Linked up: Parks, Billboards, Doormen and RPP

Shaw - A Vacant lot on 10th Street, NW between L and M Streets is planned to be transformed into a park [Renew Shaw and Greater Greater Washington]

Mount Vernon Square - Cary Silverman discusses the need for DCRA to crack down on illegal billboards [The Other 35 Percent and Lifein MVSNA]

Yale Lofts - District Chatter reports Yale Lofts is considering a video doorman.

Ward 6 - Councilmember Tommy Wells' blog introduces the Residential Parking Protection Pilot Act and engages in some Q & A.

Residential Parking Protection Pilot Act

Yesterday David Alpert of the Greater Greater Washington blog reviewed the proposed Residential Parking Protection Pilot Act. This Ward 6 pilot act, which has a hearing at 11am today, will require that one side of all residential streets within a RPP zone be reserved for Zone parking permit holders. Alpert stated without balance the parking bill will hurt business then followed up with his five suggestions to improve the RPP program.

I do not agree with the blanket nature of the program. In my eyes all residential streets are not equal in nature but these modifications to the RPP program appear to treat them as such. The armchair urban planner in me believes that in mixed use high-rise districts, such as Penn Quarter and Mount Vernon Triangle, the on-street parking on commercial corridors should be metered to encourage high turnover. Long term parking should be primarily in parking garages which all these new construction buildings have. Modest amounts of RPP can be setup on street segments that lack retail space. Having a resident's car, which has an RPP permit that costs $15/yr, squatting in a spot in front of Busboys for six days straight without moving will harm our retailers and in turn impact vibrancy of the neighborhood.

My proposed RPP alternative: RED=meters, GREEN=RPP

The above map mock up represents my rough draft vision of how parking permit zones and meters could be outlayed in the Mount Vernon Triangle (and surrounding area) considering the future plans for development in the Mount Vernon Triangle Action Agenda. My map preserves metered parking on both sides of streets that have significant commercial uses (such as 7th, H & K Streets). It also allows other streets that are purely residential and church uses to have both sides of the streets available for RPP.

Central Parking at 455 Mass

With tenants moving into 455 Mass the parking garage is now open. For the same price as a Subway footlong you can now get daily parking. Atleast for now...

Residential Permit Parking in MVT

555 Mass residents have begun to receive Zone 6 Residential Parking Permits this year after being denied in the past for "not being in the system". However the permits themselves aren't useful without the appropriate signage along the curbs.

Using a downloadable KMZ file from the DC GIS Data website I have acquired the data to map Residential Permit Parking Blocks. The dataset was sourced by DDOT and contains "polylines" and the metadata states the last update was 2/5/2008. I imported the KMZ file into Google Earth, made the polylines thicker and red, then saved the JPG image you see below.


There is a disconnect between what residents have emailed me regarding blocks they believe to be intended for parking and what this map represents. For instance I've been told the 200 thru 500 blocks of K Street should be RPP blocks.

As the Mount Vernon Triangle transforms from a sea of surface parking lots to a residential community more RPP designated blocks may be in order. While I haven't studied the issue in great depth my initial gut feeling is that K Street is not the right street for RPP expansion. With the retail on K Street you need short term parking not residential permit parking. Thoughts?