DC Department of Public Works Parking Enforcement

We should combine the DC DMV and DPW into one department called the DC Department of Malfeasance. While some tickets issued are valid, if annoying, most of the ones I have received are written without anything resembling cause or due process. Also, the parking officials frequently park illegally to conduct personal business like playing the lottery. They are dishonest and will ticket anywhere for any reason assuming you will pay the fine instead of going through the process of contesting. There is no honor in this department.

On October 21^st, 2015 around lunchtime, I parked my car in 2 hour parking spot. I paid with ParkMobile and returned as the time was about to expire and there was a parking enforcement officer on his Segway, behind our vehicle. Meanwhile, there were 3 others parking enforcement officers all huddled a few yards away, chatting on their own respective Segways.
The DC parking enforcement officer who was behind our vehicle continued to take pictures of our car as I was saying goodbye to my boyfriend, so I interjected, asking him why he was ticketing the car. He said he thought half of the car was in a no parking zone and asked us «Why didn’t you say anything while I was standing behind your car?» and continued with «That’s a sign of sarcasm to me, I can’t do anything once the ticket is printed. I can’t tell you how many times I have been giving people tickets and they just don’t say anything to me, really it’s a sign of sarcasm.» While the repeated misuse of the word «sarcasm» bothered me a bit, the conversation was irrelevant. We had received a ticket that we could possibly try to fight in court, but who has time for that? The parking enforcement officer continued on his rant, talking about people trying to run him over after receiving tickets, etc. I told him that I thought this conversation should end as it wasn’t productive and he said «I can retract tickets but your attitude won’t get you anywhere.» At this point the confused member of the DC Parking Force was contradicting himself, as he had previously stated there was nothing to be done once a ticket is printed.
He then rolled himself on his Segway behind our car and continued to what looked like take pictures, but he was done ticketing us, so I couldn’t see the point in that. We warned him multiple times that we would be getting in the car to back up and asked him to please move and that’s when he shouted «YOU CAN’T MAKE ME MOVE!». He eventually left after causing quite a scene and I saw him around the corner chatting with the man who runs a hot dog stand and back with his buddies (the other three other parking enforcement officers on Segways).
Great use of tax payer dollars, I’m glad the $ 50 value of our parking ticket will be put towards hiring more uneducated people to ride around on Segways so that they can hang out together. So unprofessional.

I was given two tickets, at the same time, for the same infraction. Dept is run by morons and operates criminally at best.

This is the worst set up in my life. This is the second time in 2 months that l have gotten a parking ticket. They say on the meter that if you pay on your phone it will blink expired but the parking enforcement people will know I paid. That’s BS!!! Again this morning I paid for a spot in DC through Parkmobile and I got a ticket … Are the parking enforcement people not checking the meters to see if customers are paying through their phone ?? You can’t just ticket people wrongfully. This is so annoying and. Now I have to fight it and wait forever … moral of the story is do not use ur phone to pay the meter because they are going to ticket u

I would give negative infinity rating to DC parking if I can. I despise DC parking enforcement. Most importantly they put up really confusing signs one on top of the other (and some signs in negative sentences — please learn to use affirmative sentences). You need a special PhD to understand their signs. I bought a car recently and brought it home around 11:45 pm (yeah it was a long day!!!). I saw Zone 2 parking sign and I parked it there. Little did I know that there was also a rush hour parking sign on that street. I went to check my car the next morning only to find it towed away. When I found my car towed and parked on a different busy street, it has been ticketed $ 200. $ 200 on the first day of car ownership. I went to the DMV parking enforcement office on C street and wasted four hours of my life I will never get back. If they are DMV aren’t they supposed to have parking space for the public? NO! After the ordeal I was told I had to pay up because it is my fault I didn’t read the signs properly. No forgiveness even for first time car owners or first time oversight.
The dialogue from Bridesmaids came to my mind — «Ooh, This is a very strict plane that I’m on. ‘Welcome to Germany! Auf wiedersehen, a****le.’»

How do you give negative stars??? I was parked in a private buildings 15 minute parking zone. I was ticketed $ 250 and towed within 7 minutes. The building manager actually got the tow truck driver to return the car to me from where he towed it. The driver gave me the ticket and said he would help me fight it. The building has pulled its security camera video which completely backs up my story. How does Officer Wheeler get off writing bogus tickets? This is out right wrong and this man should lose his job. I’m sure there are capable people that need work. This lazy piece of crap civil servant should be fired and fined for illegally writing tickets. Now I have to take this evidence. A day off work and prove I’m innocent. This is so damn messed up I can’t even wrap my head around it.

The DC Department of Public Works kicks butt at ticketing people. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fan of getting tickets, but I have to give DPW props for its ticketing skills.
Every time I park my car in a handicapped spot, I get ticketed within 15 minutes. Don’t even think about parking your car near a fire hydrant, on top of an old lady, or anything like that. I guarantee you’ll get ticketed. Once I got ticketed for gunning it through a bunch of red lights even though I’m sure nobody saw me. The ticket just showed up in my mail. Sometimes I get ticketed and I don’t even know why.
DPW also collects trash, removes graffiti, fills potholes and stuff like that. There’s still a lot of graffiti and potholes in this city, and that’s why I can’t give DPW five stars. But overall, it does a good job of ticketing my car, collecting trash, and installing bike racks.

I strongly dislike you. A DC parking enforcement officer actually gave me a citation when my car was parked in Maryland! I live in Maryland directly adjacent to the DC border and at the time I was new to the area. I realized only later, after paying the ticket, that the officer had actually come across the DC border (not like a couple feet, but more than a block) into Maryland and given me a BS ticket for parking too close to a stop sign. A stop sign well into the state of Maryland, that is. This is DC Government fundraising at its worst and most pathetic. If you cannot justify a tax hike, then you are not deserving of more revenue. But instead they resort to preying upon all drivers with the relentless onslaught of speed cameras, traffic-​light cameras, and parking enforcement in order to raise money that they cannot persuade their electorate to part with in the form of taxes. If you cannot articulate a reason for more revenue in the form of taxes, then you as a government body are not deserving of it. DC’s Parking Enforcement are pests! They feed upon the DMV citizenry like parasites! Rise up!

you all suck. Get a real job, morons

Can you believe this ish happened again?! SAME THING LAST NIGHT! Paid with Parkmobile and received a ticket with 20 minutes still left before my time expired. Yet AGAIN, I am having to fight this and then wait 6 months for them to send me a letter saying what I already know to be true: THIS TICKET IS FRAUDULENT and a waste of my time and our court’s. I am starting to get really, really, really pissed off!

I have an idea, let’s gather a bunch of 4^th rate thugs and common criminals and create a government agency… let’s call «DC Department of Public Works Parking Enforcement» What do you think?

Parking enforcement officers are the scum of the earth. I mean, what kind of person makes it a life-​choice to go around being an a – hole to people they’ve never even met? I have more respect for prostitutes and drug dealers.

Disclaimer: This review is in no way meant to be discriminatory or mean spirited. Ok, maybe a little mean spirited… but rooted in real life events.
I used to watch that show on A&E called Parking Wars that featured Parking Enforcement officials giving out tickets, dealing with angry customers, etc. I gained a little more respect and appreciation for them (well…some of them) just from the perspective of people just trying to do their job, albeit a miserable one that causes others misfortune.
Well, I’m back to hating Parking Enforcement and it feels good to be home! I was a passenger in a car that was parked downtown during rush hour. The rule is cars have to be moved at the start of rush hour (as if there are not enough lanes available on some of the major streets) The rule doesn’t specify cars that are running and have people in them (which does impact tickets in other cases) but whatever; it’s not really the point.
The parking enforcement officer crept up on us and the conversation went like this:
Parking Officer: What’s the matter, you can’t read the signs?
Driver: I’m sorry officer
Parking Officer: Are you special (referring to cognitive capacity)? This would be a $ 100 dollar ticket
Driver: Shocked/​confused glare
Now clearly the parking officer’s line of questioning in addition to a sharp and condescending tone was beyond inappropriate. Not even worrying about if the car could legally be there, the bigger issue is basic communication and customer service. During this odd conversation, I thought about taking a page from the movie «Something About Mary» and blurting out «Franks and Beans!» but I thought better of it because that probably would not have helped. It would have been funny… but I don’t know about $ 100 ticket funny.
The kicker in all of this was looking at the parking officer, there appeared to be something «special» (using the officer’s word) about him. One of his arms appeared to be limper than a group of high school boys watching the Rosie O’Donnell show. Then the «clincher» came when the conversation abruptly ended and he turned to walk away. Only problem was he didn’t walk away… he LIMPED away… like he had just been shot with a sedative dart and one side of his body was in shut down mode. Self discrimination?
Note to parking authority:
Please train your staff on proper communication with customers. There are people out there who would not have maintained as much restraint as displayed in the above mentioned situation and that’s how violence happens. Additionally, using language that in any way can be interpreted as prejudicial is a major no no, particularly for someone in a governmental authority position. If you’re unclear on the officer in question, he is a middle aged gentleman with a Frankenstein walk and an arm that swings like a pendulum in a grandfather clock. Thank you.

Lurking under piles of slime, roach and rat infested excrement, lives the dc parking meter attendant.
Emerging from the bowels of the sewer underground to give out tickets, this particularly vile life form knows no regard for laws or rules. Tickets will be issued whether you have paid the meter or not. Care need not be taken if conflicting signs wayyy down yonder create conflicts with what is written on the meter. In this world, they are always right. Guilty until time is wasted to prove your innocence is the name of the game.
I’ve had several extremely upsetting experiences with DC parking enforcement.
1) I parked with a disabled relative with a handicap placard. The meter clearly states you are entitled to park for free for 4 hours with a handicap placard. I come back to my car and I have a ticket for expired meter although the placard is CLEARLY showing. I have to take pictures and waste time printing them out and mailing DC. (outcome not known yet)
2) I park and pay the meter. I return 2 hours later and there is an emergency no parking sign that WAS NOT THERE BEFORE, taped onto the meter. And I have a fine for $ 100 for parking in emergency parking although it states online the sign must be up several DAYS before. Some dc parking maid came afterwards placed the sign up and then gave me a ticket knowing my car was there before the sign was up. I guess I’m supposed to have a psychic mind knowing that where I was parked would become emergency no parking in a few hours.
3) I pay to park with the park mobile app, with the time expiring at 7:40pm. I return to my car and see a ticket issued at 7:07pm. Why bother to have an app to pay for parking or any system if the meter maids are so lazy as to not even check. Is it really that hard to do your job?
What is the most ridiculous thing is there is no consequence for them issuing bogus tickets. You are guilty until proven innocent which involves you taking time out of your day fighting tickets that should never have been issued. If I parked and I didnt pay and I get a ticket that’s life, I deserve it. But to have to waste time out of my day because of others incompetence INFURIATES me. There needs to be some sort of compensation or penalty for them just issuing undeserved tickets. Whats the point of the meters or anything. Whats to stop them from just issuing every car a ticket. You have to waste so much time proving them wrong its ridiculous.
I would rather die than pay these BS tickets.

OK, so who goes on Unilocal and gives parking enforcement a good review? Nobody, but in this case these guys are a severe joke. They give tickets for no violation and are complete jerks about it. First incident happened to GF who was visiting to find a rental and stayed with a friend in Kalorama. She went with her friend to the police station and got a 24 hr permit for the residential area. Guess what, they ticketed her rental car anyway because they didn’t look for the permit. She had no time to fly back to DC to fight it, so we payed the BS fine.
Second and WORST incident. A couple weeks ago, we pull up to a meter in Dupont area and its raining. The meter guy is giving a ticket to the car in front of us. As we park, he looks at us and points to the meter. I figure he is saying we are too far forward in the spot, so since the engine is still running, we back up a foot. We are reading the number on the meter to call our payment in, when he taps on the window.
He says «I can ticket you, you have to pay the meter»
Us: «we just parked here 10 seconds ago and are paying the meter»
Meter-​maid asshole: «Its raining, I don’t want to argue, pay the meter now or I will ticket you. I could have ticketed you, pay the meter»
Us: «we just parked, we are going to pay»
So what the fuck is up with that asshole? Are you supposed to stop in traffic, jump out and pay the meter before pulling into the space? He literally tapped on the window 5 seconds after we turned off the engine, and maybe 20 seconds after we stopped moving the car.
I thought about chasing him down and getting his name, but of course, the reality is that nothing would happen except maybe he would go back and find a reason to ticket/​tow our car (actually what I really wanted to do was knock a few of his teeth down his incompetent moronic prick throat). There is nothing worse than a complete imbicel with power. I mean really, what skills do you need to do that job?
Wanted: marginally employable mean spirited socially retarded power tripping jerks. Required skills: the ability to read letters (whole words not required), walk slowly, and push buttons.
Desired skills: Utter lack of judgement and intelligence. Chronic little-​man-​syndrome.
Disagreeable monkeys may be accepted on a case by case basis. Please contact the DC Parking Enforcement office.

Here’s a recent headline that will make you lose your appetite: «District rings up millions in parking ticket revenue.» (Retrieved from
)
«The District’s efficient corps of parking meter enforcement officers are raking in revenue for the cash-​strapped city at a dizzying rate this year.
Their parking tickets reap $ 1.5 million a week, or $ 219,000 a day, or $ 450 a minute or $ 8 a second, according to the folks at AAA, who are fond of dissecting numbers like the overall $ 80 million in ticket revenue last year.
The numbers are up sharply this year, AAA said, with more than $ 50 million collected by May…
AAA filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the District to obtain the information.»
Ugh. That makes me sick to my stomach– $ 50M from January-​May 2011! What they heck are they doing with all that money?