Testimony of MPNA in consideration of New Tools to address significant Parking and Traffic Increases in Columbia Heights
BACKGROUND:
The DC Council is considering new tools to address significant
parking and traffic increases in Columbia Heights and around the new
ballpark.
On January 30, CM Jim Graham held an evening
hearing to discuss these tools. The hearing began at 5pm with DDOT
presenting their latest data on traffic and parking impacts around
Columbia Heights.
Over 500,000 square feet of new retail
development and more than 1,000 new apartments will open by early
March 2008 (located at 14th and Irving St, NW). This is a follow-up
to the hearing I held on this topic last December.
DDOT will testify about the details of a bill to provide new tools for addressing traffic and parking problems associated with the opening of the new ballpark.
Since the neighborhoods in Columbia Heights and the area around the new ballpark will both experience significant increases in congestion and parking, the tools in this bill may be useful at both locations.
The DC Council is trying to find ways to protect parking for residents without cost increases for residents.
Some of the tools under consideration include:
· Customized RPP hours and zones to better protect residential parking
· Improved visitor pass programs
· Market-rate pricing for commercial meters
· Increased parking enforcement and fines
· Taxi zones to reduce the number of cruising taxis
TESTIMONY:
by Leslie Blakey
January 30, 2008
1. Thank you, Jim and members of the committee, for allowing our organization to be heard again on the subject of traffic and parking in Mt. Pleasant and the surrounding area.
2. Like many of my neighbors, I struggle with overcrowding on the streets of our immediate community and, Jim, certainly you have heard me complain frequently about the unavailability of legal street parking especially late at night when it is unsafe to walk alone for any distance, whether you young or old, male or female. Of course, in this respect, the parking problem reflects a larger, fundamental problem that we are not here to discuss tonight, that is basic safety from crime and violent attacks on our residential streets.
3.
This problem is not unrelated, however, since reducing overcrowding
by vehicles will require giving residents better options in the form
of public transportation and also providing them the security to use
it regardless of the time of day. In our neighborhood and throughout
DC, the public sense of threat from crime affects every choice and
decision we make, and we should never lose sight of the priority of
bringing crime under control here.
4. The subject today however is parking and here we should hold to the maxim of the medical community: first, do no harm. We should remove from consideration any proposal for traffic changes that would necessitate eliminating any street parking spaces in our neighborhood. Street parking is an essential resource and it helps to maintain the residential character of our community and discourage through-traffic and speeders. Street parking acts as a traffic calming measure and contributes to our community’s small town feel.
5. With regard to the specific parking changes under consideration, MPNA supports:
a. Customized RPP hours and zones to better protect residential parking: Smaller zones and longer hours will help a lot.
b. Improved visitor pass programs: This is very necessary as RPP restricted sections have expanded. There is an abundance of daytime parking places, yet contractors and household help cannot park legally. Also, many residents do not know how to get a permit for out of town guests and find when they try that it is very inconvenient.
6. With respect to a couple of the other concepts under consideration:
a. Market-rate pricing for commercial meters: This issue really only affects Mt. Pleasant Street for the time being. At the present time, parking space turnover on that street is fairly regular and finding a space at a meter is not particularly difficult. However,
b. In the future, we don’t know if there will be many people trying to dodge paying market rates in Columbia Heights by parking further away in Mt. Pleasant. We would like to retain the small town feel of Mt. Pleasant Street to the greatest degree possible and hope the city will work to discourage spillover parking in our neighborhood. Offering reasonable parking rates in the Columbia Heights parking facilities will help reduce incentives to drivers to search for spaces farther away to save money.
c. We do not want to further disadvantage Mt. Pleasant businesses by making parking more difficult or expensive than it already is. I would note that since the Giant opened in Columbia Heights, two super markets in Mt. Pleasant have closed. Keeping our little commercial strip alive is going to be a challenge; we don’t want to make it harder.
d. One improvement to Mt. Pleasant Street parking that would help make the street more attractive without discouraging shoppers might be to go from metered parking to the kind of parking permit dispensers that have been used in Adams Morgan and on K Street. Removal of parking meters under this system would allow more room for pedestrian traffic on the frequently crowded sidewalks.
e. Finally, I want to restate the need for a street by street parking audit, whose goal would be to identify unnecessary and misapplied restrictions, of which a casual walk around Mt. Pleasant can easily find many examples.
Thank you for allowing me this time.
Submitted on behalf of the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance