ANC 2E returns for their March meeting next Monday night via Zoom at 6:30 pm.
There are several interesting items on the agenda, including a reconsideration of the topic of requesting lower speed limits on side streets (which was initially discussed last month) and the question of the future of Hardy Middle school (discussed here yesterday). But the item that particularly caught GM’s eye is a discussion on whether to request DPW return to ticketing cars in Georgetown.
You may or may not know, but DPW has essentially stopped writing tickets throughout the city for many common parking violations. This unofficial policy was adopted for several stated reasons. The first is that with the pandemic, people are having a tougher time taking steps to keep their cars properly registered. For example, if you just moved to DC, getting new DC plates would involve a trip to the DMV, which was considered too much of a burden (at least as of last year when this policy was quietly rolled out). And since DPW ticket writers couldn’t tell whether a car without DC plates (or a Zone 2 sticker) was a genuine resident who simply had not been able to get properly registered or just an out-of-towner, they stopped writing tickets for violating the 2 hour parking rule.
Moreover, due to short staffing at the adjudication offices, there was a backlog of tickets to be processed. Stopping the flow of new tickets was thought to address this as well.
Agree or disagree about this reasoning, the fact is that we are no longer in the same situation we were last year. You can get your car registered and inspected these days. So there is less of an excuse to be a genuine resident without the right plates and stickers.
And clearly a lot of people are abusing this situation! There are so, so many cars with out of state plates that remain parked on the street without moving for weeks these days. And hoards of GU students who decided to live off campus despite the lack of in person classes have also brought a whole lot of cars that would not otherwise be here. (They can theoretically get DC plates, but it would require them to get a DC license and have the car titled in their own name, not their parents.)
The ANC appears ready to request that DPW get back to the regular ticketing. It’s unclear, however, whether the agency will agree, but if you’ve been procrastinating getting your car’s registration up to date, you might want to get on that now. And if you’ve been taking advantage of the lack of enforcement for free parking, you might want to start making other plans.
The rest of the agenda can be found here.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
It’s actually still impossible to get a new license and registration at the Georgetown DMV. You have to schedule an appointment but there are zero time slots available for weeks and weeks. I heard they release cancellations at some random time of the day I can’t remember and if you’re super fast on the clicking you can snag one. Has never worked for me (probably since I don’t know what time to be vigilantly watching). This whole thing is aggravating in the extreme and I don’t understand why wwe can’t do everything online.
We still need a “furlough” from the meter maids for exactly the reason the Metropolitan mentions. I recently purchased a new car in Virginia. The dealership submitted the paperwork to DC’s DMV for title, tags, and a Ward 2 parking sticker. (Dealerships do this for new car purchasers; no need to go personally to the DMV.) However, six weeks later they (and I) are still waiting for the tags, etc. and I’m now on my second Virginia temporary tags. The dealership tells me this currently is typical of the DMV, given slowdowns caused by the pandemic (and probably also by the US Mails!) So, dear ANC, let the meter maids enjoy a further holiday š
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