DOD Employees Face Fines for Illegal Parking

Alexandria residents complain of DOD employees parking in their neighborhoods

Residents in the West End of Alexandria, Va., are worried about their neighborhood streets. Now that the Base Realignment and Closure Commission has brought the Washington Headquarters Service building to their area, many are petitioning the city government to create new daytime parking districts.

Parking enforcement officer Cheryl Fuller has been patrolling Alexandria's streets for 13 years, but this year is like no other: The West End of the city has been invaded by the Department of Defense.

"I think there's a legitimate concern with the residents that BRAC is going to take over their streets," she said.

Patrolling the newly created parking District Twelve, Fuller looks for specific streets where neighbors are complaining that employees of the Washington Headquarters Service are parking. She's looking for city decals or parking stickers proving that the vehicle is legally parked.

"Any time I write a BRAC ticket, I log it down and I write it on the back of my worksheet so that they can go back and see just how many BRAC tickets are being written," she said.

In the three months since the newly created daytime parking district was created, more than 100 tickets have been written. Resident Dana Hisky said she's noticed a difference in the neighborhood.

"I have noticed that since these have been enforced, there's nobody here, which leads me to believe that the people that were here before were probably people that probably shouldn't have been here to begin with," Hisky said.

So far, fewer than half of the 6,400 employees have moved in to the building. It's expected to be at full capacity early next year.

Copyright WAMUo - WAMU
Contact Us