Friday, March 2, 2012
The Reply to CM Brown's Recent Email
FW: send to Bloomingdale
Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 9:27 AM
To: "Sadler, Carol (Council)" <csadler@dccouncil.us>, dmeadows@dccouncil.us, "Brown, Michael (Council)"
<mbrown@dccouncil.us>
Councilman Brown-
While I appreciate your staff taking the time to follow up with me, given our exchanges on Twitter, I would have expected to hear from you. Unfortunately, encouraging MPD to "monitor the area and assess fines for egregious violations" is not going to stop the problem. Former Councilman Harry Thomas, Jr had also asked for MPD to enforce parking in Bloomingdale and as you can see from the photos which are on the blog, Where Would Jesus Park in Bloomingdale, the enforcement by MPD has not slowed or deterred the problem.
When I first Tweeted at you, it was when I heard that you were looking at ending student's abilities to park in DC because it was frustrating neighbors in Spring Valley. While at first glance, student parking and Sunday church parking might seem to be mutually exclusive, they are not. While students studying in DC pay for the ability to park in the city, folks who attend church here on Sundays are able to park for free, with one big difference. Those attending church are often times illegally parked. As a result of DC not enforcing parking regulations in neighborhoods on Sundays, these illegally parked vehicles often times will never be ticketed. The result is extremely frustrated DC residents, who see folks attending church not being ticketed, for the same violation that Monday through Saturday would be ticketed by parking enforcement.
As a resident of DC, I believe that the ability for people to park illegally to attend church must stop. I had hoped based on your previous messages on Twitter that you were more willing to help us out in Ward 5, as we attempt to function without a current member on the DC Council. However, today when I received a forwarded message, crafted by your communications director, I now know that your offer was a gesture.
I assure you, that I will continue to address this issue with my neighbors. While I know in the past, this issue has not met with much success in previous mayoral administrations, I will press to make this a bigger issue until one of my elected officials decides they want to help out the tax paying citizens of the District. As I told former Councilman Thomas, you have a responsibility to the citizens of DC and not to residents of Maryland and Virginia that come here to attend church. Your responsibility to the DC residents is to work to address our concerns about illegal parking on Sundays, through something more meaningful then asking MPD to monitor the situation. Given the spike in robberies in the District, I would argue that MPD has more important things to do than write parking tickets because DC does not wish to send parking enforcement officers into neighborhoods to enforce parking laws on Sundays. I will remind you that DC does have parking enforcement officers who enforce violation in the downtown corridor on Sundays, but there has never been a push to have them come into the neighborhoods to do them same. It is ironic, that parking enforcement writes tickets to people on 6th St NW between M and O Sts, who don't move their parallel parked vehicles on Sundays for back in angle parking which
is permitted during the hours that churches in that area have services.
I hope that in the future you and I can work together to make a serious attempt at addressing this issue. When you are ready to work for the residents of Bloomingdale and other Ward 5 neighborhoods affected by this same issue, please feel free to let me know.
Sincerely,
Brice
Resident of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood
CM Brown's Office Replies to Emails about Illegal Church Parking
After numerous emails and Tweets to CM Michael Brown, this is the reply which was crafted by his Communications Director and forwarded to me from a staff member. Obviously, this issue isn't important enough to the CM to respond in person. The reply is nothing, but more of the same from another of our elected officials.
FW: send to Bloomingdale
FW: send to Bloomingdale
| Sadler, Carol (Council) <csadler@dccouncil.us> | Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 10:16 AM | |
To: Brice
| ||
| ||
Sunday, February 26, 2012
I'm back after a brief vacation
Bloomingdale's Continued Sunday Parking Woes
for 2/26/2012
Yep, still illegal to park in this spot.
Parking here makes me closer to God.
It may not be illegal to park like this in Maryland (where the car is from)
but it is in DC.
I'm sure this big Suburban doesn't make it hard for someone pulling into the intersection
to see other cars or pedestrians.
Yep, the sign behind the Jeep says No parking here to corner.
PS- The Lexus in front of the Jeep is MPD Staff Tag from a few weeks ago.
Seems she though parking illegally a block away was better.
Maybe the sign in front of my car doesn't apply since I'm rolling in a Land Rover.
Hey Mazda- That fancy brick area is actually a crosswalk! You can't park there.
Hmm...Maybe know one will notice that I'm parked in a Metro Bus Stop.
Apparently double parking is acceptable when you're going to church.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Super Bowl Sunday Edition
When you're trying to pray for your team to win the Super Bowl,
don't let a fire hydrant get in your way!
I didn't see a no parking sign?!
No parking from the sign to the corner.
What do you mean I can't park here and go to church?
It's ok to block someones driveway, I'm going to church.
Yes, we're taking your picture.
Oh, am I stopped in a crosswalk?
That sign can't be for me.
What bus zone?
All the cars in the photo are parked in the bus zone!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
The following email was sent to Reverend Streeter of Mt Pleasant Baptist Church:
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:19:49 -0500 To: "churchsecretary@viewfromthemount.org" Dear Reverend Streeter- I wanted to make you aware of an ongoing issue which I know was previously brought to your attention by former councilman Harry Thomas, Jr and ANC Commissioner John Salatti. The parishioners of your church park illegally every Sunday in the Bloomingdale neighborhood, blocking fire hydrants, parking in crosswalks, limiting the sight of vehicles entering intersections, and parking in bus zones. I have heard that in the past, you did not believe that your parishioners could be responsible for such actions. As a result, I have taken the time to create a new blog documenting the illegal parking of folks attending your church on Sundays. Please feel free to view it and let me know when you are ready to work with the residents of Bloomingdale to eliminate the illegal parking offenses committed by parishioners of Mt Pleasant Baptist Church. The blog is located at http://wwjpinbloomingdale.blogspot.com. I welcome any comments or feedback regarding this issue. Sincerely, A Concerned Bloomingdale Resident
Illegally parked vehicles around Mt Pleasant Baptist Church
1/29/2012
This must be the best illegal parking spot in Bloomingdale, this is the 3rd car there today.
What fire hydrant? I'm later for church and need a parking spot.
Weird how all the illegally parked vehicles are around only a few of the 8 churches in Bloomingdale
The no parking sign in front of this car must say, "Except Sundays"
I didn't see the no parking sign
If you're attending services at Mt Pleasant Baptist Church, this is like rock star parking. Nevermind the no parking sign.
Oh, there's a bus zone in front of our church?
Bus zone
Bus zone
Buses are small, they can fit in the single car space we left them, right?
Lady in red...or as I like to call her, the lookout. Don't want those pesky neighbors taking pictures of all our illegally parked cars and ruining the great illegal parking that we currently use.
One more in front of the no parking sign.
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