DC Parking Shenanigans

Question for the D.C. residents: Are you embarrassed by the people who run your city?

James wrote:
Question for the D.C. residents: Are you embarrassed by the people who run your city?

yes, the U.S. Congress is an embarrassment.

here is another great idea from those who "run the city"

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Firefighters-Helping-Deter-Crime-125552998.html?dr

"when people see a fire truck . . . they won't commit crime."

Jaguar wrote:
Guess they don't want our business then.

I always hear this "I guess they don't want our business" argument.  But in case anyone hasn't noticed, DC is booming, like almost no other city in the nation.  It's a pretty well established notion that people who bitch on the internet generally don't actually *do* anything – and if one or two people stop coming to DC that's not going to have any impact.

The reason I have no sympathy for parking complainers is that I have a car in the city and I generally get one ticket every 5 years or so.  If you bother to follow the law, once in a long while you'll get unjustly ticketed (and it's easy enough to write a letter and get it dropped) – but it's overwhelmingly the case that most tickets are earned.

^^ he wasn't aware of this 'law' though…

Herr wrote:
The reason I have no sympathy for parking complainers is that I have a car in the city and I generally get one ticket every 5 years or so.   If you bother to follow the law, once in a long while you'll get unjustly ticketed (and it's easy enough to write a letter and get it dropped) – but it's overwhelmingly the case that most tickets are earned.

doomie, you're missing the point here.  MD and VA residents who occasionally come in to the city are labeled as car registry offenders and need to go out of their way to prove their innocence when they have done nothing wrong.  these tickets are NOT earned. 

out of towners are allowed parking in the city ONCE every 180 days?  that's asinine.  per the wording of the ggw's OP, "Your vehicle has been observed for the second time within a 180 day period parking without DC tags."  he now has to trek to a DC DMV with his mortgage papers/title/utility bill/first born for the "right" to not be ticketed for something he isn't guilty of.  once he's done all this he'll be in the clear - for six months!  then he'll need to do it all over again.  that's an unfair burden on the innocent.

on any given day, i suspect there a lot more MD & VA day-trippers in the city than there are registration dodgers.  in the city's blood-thirsty pursuits of the few, they're punishing the many.

that being said, i've had MD plates on my car for 2 years now, i go in to the city at least once a month (and often more than that), and i've never received such a warning/notice.

Herr wrote:
VA and MD residents are probably the worst violators among people who move into DC and don't change their registration.   

The paid parking in my parking lot is almost 70% MD/VA plates, 20% DC, 10% other states.

sweetcell wrote:

James wrote:
Question for the D.C. residents: Are you embarrassed by the people who run your city?

yes, the U.S. Congress is an embarrassment.

+1,000

Herr wrote:

Jaguar wrote:
Guess they don't want our business then.

I always hear this "I guess they don't want our business" argument.   But in case anyone hasn't noticed, DC is booming, like almost no other city in the nation.   It's a pretty well established notion that people who bitch on the internet generally don't actually *do* anything – and if one or two people stop coming to DC that's not going to have any impact.

The reason I have no sympathy for parking complainers is that I have a car in the city and I generally get one ticket every 5 years or so.   If you bother to follow the law, once in a long while you'll get unjustly ticketed (and it's easy enough to write a letter and get it dropped) – but it's overwhelmingly the case that most tickets are earned.

Herr Professor = Marion Barry!!!
BUSTED!!
:o

I am not complaining about receiving a ticket - just or unjust.  There was no law to follow in this case.  Unless the law is don't park in the city more than once every six months.  And a letter of appeal won't suffice.

I really shouldn't be as surprised as I am.  This is just typical laziness from the typically incompetent DC government.  Their employees don't want to have to do any actual work so they come up with the ridiculous criteria of "you have been spotted parked in the city more than once in a 180 day period" to shift the burden of proof (and the burden of doing all the legwork) onto somebody else.

Herr wrote:

Jaguar wrote:
Guess they don't want our business then.

I always hear this "I guess they don't want our business" argument.   But in case anyone hasn't noticed, DC is booming, like almost no other city in the nation.   It's a pretty well established notion that people who bitch on the internet generally don't actually *do* anything – and if one or two people stop coming to DC that's not going to have any impact.

The reason I have no sympathy for parking complainers is that I have a car in the city and I generally get one ticket every 5 years or so.   If you bother to follow the law, once in a long while you'll get unjustly ticketed (and it's easy enough to write a letter and get it dropped) – but it's overwhelmingly the case that most tickets are earned.

Let me get this straight - are you defending this ridiculous policy…the one outlined in the beginning of this thread?

Doomie's favorite flavor must be boot black because he often proves how much he just luuuvvves licking boots.  ::)

Must have been a hardcore Nazi in a past life. Totally fits the MO.

they need to put some white people in charge
;)

ggw wrote:
I am not complaining about receiving a ticket - just or unjust.  There was no law to follow in this case.  Unless the law is don't park in the city more than once every six months.  And a letter of appeal won't suffice.

I really shouldn't be as surprised as I am.  This is just typical laziness from the typically incompetent DC government.  Their employees don't want to have to do any actual work so they come up with the ridiculous criteria of "you have been spotted parked in the city more than once in a 180 day period" to shift the burden of proof (and the burden of doing all the legwork) onto somebody else.

Arthwys wrote:
It's pretty much to make sure people who have moved into the city aren't skipping out on paying for a residential parking permit. 

When I first moved to DC it took forever to get a residential parking permit because to get it, you need your car registered in the district, which needs a dc driver's license, which needs proof of residency, which if one doesn't have a lease and you aren't on any of the utility bills, is a little tough.  For those two months I was at work in Maryland most of the day, and so could legally parking all night starting at 6:01pm.  Eventually they gave me a ticket for always being parked in the neighborhood but not having any DC plates or parking permit. 

I could see how frequenting the 9:30 club a lot (and hence having one's car in the area often at night) might make parking enforcement think you're a registration dodger.

This, pretty much.  (Although I think they care less about the $10/year residential parking permit and more about the $72/year registration.)

Jaguar wrote:
Doomie's favorite flavor must be boot black because he often proves how much he just luuuvvves licking boots.  ::)

Must have been a hardcore Nazi in a past life. Totally fits the MO.

Wow you really are an asshole.

Herr wrote:
If you bother to follow the law, once in a long while you'll get unjustly ticketed (and it's easy enough to write a letter and get it dropped) – but it's overwhelmingly the case that most tickets are earned.

And this, pretty much.

I'm currently appealing a ticket that I got while parked on Georgia Avenue for a show at the 9:30 Club on a Thursday night… which turns out to be when there's street cleaning for Georgia Avenue.  However, when I went back to the "scene of the crime," it turns out that the parking-related signs closest to where I parked didn't include a sign about the street cleaning.

I think in 9 years in the city, I've received 4 or 5 parking tickets.  Two were unjustified; the others were cases where there was a sign and I didn't notice it.

ggw wrote:

Frank wrote:
So if you enter DC more than once every six months you have to register it with them?

???

Yes.

And you must renew this privilege every six months.

-If you are a recurring visitor (frequent short term visits) report to a DMV service location and prove non-residency by presenting an original lease, deed or mortgage statement or a utility bill no more than 60-days old. The documents must be in the name of the registered owner of the vehicle. You must also provide a copy of your out-of-state license and vehicle registration. You will then be exempted for a 180-day period.

What happens after the 180-day exemption period?

If you receive another warning notice, you may repeat the exemption process above.

This does seem asinine.  They ought to let you fax them the documents, not require you to show up with them in person.

Relaxer wrote:

Jaguar wrote:
Doomie's favorite flavor must be boot black because he often proves how much he just luuuvvves licking boots.  ::)

Must have been a hardcore Nazi in a past life. Totally fits the MO.

Wow you really are an asshole.

seriously.  we were having a nice discussion here, and jagermeister shows up and start calling people nazis (thank you godwin).  apparently jag needs a few lessons in civility. 

oh, and:

…once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically "lost" whatever debate was in progress.
(…)
It is generally perceived that falling foul of Godwin's law tends to end up causing the individual making the comparison to lose their argument and/or credibility…

I just remembered I got a ticket for parking arse in (or was it nose in) down on the river in Georgetown. Eveidently you're only supposed to park **** in, whichever was the opposite of how I parked.

No biggie….but I was in G'town a lot so checked the signs out of interest and there was no notice to park in any particular way so so contested the ticket. I was told "you should've known" which is a typical DC government retarded attitude to take, so I told them they should know I'm not paying their fucking fine.

I never heard a peep from them over it.

Frank wrote:
so contested the ticket. I was told "you should've known" which is a typical DC government retarded attitude to take, so I told them they should know I'm not paying their fucking fine.

I never heard a peep from them over it.

now THAT is a court date i would have paid good money to be in the audience.  i'm sure it was awesome, from a third-party perspective ;D