The growth of restaurants and taverns along Barracks Row is a positive development for Capitol Hill but has created various problems for residents living nearby. Solving these problems will take, I think, a multifaceted approach. As part of that process, Commissioner Norman Metzger (ANC6B03) and I (ANC6B04)–with invaluable help from Commissioner Garrison–have been discussing with DDOT some options to change the residential parking scheme near Barracks Row. Attached is a document that lays out the results of those discussions to date. We are releasing this “Draft Proposal on Changes to Residential Parking in Blocks Near Barracks Row” to generate a conversation with affected residents. So, please let us know what you think.
Update (Jan 16): With one exception, all the many comments I have received on these proposals came as direct replies to my Beat 26 email. Here is a preliminary summary: (1) general support for lowering the parking fee for the city Lot under the freeway, plus many other suggestions offered on ways to encourage people to park cars there and away from residential areas, (2) general support for extension of the Zone 6 Only area to, say, 11th Street SE on the east, and (3) general support for extending RPP hours to later in the evening. Plus … an offering of a myriad of other options.
This comment concerns the proposed parking solutions as well as the moratorium on liqueur licenses. It seems that the hill east folks are generally opposed to the moratorium, which is no surprise sense the noise and parking issues end at around 11th street SE, where I live. I propose that the ANC invite current and new business owners to collaborate with the ANC in addressing these issues in three ways as follows: (1) Business owners would pay an annual fee (based on percentage of use) to the district to offset the costs of their customers parking in the paid lot. Parking in the lot would be free to customers of participating business owners with validation of parking. An attendant would be posted to operate this process, thus creating a new employment opportunity and increasing the sense of safety for parkers. (2) Business owners would pay to subsidize local in ward transportation and pick up points to allow customers to park further out in hill east etc., (i.e. a small van or small open vehicle that would pick up 10 or 15 people at a time and drop them off on 8th street). One pick up point could be teeters, another the new YES across the bridge; places where the rental bikes are located could offer guidance. This would allow folks to park further away (allowing for parking and noise burden sharing across the ward) and would encourage local residents to walk to transport points rather than driving. (I confess that I sometimes drive locally for safety and laziness reasons, I’m sure I’m not the only one.) (3) Business Owners would establish a ward 6 rewards program offering local residents discounts etc. as a means of acknowledging and apologizing for the noise and parking inconvenience. I know this is touchy, but it would be a voluntary. This may help folks feel like one neighborhood that we are all a part of where we all work together to support and reward one another. There is no reason that we can’t all benefit from the rise of our area as a restaurant mecca!
I like the idea of extending the restricted zone to 11th street, but I expect that the local church on my block would be negatively impacted and would object. Other businesses that serve patrons for periods longer than 2 hours may also object.
Thanks for your efforts on this.
Kelli,
Many thanks for your comments. You have come up with a set of interesting, out-of-the-box ideas. As to the application of the proposed changes to residential parking, I think 11th Street will be a special case. We may have to do a bit of juggling to make the proposed scheme “work” on your block.