French Market by M.V. Jantzen.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Apparently its the policy of DDOT now to allow you to reserve hundreds of feet of on-street parking for private events. At least that sure seemed to be the case at the old Graham house, where Mark Ein lent his unused mansion out for a WHCD brunch on Saturday. Signs reserved street parking on 30th from Dent all the way up to R, and on R all the way to 29th. Then a coach bus simply parked on the north side of R, basically blocking one lane of traffic. This was a huge cluster$#%^ and GM is going to get to the bottom of it. (GM noticed similar signs on Q St. in front of the Bowie-Sevier mansion). It’s perfectly reasonable for street parking to be reserved for moving trucks or city work, etc., but it absolutely shouldn’t be set aside for a party simply because the requester is rich. For what it’s worth, Katharine Graham never pulled that crap. She used her lawn or the cemetery.
- But hey, GM hopes that didn’t ruin your weekend. How incredibly lively the neighborhood was on Saturday? GM only wished more people left their cars at home.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Relax, dude. anyone can get a public space permit to reserve street parking. you just have to pay. you sound like a little baby a lot these days. waaaahh.
I’m with Nick. I have gotten public space permits for reserved street parking for my wedding at Holy Trinity and for a rooftop event at the Car Barn. Just filled out the paperwork. It was set aside by the city not because I am rich, but because it provides an organized way for a large group of people to park near an event.
Also, enough Mark Ein bashing. Try and meet the guy, he’s not that bad.
Are you serious? How is something like this considered publish-worthy?
How would you know what Graham did? Did you even live in the neighborhood while she was alive?
Well, folks, if you lived a block away from the Ein/Graham manse, as I do, I suspect you would feel differently. EVERY parking space, legal and otherwise, was taken by the event’s valet parkers and limo drivers for about four blocks in every direction. Vehicles were parked in front of fire hydrants, in alleys, and were driving the wrong way down one-way streets. Through traffic was backed up for blocks, and for quite some time a bus was illegally parked on the north side of R Street so vehicles were only getting by by alternating in the one lane open.
And the notion that city streets can be “reserved” for party-goers and denied to the neighbors who rely upon them (very few neighbors here have off-street parking) is simply nonsense. I’m already thinking about how convenient it would be to get “reserved” parking for my family’s Mothers Day gathering at Clydes by”reserving” both sides of M Street in that block for all day Sunday. (If you make a donation to my favorite charity I may be able to scare up a space or two for you, but inquire early!).
There are alternatives. As a condition of its Zoning variance/special-exception, Tudor Place must direct guests to events much smaller than the WHCA brunch to an off-site parking lot and then bus them to the Tudor Place Mansion. In fact, it appears they were doing just that at the same time the WHCA event was going on.
There is probably no better example of why this sort of parking management is important (not even factoring in the impact on neighbors) than the fact that somebody at the WHCA event required emergent medical attention and the responding fire truck and ambulance could not get through the snarled up traffic. I personally stood in the intersection of 30th and R Streets trying to get vehicles moved so that the emergency responders could get to the site.
I don’t know that Mr. Ein had anything to do with this event other than to provide the venue. But I would encourage him should he be inclined to host anything remotely similar in the future to work with the ANC and neighborhood association to put in place a traffic management plan that would reduce the impact on the neighborhood.
I’m not sure how long GM had lived in the neighborhood, but he is 100% right. I lived here when Ms. Graham was alive and when she had big events she had guests park in her driveway and on her lawn, and made arrangements for overflow parking at the cemetery across the street. Neighbors who have lived here more than 30 years have confirmed directly to me that this was her practice for at least that period of time. If you have contradictory information (I have no idea if you live anywhere near here) I’d like to hear it.
The real issue, for me, is the obstacles such parking presents to emergency vehicles. I live at 26th and O streets. I’ve seen fire trucks stuck on the street when park goers and church attenders park illegally around the corners (the big trucks can’t make the narrowed turn radius). I’m willing to live with permits given for bigger events, esp. if there’s enough advance notice and the lanes of roads stay open.