WTF? from Washington, D.C.: parking officials have gone completely nuts.

[bertha katzenengel]

From the Washignton Post:

D.C. Parking Enforcement Seeks New Fees on Meter Users
Officers say parkers are getting an unfair edge

By Trevor Jantzen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 1, 2005; Page B01

Parking enforcement officers say people who use parking meters in the district are costing the city money.

“It’s just not right the way they take advantage of parking space,” says Shirley Henderson, a D.C. parking enforcement officer for thirteen years.

Many officers are complaining that they see people park in a metered spot, and then take “forever” to search for change in their cars, pockets, purses. One officer said he even saw a man scouring the curb and gutter for loose change with which to feed the meter. “I timed him,” said the Officer Steve Brazil. “It took him seven minutes before he fed the meter.”

“The time it’s taking people to look for change should be added to the price of parking” according to Lt. James Washington, who has headed the Metro Police’s Department of Parking Enforcement since 1997.

Washington proposes a multi-million dollar upgrade to the city’s parking meter infrastructure. The purchase of a newly patented meter, comprising the bulk of the upgrade’s cost, is estimated at $3.7M. Washington claims that this expenditure would pay for itself within three months.

The new meter contains a sensor that marks the appearance of a car in a parking spot. The meter then gauges the amount of time between that car being parked and coins being inserted, adding a fee to the meter. The meter’s inventor, Q. Alouicious Philpott, says that it is up to the municipality to decide the amount of the additional fee. “Most cities charge an average eight cents per fifteen-second interval, rounded up.” At that rate, the man Officer Brazil observed would have had to pay the meter an extra $2.25.

Parking and traffic advocate Crystal Green, an attorney in Southeast D.C., decries the fee as “ludicrous.

“Parking is bad enough in this city without adding the insult of an additional fee – a ridiculous fee,” Green said in a telephone interview. “What’s next? Parking enforcement officers following us, charging for the time it takes us to find a place to park in this city?”

Veteran “meter maid” Henderson thinks it’s a great idea. “I once saw a woman dig in her bag for five minutes,” said Henderson as she stood beside her double-parked enforcement vehicle on M Street in Northwest. “She didn’t even realize that the time she was standing there was taking time away from the next person who would come along and park. If I could’ve given her a ticket, I would have. It’s just not right.”

Green, who has spent twenty-three years fighting the city for better streets and more parking access, wants to know where the extra income would go. Asked about this, Washington would say only that that is “up to the City Council and the mayor's office.”

Mayor Anthony Williams could not be reached for comment, but his office issued a statement that this matter “has not been presented to us or to the City Council for consideration.”

Officer Henderson thinks it’s a great idea. “I mean, come on. How hard is it to gather up your change before you park?”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17094-2005Mar31.html

[RubyDuby in GA]

1. “I mean, come on. How hard is it to gather up your change before you park?

I would invite them to take a look in my car for that answer. I can barely find the driver's seat, much less anything else. One day, I'll clean my car out I swear!

But this is stupid. It's getting that bad in Atlanta too, but then again, Shirley's got a new sewer system to pay for so the Traffic Nazi's are out in full force.

[7th_Sephiroth]

2. more corrupt people

i mean come on, you guys are pathetic, "boo hoo people are sitting for a few minutes before we tax them to be active in town, so we want to mark up what we tax them by 100% evry 30 seconds"

[Kingshakabobo]

3. I smell a

[bertha katzenengel]

4. Now that you mention it, what do rats smell like?

Today, I guess they smell like Clinique Aromatics Elixir. ;)

[silverpatronus]

5. the parking situation in DC *is* horrible

and people who spend 5 minutes digging for meter change *do* make problems. right now i'm involved in a parking study for the dc dept. of transportation (as a lowly student, i'm only doing data collection) and i see some of the nonsense people do when they park in this city. parking officials are at the end of their rope, especially in tourist season, which has just started and never REALLY goes away. dc just wasn't built for parking, i guess it was expected that everybody would drive in from the suburbs to metro and park-and-ride, but a lot of people just drive right on into the city. the city's parking infrastructure needs some kind of overhaul, and thankfully, the DOT isn't shying away from any options yet and are actually having research conducted. personally, i think the extra fee is an excellent idea. to avoid it, people will dig out their change beforehand and stop wasting time.

[bertha katzenengel]

7. Metro is not a panacea in this town. I drive all the way in from Waldorf.

I could drive to the Branch Ave. station on the green line, but I don't, for two reasons: first, the green line isn't safe. It goes through neighborhoods known for crime & gangs. Second, it takes me almost an hour in rush-hour traffic to get to the green line. The ride into the city, including a transfer to the blue line, takes an hour. I can drive in in less time on many days.

By the way, good on you for your work in the study. Please don't cite this article to anyone you're working with: I wrote it, and it's April Fool's Day. ;)

[Kingshakabobo]

9. Nice job.

:toast:

[bertha katzenengel]

10. Thank you, Kingshakabobo!

:bounce:

[silverpatronus]

11. i live on the green line

and yes, it does go through south east, but it is as safe as any other damn line in the city. i'm more worried about the east end of the orange line than the green line truth be told.

good joke. but because of working on the parking study, it rang true.

[bertha katzenengel]

13. I meant no offense

I've only ridden the blue line, out of Springfield, to Foggy Bottom. Strictly the "lawyer-type" crowd.

I have only heard horror stories of threats, intimidation, and nearly being drawn into a knife fight, from two friends here at work. I confess, then, that I based what I said not on personal experience or data but on anecdotes. So thanks for helping me to clear my mind.

:hi:

[Squeech]

6. Where did they get that number?

Eight cents for fifteen seconds is 32 cents a minute. The most expensive metered parking I ever have to deal with is Manhattan, where a quarter gets you ten minutes, and they're talking something over ten times more expensive.

Whatever the merits of the idea as an idea, there's some serious innumeracy going on here.

[bertha katzenengel]

8. and 32*7 = $2.25.

:shrug:

[ContraBass Black]

12. What day is today?

[-..__...]

17. It's a joke...

but, awhile back someone did develop a parking meter that senses when a car leaves a spot, reason: if there's still time on the meter when a car leaves a spot, the next person parking there gets to use the time that is still remaining. This meter senses when the spot is vacant, then deletes any remaining time so the next person has to pay again (even though the previous person had already paid for the time).

[Zuni]

14. They also re-elected a man who was caught smoking crack with a hooker

[WoodrowFan]

15. hey! The B***H set him up!!! (NT)

[Zuni]

18. ROFLMAO

I remember that

[Zuni]

19. ROFLMAO

I remember that

[Radical Activist]

16. Yet, they have time to stand around and watch people look for change.

I guess they get paid to stand their and bitch. I have often speculated that some meter maids had waited by my car for the meter to run out. It sounds like I'm right.

[autorank]

20. This is what our fucking stupid newspaper covers. Fuck you WashPost!

[bertha katzenengel]

21. Hi, autorank.

Check the date on which this was posted. Also, check the link. ;)