See this email sent to CM Michael Brown regarding the Sunday parking issues associated with church parking:

Subject: Bloomingdale Sunday Parking Issues
From: A Bloomingdale Resident 
To: "Brown, Michael (Council)" <mbrown@dccouncil.us>


Councilman Brown-

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to me regarding the issue
of Sunday parking in the Bloomingdale neighborhood.  I have lived in
Bloomingdale for a year and half and parking in the neighborhood is
always an issue on Sundays.  The largest issue that I have involves
the influx of vehicles, most of which are from Maryland and Virginia
who park illegally to attend church every Sunday.  As you may or may
not be aware in the Bloomingdale neighborhood there are 8 churches.

I began addressing this issue with former Councilman Harry Thomas last
year.  While he and I didn't always agree on the issue, he did put me
in contact with MPD 5th District Commander Andrew Solberg.  The
Commander and I exchange emails more or less weekly about this issue
and often times I speak with the patrol lieutenant that is on duty on
Sunday.  While I appreciate the attention that MPD has tried to devote
to this issue, it shouldn't be their responsibility to come through
and write parking tickets for illegally parked vehicles.  The officers
should be devoting their time to patrolling our neighborhoods, in an
effort to prevent and detect the increase in crime that we are
currently seeing.

In a perfect world, DC would increase the number of parking
enforcement officers working on Sundays and allow them to come out of
the business core of the city to enforce parking in the neighborhoods,
like they do Monday through Saturday.  For some reason, DC chooses to
continue to provide "amnesty" to folks attending church.  I have been
reading articles that date back to 2006, when Anthony Williams was
mayor that discuss the District's unwillingness to ticket illegally
parked vehicles in proximity to churches.

In response to your tweet to me, I would like to draw your attention
to some of the largest trouble areas in Bloomingdale.  The
intersections of Rhode Island Avenue at 2nd Street NW; Rhode Island at
1st Street NW; T Street at 2nd Street NW, 2nd Street at S Street NW
and Seaton Place at 2nd Street NW, always have a large amount of
illegally parked cars.  These vehicles commit parking violation to
include, parking in front of fire hydrants, parking in no parking
zones, parking in bus stops, parking in crosswalks, etc.  As you may
or may not know, stopping in a crosswalk is a $150 fine.  If parking
enforcement came through and issued tickets on Sundays between the
hours of 9am and 1:30pm, the District could see a substantial increase
in its ticketing revenue.  More importantly, the District would be
taking a proactive approach toward improving the safety of residents
and visitors.  When vehicles are illegally parked on Sundays, they
often times limit the sight distance at intersections, which put
vehicles attempting to enter the intersection at risk of being hit
from oncoming traffic.  They also limit the ability of pedestrians to
be seen as they enter into a crosswalk.

What is most frustrating to me about this entire situation is that it
comes down to convenience.  Every weekend, I walk through the
neighborhood and see the amount of illegally parked cars in proximity
to the local churches, and as you get away from those churches, the
parking violations stop and available parking spots are plentiful.  If
folks coming into the District would take the extra minute and subject
themselves to a short walk, they would be able to park legally and
safely.

I appreciate you taking the time to follow up with me on this issue
and I look forward to working with you to continue to address these
concerns.


Yours in a Safer Bloomingdale,

Bloomingdale Resident