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Articles
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| Wells proposes parking regulations for stadium traffic |
VOICE writes, "
BY BEN WEINSTEIN
Ward 6 Council member Tommy Wells has proposed new parking regulations for parts of Capitol Hill and Southwest to help control what he called a looming crisis.
Wells’ proposal calls for installing programmable multi-space meters, increasing rates, imposing new time limits and extending restrictions to weekends on streets surrounding Barracks Row, the Pennsylvania Avenue retail corridor and the Washington Nationals’ new baseball stadium.
“We’re on our way to becoming Adams Morgan. We’re on our way to becoming Georgetown,” Wells said, adding that he wants to stem congestion and parking problems before parts of Ward 6 come to resemble those Northwest neighborhoods.
Wells hopes to get initial approval from the D.C. Council in January to have measures in place around the stadium’s opening day. Then, he said, he would look at Barracks Row and Pennsylvania Avenue. "
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“I think that there’s no heading off the disaster,” Wells said, adding that his “performance parking” proposal aims to manage parking so residential streets near don’t get overwhelmed by overflow baseball and retail parking.
Buying and installing the electronic meters will cost about $2.5 million, according to Wells. But he said the increased parking revenue would pay off that initial cost, after which money would go into increased parking enforcement, and streetscape and infrastructure upgrades.
Under the plan, certain streets around the stadium, 8th Street SE and the Pennsylvania Avenue retail corridor would get new meters programmed with rates and time limits adjusted to reflect demand.
Residential streets outside that first ring of highest demand would also get meters, but residents could park for free. Visitor rates would be less than those on main streets.
In the third ring zone, meters would be installed on one side of the street, with the other side residents-only parking. Visitors would pay for two-hours blocks, likely seven days per week, according to the plan.
Wells said his staff is still studying the exact streets, rates and time limits. But the main idea is to treat parking as a commodity with a specific value in order to change drivers’ habits and encourage them to use other modes of transportation, according to Neha Bhatt, Wells’ transportation policy advisor.
“We need to start thinking about parking as a commodity, a market good,” Bhatt said. “If we really think it’s free or cheap, we’re fooling ourselves.”
Bhatt said the costs are congestion and decreased revenue for area businesses, which lose potential customers when there’s little or no parking available. She said data gathered from other cities show that placing a value on street parking conditions shoppers to either drive immediately to a specific zone — with rates they are willing to pay — or find another mode of transportation.
Bhatt added that drivers searching for parking spots constitute up to 40 percent of congestion in urban retail areas. She said the plan aims to decrease congestion and ensure available space by setting rates at levels some drivers will pay and others will find too expensive.
Wells spokesperson Charles Allen said he expects pushback from the business community, as well as residents. He said the challenge is showing business owners the plan would encourage parking turnover by placing limits on spots normally monopolized by employees or other all-day parkers.
Cristina Amoruso, executive director of Barracks Row Main Street, said she’s optimistic about the plan. “I think it’s fabulous,” she said, adding that the new restrictions would discourage “meter stuffing,” allow more flexibility (the meters accept credit, paper money and change) and encourage turnover. “The more they turn over, the better it is. … If they don’t shop here, they’ll shop elsewhere.”
Southwest advisory neighborhood commissioner Andy Litsky said he finds the idea intriguing, but that he still needs more information.
He said the crux of any parking plan is adequate enforcement, “otherwise, it’s just a bunch of expensive parking meters.”
Wells also said enforcement is key. But he added that with 82 Nationals home games a year, plus special stadium events, “We do have a kind of transportation crisis looming around parking.”
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Posted on Dec 20, 2007 20:35pm.
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