.

Meanwhile, the Capitol Restoration Society is reconstituting its Transportation Committee under the Chairmanship of Board Member Monte Edwards.  Membership of the committee, which has been defunct for almost two years, has not yet been established.  The primary purpose of the committee will be to engage on the issue of streetcars, but it will also concern itself with pedestrian and bicycle problems and supplement the work of mayoral taskforces on these issues.

Edwards will moderate a film presentation showing Washington’s streetcars in operation during the 1950s at the June 7 CHRS Membership Forum at Maury Elementary School.  Laura Trieschmann, from EHT Traceries, will talk about the history of Washington’s streetcars, including its car barns.

Maury Elementary School is on the corner of Constitution Avenue and 13th Street, NE.  The entrance is on 13th Street and doors will open at 6:45 pm. This event is free and open to the public.  No reservations are necessary.  For more information, e-mail CapHRS@aol.com or call 543-0425.

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April 13, 2011 · 2:46 pm

ANC6b Supports Community Information Hub Project on Eastern Market Metro Plaza – Adopts Language Urging Landscaping Upgrade

ANC6b Supports Community Information Hub Project on Eastern Market Metro Plaz

Adopts Language Urging Landscaping Upgrade

by Larry Janezich

Last night at ANC6b’s regular monthly meeting the commission voted to send a letter of support to DDOT supporting the construction of the new Info Hub.  The concept is the brain child of Chuck Burger and the so-called “Sign Tigers,” a group representing BRMS and CHAMPS who distribute information to visitors to the Eastern Market Metro Plaza most weekends.  The all weather Info Hub would replace the tent under which personnel have been operating.  An image of the structure is available elsewhere on this blog (click the “Metro Plaza” tag).

Burger told a group of residents on Monday night that the project could be completed by this coming October.

There was some discussion at last night’s meeting regarding language proposed by Commissioner Ivan Frishberg, supporting upgraded landscaping for the plaza to take place in conjunction with the Info Hub project.  The landscaping language met opposition from Commissioners Garrison, Oldenburg, and Metzger who urged that the community be consulted before any landscaping changes are made.

Underlying this discussion was the now-dormant and misnomered “Town Square” plan to  create a new traffic pattern through and around Metro Plaza.  The issue is controversial in the community.  Supporters and opponents seem to take the view that any change in the current Plaza has implications for the resurrection of the plan which has been pushed by Barracks Row Main Street and Capitol Hill Restoration Society, among others.

The Commission eventually voted for the language by a five to three vote.

Those voting for:  Glick, Frishberg, Green, Pate, Critchfield.

Those opposed:  Garrison, Oldenburg, Metzger

Absent:  Campbell, Flahavin

The text of the letter is below.

April 13, 2011

Damon Harvey

Policy Planning and Sustainability Administration

DDOT

2000 – 14th Street NW

Washington DC 20009

Dear Damon:

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6B at a properly noticed, regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 12, 2011, voted X –Y to support the proposed Community Information Hub to be constructed on the Eastern Market Metro Plaza.

The Commission authorized this letter to the DC Department of Transportation to express ANC 6B’s support for allocating $180,000 for project from the Performance Parking Pilot fund and for the proposed management of the operations of the facility by the Capitol Hill BID.  The Commission also wishes to express its support for the proposed “Mutatio” design for the information center.

In addition to support for this project, ANC 6B also asks DDOT to give serious consideration to much needed upgrading of the landscaping on the Eastern Market Metro.  Timing such improvements so that they are done when the new information center is completed would enhance the success of the new facility.

Thank you for DDOT’s encouragement of this important project for the Capitol Hill community.

Sincerely,

Neil Glick

Chair

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March 10, 2011 · 10:31 am

DDOT Parking Plan Near Barracks Row Likely to Push Non-Ward Six Parking North Of Pennsylvania Avenue – Process Questioned at ANC Meet

DDOT Parking Plan Near Barracks Row Likely to Push Non-Ward Six Parking North Of Pennsylvania Avenue – Process Questioned at ANC Meet

by Larry Janezich

At Tuesday night’s ANC6b meeting, Commissioner Dave Garrison summarized what DDOT is proposing extending the Performance Parking Plan to most streets between 8th Street and 11th Street, SE, and Pennsylvania Avenue and I Streets, SE.  This would make parking harder for non-Ward Six parkers.

A likely consequence is that non-Ward Six parking will be pushed north into streets where parking rules are more flexible.  The problem will become more severe with the opening of The Hill Center this summer, thus setting up a dynamic for extending the parking restrictions further north, possibly to East Capitol.

In an early Sunday morning email to some of the residents in the affected 8 or 9 block area, Commissioner Oldenburg said the new plan would be announced at the March meeting of ANC6b.  In a post on her blog on Monday, Oldenburg revised her announcement by adding that “if necessary, I am more than willing to set up a petition process so that blocks can opt in or out of these changes.”  It seems likely that any blocks not participating would become sanctuaries for non-Ward 6 parkers.

Ninth Street resident Karl Kindel raised objections to the procedure that was being followed, which he said, presented no options, but only a fait accompli.  ANC6b Chair Neil Glick and Commissioners Ivan Frishberg and Brian Pate supported a more transparent and inclusive process than what was apparently being followed in this instance.  Imposition of the plan by DDOT would also affect residents who invite guests to their homes – a burden that would have to be addressed by application for temporary parking permits – police-issued multiple one-day and multi-day passes.   The new plan would provide for each residence with only a single guest parking pass.

It was not clear at the end of the meeting whether ANC6b would require a stricter degree of consultation with residents before the DDOT plan is effected, but it does seem to be the case that blocks may opt out of the program by majority vote.

The meeting took a contentious turn when Commissioner Oldenburg objected that criticism was aimed at her and Mr. Kindel objected to that and to her characterizing him as “the only negative on this.”

Oldenburg also reported that she was starting discussions with the Marines and with DDOT for parking restrictions for the 800 block of G Street and the 700 block of Ninth Street, SE.  Some residents asserted later that there had been no prior notification of this development to the community.

The possibility that residents of a block shared by the Marine Barracks might be excluded from negotiations with the Marines about parking was a special point of concern.  Kindel had negotiated what he said was a very satisfactory agreement with the Marines about 12 years ago, and wants resident input to make sure any adjustments do not create other problems.

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