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The District’s parking enforcement regime is no one’s favorite part of city government, and with good reason: A recent inspector general report found that even some of the people giving the tickets don’t know the rules.
Not everyone has it so hard, though. Members of the D.C. Council have exempted themselves from all but the most serious parking tickets as long as they’re on official business. In practice, that means councilmembers have license to park wherever they want, whenever (the exception: ticket magnet Marion Barry, who doesn’t use his Council plate).
Just because the councilmembers get away with it, though, doesn’t stop residents from griping about it. Both local blogs and LL’s inbox are constantly filled with pictures of councilmembers parking badly. To deal with the deluge, LL has set up a new Instagram account, @councilgram. Your submissions are welcome at lips@washingtoncitypaper.com, or tag @Councilgram on Instagram and LL will repost your picture.
Here’s what’s on @Councilgram so far:
Councilmember: Jack Evans, Ward 2.
Violation: Parking in a no-parking zone.
Sentence: Evans positions himself as 14th St. NW’s very own Buford Pusser, driving the drug dealers and prostitutes out of the former red-light district. In honor of Evans, it’s time to get rid of some more lawlessness: no illicit parking for Evans on the now-developed street.
Councilmember: Jim Graham, Ward 1.
Violation: Parking in a bike lane.
Sentence: Additional pictures sent in by a tipster show that Graham parked in the bike lane so he could use an ATM. Some official business!
Graham lost his re-election bid, so the public has already imposed the harshest punishment it can on this image-conscious pol. Instead, LL sentences Graham to ditch his signature Beetle for a bike for the rest of his term—-preferably in lame-duck yellow.
Councilmember: David Grosso, at-large.
Violation: Parking in a no-parking zone.
Sentence: Grosso, one of the Council’s most vocal members on criminal justice, spent a weekend last June in a maximum security prison to learn about incarceration. Send him back for some more research!
Councilmember: Muriel Bowser, Ward 4.
Violation: Parking in a no-parking zone.
Sentence: LL captured Bowser’s unsavory parking job while she was at a mayoral debate. Alas, those same mayoral ambitions could put an end to Bowser’s days of parking like this. When you’re mayor, somebody else parks in no-parking zones for you.
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