For years Adams Morgan and other residents of the District’s Ward 1 have fought to find street parking, competing with shoppers and restaurant-goers for an open spot, especially on weekends.
The city tried to fix the problem by instituting permit parking in the neighborhood. But residents say that solution just created other problems.
Adams Morgan residents are now weighing whether to simply opt out of the “enhanced residential permit parking” program that reserves parking on one side of every street for people who live in the neighborhood. The program also provides “visitor passes” for those who visit residents regularly, like nannies and piano teachers, so they too can park on the street.
“People in Columbia Heights [where the pilot program is in place] have told me for the first time in years in years they’ve been able to find a parking spot,” said Councilman Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, who pushed to create the new program.
But residents aren’t so sure, and one section of the ward — Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1D, representing Mount Pleasant — already voted to opt out of the program because residents think it will only cause additional problems.
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“While there may be a problem with customer parking around the [shopping centers] in Columbia Heights, there’s no such problem here, and the customers for our small businesses do have to park somewhere,” said Mount Pleasant resident Jack McKay. “This was simply going to result in lots of tickets for visitors to our residences.”
Neighborhood businesses joined with residents in opposing the program in Mount Pleasant.
“There was no benefit for our customers, our employees,” said Alex Kramer, president of the Mount Pleasant Business Association and owner of Dos Gringos Café. “You’re constantly fighting the ticket person out there. So it just felt like another stress.”
Other Ward 1 residents are wondering if the “visitor parking passes” will mean more strangers parking their streets than ever.
Adams Morgan resident Denis James estimates that the passes would allow 8,000 regular visitors in the neighborhood many of whom would skip mass transit and drive now that parking is available.
Graham admitted there were still kinks to work out.
“We don’t want to flood the neighborhoods with visitor parking passes either,” he said.
Ward 1’s ability to adapt to the new permit program could have consequences for the rest of the city. The District Department of Transportation is considering distributing “visitor parking passes” to all city residents, DDOT spokesman John Lisle said.
