Friday, April 01, 2011

Post from Karla Lewis

Dear Neighbors,

At the March 14, 2011 Community Meeting, CM Thomas and Dr. Johnson expressed that they wanted to empower members of the community to take charge and address some of the concerns and issues within their own communities. Parking was noted as one of the prevalent issues and a Parking Focus Group was formed. This Parking Focus Group will address the parking issues that have been raised by the residents residing in the Unit and 100 blocks of R St NW, 1600-1800 blocks of First St NW and the Unit block of Randolph Place NW. Since I have activity been pursuing these issues with the Office of the Council and DDOT, I was nominated and agreed to be the Lead for the Parking Focus Group.

Mr. Bjorge of DPW was present and answered a number of questions that residents raised regarding resident only parking. He recommended that residents meet with Mr. Damon Harvey of DDOT. Mr. Harvey agreed to meet with us on April 7th and walk through a number of options for residents to consider. Please plan to attend this meeting and voice your opinion on the parking options that you feel will best serve the residents, churches, and businesses within our community. Please share this information with your neighbors. The meeting will take place as follows:

Date: Thursday, April 7, 2011
Time: 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Place: Harry Thomas Recreation Center
1743 Lincoln Rd., NE
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 576-5642
Thanks,
Karla Lewis

5 comments:

Jeremy said...

YAY!! I'm glad you're empowering yourself to crusade against the current plague in our community!!!

Why do you have to hate on the positive growth the community is showing? These businesses are building a stronger community - shouldn't you be proud to live in a community that has such fine neighborhood businesses? Ones provide to the community (providing donations for neighborhood clean-up day), bring new neighbors to remodel and fill the vacant houses once occupied by drug dealers, provide healthy local food alternatives, and provide space for the community to come together.

I've never seen someone so against a very positive thing.

jbcarron said...

Is there an Anti-Parking Focus Group?

Unknown said...

I think you meant Anti-'Parking Focus Group' Focus Group. And I agree, let's start one!

Buoniconti Sisters said...

I attended the meeting last night. There is a legitimate concern (despite the silly comments above) to work on a solution to parking woes. We are all excited to see new business brought into our neighborhood and do not want to see that prevented as it makes for a vibrant community. We do need to figure out how residents coming home late in the evening can find spaces on the street to park. I, and my neighbors have noticed an increase in out-of-state cars parking after 9:00 at night through early (7:00 am). If they are residents, then they need appropriate tags and zone permits, if they are students, work on the hill for congress person or senator, or are active military duty then they are exempt but need to provide a letter from their employer attesting to this. This is the law in DC (Registration of Out-of-State Automobiles (ROSA)): http://dmv.dc.gov/serv/registration/ROSA.shtm

Try and be constructive in your comments. It is helpful to all of us.

Jeremy said...

1. We must all admit that at times, it is hard to find parking in a city, BTW - you do live in a city...

2. Are the out-of-state vehicles offending the posted laws? Are they parking longer than the 2 hour w/o a parking permit rule? If no, then they are within their rights. If they are, how about someone call 311 to have parking enforcement come through?

3. I'd like to see a summary report from Ms. Karla Lewis, (1) stating the issue at hand, (2) what lenghts have been taken to rectify the issue, and (3) what is she proposing?

We should all work together, as neighbors to see this to an end - in a public forum, such as this blog.