Crime & Safety

Commuters Game the System at Thompson Boat Center

The parking lot for the boathouse has become a secret oasis for free (illegal) commuter parking.

Commuters are using the metered parking lot, just off of Virginia Avenue, as their daily, free parking spot. Considering the cost of most paid lots nearby, the risk of a $25 ticket seems worth it.

Thursday, an annoyed whistleblower wrote an email to DC Watch, complaining about the cars taking up space on National Park Service property all day, without paying the meters and without penalty.

"On any given week day, most of these spaces are occupied from nine to five by office workers from nearby offices. No money is paid into the meters. All meters read as expired the entire day," this do-gooder complained to DCWatch's The Mail.

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WTOP looked into the situation and found this person's gripe was well-founded.

"The dirty little secret is that the meter maid does not come regularly so you can actually park without getting a ticket," said one commuter to WTOP, adding that parking in her building would cost significantly more.

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But thanks to the annoyed whistleblower, the "little secret" is out.

As WTOP reports, "Six hours later, at least three Park Police officers issued more than 50 tickets in the lot. Of the 70 cars in the lot at 12:30 p.m., 54 had received a $25 fine."

Sgt. David Schlosser from U.S. Park Police confirmed yesterday's crackdown in a phone interview with Patch. "We've done some parking enforcement there. ... My understanding is that there were a lot of tickets issued," he said, though he was not certain how many.

About commuters taking advantage of the lot, Schlosser admitted, "clearly there is some issue there."

But he said as the weather improves and there is increased demand for parking from Thompson Boat Center users, the Park Police will ramp-up their enforcement.


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