Washington DC 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 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

[underpants]

1. "You don't have a meter"

I knew someone who got a ticket in Richmond and she asked the metermaid why. The woman said that she paid the wrong meter. My friend offered to put money in the other one (at the back of the car) Nope that won't do any good either. Why? "You don't have a meter"

Seriously true story-she was parked across from city hall while she went in to pay another parking ticket.

[bertha katzenengel]

11. oh, brother

:eyes:

[mattclearing]

2. Tell me about it.

A friend of mine got towed the other day, and they basically move your car to another spot a few blocks away, make you go across town to an adjudication office, where you pay $100 to get them to tell you where they re-parked your car.

And he said he's pretty sure his parking was legal.

The District government can spare millions and millions of dollars it doesn't have for baseball, but can't ignore thirty cents of lost meter change?

What a joke. Someone should cut parking enforcement's budget, as they obviously have too much time on their hands.

On edit, your link is to another story.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. your link is wrong

but yeah, they're fucking insane here

[DemBeans]

4. wow

You'd think DC would try to do something first about the crime rate, rather than put so much energy into some nickle-and-dime parking scheme.

I confess to being one of those who can never find change for the meter, although I've never had to gutter-dive for it (so far).

[Chewy_dKos]

5. April fools ehh??

[charlie]

6. Q. Alouicious Philpott

Riiight. Good one :)

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

7. I'm calling "April Fool's" on you.

I can't find that article anywhere.

The meter maids are STILL insane though.

[bertha katzenengel]

8. Nooooo! Too early!

:bounce:

Good article, though, eh? ;) I shoulda been a journalist.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. You missed your calling!

[dcfirefighter]

9. I think parking enforcement officers have sold their soul...

But I think that DC should charge everything it can get for parking. Giving it away for less is a subsidy to car owners and car commuters. Raising the price would mean less people looking for a spot and more people riding the Metro. Less people looking for a spot means less traffic.

http://www.progress.org/2005/land58.htm

I'm not sure what the money should be used for, perhaps decreasing income taxes. There are more cops, per capita, in DC than anywhere in the world, by a factor of about 3. Adding more won't do anything to crime. The schools already spend $10,000+ per student, adding any more won't make them any better either.

Maybe they could give a raise to the firefighters? ;)

[bertha katzenengel]

10. Welcome to DU, dcfirefighter

I hope this little April Fool's joke won't put you off.

Firefighters DESERVE a raise. You all should be paid at least $250k per annum for what you do. :yourock:

[soup]

13. well done. very well done.

:thumbsup: :D

However, you might want to crop the article to four paragraphs to avoid copyright issues... ;-)

[bertha katzenengel]

14. LOL I keep waiting for the thread to be locked for that reason.

Thanks, soup.