DDOT's Damon Harvey leaving DDOT for private sector

Recall DDOT's Damon Harvey who helped facilitate the implementation of residential permit parking signage on the unit and 100 blocks of R Street NW in Bloomingdale?

See this news item about Damon Harvey leaving DDOT.

Just FYI.

DDOT’s Performance Based Parking Czar Jumps to Related Private Sector

DDOT’s Performance Based Parking Czar Jumps to Related Private Sector

Damon Harvey to Join Major Parking Company

by Larry Janezich

Last night at a briefing for ANC6B’s Transportation Committee, Damon Harvey, manager of DDOT’s Performance Based Parking Program, announced his departure from DDOT at the end of the month.  

He has accepted a position as Vice President with “a major parking company working here in DC” and will be dealing with national “public sector solutions” to parking issues.  He will relocate to Atlanta for the new job and has purchased a home there. 

Following his departure, day to day decisions regarding the Performance Parking Based Plan will be made by Angelo Rao, DDOT’s Citywide Program Support Manager, until a permanent replacement is appointed. 

The Performance Based Parking Program is part of the city’s efforts to regulate parking more effectively, encourage alternate modes of transportation and to increase revenue while doing that. 

In March 2008, Harvey began implementation of the Performance Based Parking Pilot Zone Act of 2008 in two DC neighborhoods – Columbia Heights in Ward 1 and Capitol Hill/Ballpark Distract in Ward 6.  In March 2012, the program was expanded to H Street, NE.  DDOT’s stated goals for the program are to protect resident parking by providing higher curbside parking meter rates and more stringent parking restrictions in residential neighborhood, help businesses by imposing meter rates and time limits in certain areas to encourage brief curbside parking with a high turnover rate, and to encourage walking, biking and transit use in lieu of auto travel.    DDOT is currently laying the ground work to take the program citywide starting later this year in the Golden Triangle District downtown. 

Rao, appointed in April of 2012, is responsible for managing DDOT’s parking and streetlight programs.  In 2012, Rao held a series of “Parking Think Tanks” in many city neighborhoods to allow residents to provide public input on parking issues.  The meetings culminated in a “Parking Summit” last December where resident’s voiced their frustration with parking problems and issues. 

DDOT is in the midst of overhauling its parking polices, with major changes to be announced on residential permit parking, visitor parking passes, and short term parking permits.  The bottom line is likely to be that the price of parking in DC for nearly everyone will increase – in many cases substantially.