Frustrated Navy Yard residents are calling foul on a trick they believe lets drivers avoid parking tickets and registering their vehicles in the District — although that so-called trick is actually based on a mistaken belief.
In fact, even some of the District's own agencies aren't necessarily clear on the policy of whether parking enforcement officers may lift vehicle covers to view license plates and to check for residential parking zone stickers. The fact is, they can.
However, when the Twitter account @NavyYardParking shared images of a covered car with North Carolina tags that was apparently eluding parking enforcement around the 900 block of 4th Street SE, the Twitter user wrote, "I chatted with the @DCDPW parking guy, and he tells me that he is not allowed to pull up a cover on any car."
A spokesperson for DC 311, which takes parking enforcement requests, told News4 that ticket writers for D.C.'s Department of Public Works (DPW) are forbidden from lifting a vehicle's cover. However, Raymond Haynesworth, deputy administrator of for DPW’s Parking Enforcement division, told News4 that's not the case. He said he's aware of possible confusion over whether parking control officers are permitted to lift vehicle covers.
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They are authorized to do so, and they always have been, Haynesworth said.
But due to this inter-agency confusion, some drivers also may think that ticket writers are forbidden from lifting vehicle covers — believing they could, in theory, park forever without fear of a parking ticket.
Haynesworth of DPW Parking Enforcement said that steps will be taken to restate the correct policy with staff.
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Zachary Grayton, of DPW’s Abandoned Vehicles division, told News4: “Both Parking Control Officers and staff from the Abandoned Vehicles Division have the authority to go under the covers of vehicles parked on public roadways, which includes alleys.”
Since that Twitter post from @NavyYardParking, officers have now issued two tickets to the car shown with North Carolina plates.
Although parking problems are not unique to Navy Yard, the issue isn't sitting well with residents who say street parking is tougher than it has ever been.
“It just keeps getting worse and worse every year, just because with all the new condos going in; they’re not putting enough parking in for the amount of people,” one resident said.
A spokesperson for 311 previously said residents concerned about violations should call the Metropolitan Police Department, which can uncover and ticket illegally parked vehicles. However, D.C. DPW says they can actually handle those requests.
CORRECTION and UPDATE (April 13, 2023): An earlier version of this story stated a DPW spokesperson said that DPW ticket writers are forbidden from lifting vehicle covers. In fact, it was a DC 311 spokesperson. The information they provided was not accurate, a DPW official later said.
