If you’re going to be parking in metered spots in our neighborhood, make sure to bring lots of money. DDOT is thinking of raising rates from $6 to $8.50 for three hours. They’re also raising the rates around the Nationals’ stadium.
It looks like the city is trying to push people to park in the DCUSA parking garage, which costs the city $2.1 million a year to run and is rarely anywhere near being full — rates there are only $1.50 $4 for the same amount of time. A DDOT spokesperson also cites the 1300 block of Park Road as an example of why rates should go up — there are always cars parked outside the Giant, and according to him that block only has 6 legals spots while DDOT has counted up to 45 cars parked there. Six spots can’t be correct though, unless they mean 6 outside the Giant — there are a bunch all along the block — just look at Google Maps.
Hopefully this won’t affect retail in the neighborhood. They’ll need to make it well-known that you can park in DCUSA. I would assume it won’t affect people in the neighborhood too much, since odds are we won’t be driving in.
Photo from DDOT’s website
