(Parking) Lots of Wasted Opportunity

Yesterday, I wrote about the "High Cost of Parking. I was reminded that Capitol Hill resident and historic preservationist Stephen Morris commented about neighborhood parking issues last month, in a letter to the editor that appeared in the Washington Post:

In the District, Lots of Wasted Opportunity
Sunday, February 20, 2005; Page B06

As a taxpaying D.C. resident, I was pleased to learn from Spencer Hsu's Feb. 7 front-page article that the White House is considering turning over some federal land to the District. I hope that in determining what parcels are the best candidates, the survey takes into account not just remote outlying federal lands but congressionally-controlled land such as the numerous surface parking lots flanking Capitol Hill -- on Columbus Circle across from Union Station, for example, and atop the Capitol South Metro stop.

Not only are these parking lots an aesthetic blight (the lot at Capitol South Metro takes up an entire block), they are in a prime location for the kind of economic development -- offices, condos, retail -- that would create substantial revenue for city coffers. I have never understood how such prime land could be wasted for something as ugly and inefficient as surface parking.

STEPHEN MORRIS
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Two comments from Richard Layman--

1. When I first came to DC, the location of today's Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building across from Union Station was a parking lot. So it's not out of the question for things to improve.

2. One of the (many) aggravating things about Congress is that Congressional employees receive free parking. You'd think that would be anathema in today's anti-free ride political climate.

I know of employees that live on Capitol Hill within one mile of the House buildings that drive to work. (I also know of employees in Georgetown that do the same, although they have to drive farther, but still less than three miles.)

They do it because they don't have to pay for parking. If they had to pay $10 or more/day, like downtown office workers do, many would find other ways of getting to work. The 30s bus comes to Capitol Hill from Georgetown, and plenty of Capitol Hill area residents walk to work. Failing to charge for parking induces demand just as much as building new roads. This has led to a suggestion by the Downtown Congestion Task Force that DC government workers should have to pay for parking if they work downtown. See "Free Parking May End For D.C. Employees: Traffic Panel Offers Gridlock Solutions."