The District has expanded its metered parking exponentially and enforces the restrictions aggressively in its desperation to garner revenues. Parking at any meter citywide costs $2 an hour from 6 am to 10 pm Monday through Saturday.
Personally, it just means that I actively stay out of the District on Saturdays. I reckon that attitude represnts a loss to the city in the form of potential lost sales tax revenue.
The city is very efficient at dispensing parking tickets, having its uniformed meter-maids zip up and down the sidewalks trolling for expired meters on Segways. With a couple of t
aps on his or her hand-held computer, the officer prints out a $60 ticket, slaps it on the windshield and is speedily off looking for other miscreants.
Going to lunch the other day, I observed one of these hard working parking enforcement officials during a few seconds of downtime from revenue enhancement. He was cruising hands-free on his two-wheeled vehicle in the middle of the street alongside a slow moving Metropolitan Police patrol car with its driver's window rolled down, engaged in a discussion with the pretty officer inside while he smoked a cigarette with one hand and held a cell phone to his ear with the other hand, conducting yet another conversation.
Personally, it just means that I actively stay out of the District on Saturdays. I reckon that attitude represnts a loss to the city in the form of potential lost sales tax revenue.
The city is very efficient at dispensing parking tickets, having its uniformed meter-maids zip up and down the sidewalks trolling for expired meters on Segways. With a couple of t
aps on his or her hand-held computer, the officer prints out a $60 ticket, slaps it on the windshield and is speedily off looking for other miscreants.Going to lunch the other day, I observed one of these hard working parking enforcement officials during a few seconds of downtime from revenue enhancement. He was cruising hands-free on his two-wheeled vehicle in the middle of the street alongside a slow moving Metropolitan Police patrol car with its driver's window rolled down, engaged in a discussion with the pretty officer inside while he smoked a cigarette with one hand and held a cell phone to his ear with the other hand, conducting yet another conversation.
4 comments:
The parking police are pretty aggressive where I work near downtown San Diego too, and I suspect for the same reason. Weird to read about a cop - or anyone - smoking in public. It's increasingly rare here. In fact, I attended an outdoor gala on Saturday and during the eight hours I was there, I noticed only one person light up - a guy who'd just moved here from Virginia.
They ride Segways at work and thus manditorily look like tools - you need to take some pity on them!
We love Segways. We did the little tour of New Orleans on Segways a few months before Katrina.
Sort of sad to hear of them being used to bring such unpleasantness?!
Communication is more difficult when the world is reading the blog over your shoulder.
Not "discomfort" here.. but more relating to some of your relationship disappointments.
Certainly we did not complain about the number of posts about the Colorado events.
Your life and your writing is interesting ... and well done.
We hope you will not disappear forever.
Let us know once in a while about your journey. Hoping you keep running. Best wishes.
My gmail.com address is mnsunshine.
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