Petworthies

Oh Yes! they did

In a move that will send shock waves through Petworth’s organic shopping community, the D.C. Department of Transportation has installed parking meters on both sides of Taylor Street between Georgia Ave. and Kansas Ave., a/k/a the Yes! Organic parking lot. 

It’s apparently part of a citywide move to install 1,150 solar-powered single-space meters in areas that are picked for their high-turnover (read: revenue generating) potential — although the Taylor Street spots are not highlighted on the PDF map attached to DDOT’s announcement.

The DDOT, as announced on their sporadically updated blog, had to walk back a recent meter installation in Anacostia because the community wasn’t given notice. We checked with former ANC chairman Joe Martin, and he couldn’t recall DDOT presenting this to the commission.  Nor were we able to locate any written notice of this move on the Petworth listserv or in any constituent mailings from Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser, but we’ll keep checking. Anyone who would like to take this up with DDOT can call (202) 673-6813 or e-mail ddot@dc.gov.

There are a couple of bright spots. The machines take coins and credit cards. The single-space meters means no walking up and down the street to get a printed ticket to display in your window, and there’s always the chance that you’ll luck into a meter with time left on it. Weekend shoppers get a break; the meters are in effect between 7 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Meters are in effect Monday through Saturday. The meters charge the city’s “non-premium” rate of $0.75/hour.

As always, hitching your bike to the poorly secured bike posts on the Georgia Ave. side of Yes! Organic is free. —Adam Mazmanian