WASHINGTON — Finding parking in D.C. can be tough, and planners working to ease the problem are now trying a neighborhood-by-neighborhood approach.
“We want to look at how we take city-wide policies [and] apply them at the neighborhood scale, without getting so tailored that it’s confusing for everybody who’s trying to come and park,” says Sam Zimbabwe, DDOT’s associate director for policy and planning.
He spoke Wednesday night at a community meeting at St. John’s Church in Georgetown.
Residents, business owners and others gathered in small groups to discuss possible parking solutions for the neighborhood, such as adding more parking meters and creating smaller residential-permit parking zones.
At the end of the night, they pressed stickers onto wall posters to indicate their preferences and left written comments.
“We should have the right to park within a block of our own door, as opposed to having people from everywhere park there,” Georgetown resident Clarisa Ringlien told WTOP. “Parking for everybody is difficult. Sometimes I just don’t take the car out because it’s hard to park when I come back.”
Charles Camp, president of the Georgetown Business Association, said he agrees that residents should be able to park near their own homes. But he says visitors coming to restaurants and shops should have to pay to park.
“They should meter all spots that should be used primarily for business,” Camp said. “I think people are not so concerned about how much parking costs when they’re coming to Georgetown to do business. They’re more concerned about ‘Is there parking available?’”
DDOT’s goal is to come up with parking solutions for Georgetown, and then try them out.
They have similar plans for Dupont Circle and Eastern Market. Meetings much like Wednesday’s will be held in those neighborhoods in the next few months.
