In a DC neighborhood with lots of multimodal options, residents are fixated on parking

Sam's Park & Shop fails to take advantage of the Cleveland
Park Metro station (photo courtesy of Otavio) 

The November 14, 2017 Cleveland Park Citizens’ Association meeting had been a friendly environment, a chance to become more educated about my neighbors’ concerns. I was inspired by citizens’ efforts to bring business to neighborhood establishments, learned about planned projects intended to ensure runoff from future storms does not flood our Metro station, and listened to a resident plead her case that the powers that be should move the local farmers’ market from Saturdays to Sundays. All in all, everyone present at Adas Israel seemed outgoing and in a good mood, hoping to contribute positively to their community.

Then, parking advocates took over

Discussion pertaining to the neighborhood’s parking situation begins approximately 1 hour and 26 minutes into the meeting video linked to in the first sentence of this article.

It started with a quick reference to the sentiments of some local business owners, who sincerely believe that construction of new parking spots in the neighborhood would attract more customers. But within minutes a man sitting by the aisle had stated that the elderly owner of a small parking lot behind the post office should sell the lot to someone willing to add 30 more spots because he is “ready to die”. Automobiles already cause over 35,000 needless U.S. deaths each year, so what’s one more sacrifice?

The parking advocates’ demands piled on. Cleveland Park’s Metro station has “done great harm to us”, one male advocate argued, because “it has stolen at least a dozen [parking] spaces with those air grates” supplying the oxygen the 4,000 riders boarding trains there each day breathe. Those businesses that supposedly would benefit from more parking? Under unrelenting pressure from the advocates, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh said she has considered asking those businesses to pick up and move “out to the street,” enduring major disruption so we can “use the space behind to put up some kind of a parking garage.”

When the subject finally changed, one advocate fumed in her seat, the moderator having cut off her question-turned-rant to Councilmember Cheh.

We do a lot to make drivers and parkers happy

Though the 2013 Cleveland Park Transportation Study shows that walking and transit are the predominant modes of transportation for trips to neighborhood retailers, much of Cleveland Park’s planning revolves around parking. For example, the Metro station entrance on Connecticut Avenue’s east side is bordered not by transit-oriented mixed-use development that fully captures the economic benefits the infrastructure could provide the neighborhood, but instead by a strip mall with chain stores and readily available parking that could fool someone into thinking they’re in Woodbridge, along with an Exxon-Mobil gas station at which the parkers patronizing the strip mall can refill their tanks.

Parking in Cleveland Park is so abundant that, according to ANC 3C04 Beau Finley, some healthy neighborhood residents drive to Walgreens to avoid a five minute walk. A planned project to improve the neighborhood’s streetscape and drainage will not touch the 22 parking spots in the service lane paralleling Connecticut. The plan currently includes an option for new Capital Bikeshare docks at Connecticut and Porter, but Finley expressed skepticism as to whether the docks will survive inevitable changes to the plan.

And that strip mall next to the Metro entrance? It has been deemed historically significant, a pioneering example of strip mall architecture, preventing the property’s owners from constructing more profitable and customer-friendly transit oriented development. Thus, we are stuck with a Metro-adjacent parking lot complete with numerous empty spots, even if autonomous vehicle technology renders car parking obsolete.       

Extreme auto-centricity is not unique to Cleveland Park

It’s clear that currently, drivers have substantially more influence over DC-area transportation policy than transit riders, cyclists, and pedestrians do. Parking spots take priority over protected bike lanes and Metro station improvements. Scores of streetcar passengers on H Street frequently must wait for individuals who view the tracks as their own personal parking lot. 

Drivers have used cars to deliberately mow down innocent civilians in New York, Charlottesville, and several overseas cities. However, Vice President Mike Pence welcomed valet parkers with open arms to celebrate the passage of last year’s House Tax Bill at the National Building Museum, oblivious to the security threat their cars posed. Red Line riders wishing to use Judiciary Square Station, on the other hand, were told to take a hike to Chinatown in the name of security.

The day after the vice president’s speech, I headed over to Granville Moore’s (on H Street) to have a beer. I inadvertently sat next to patrons who were discussing their hatred toward those of us who choose to use non-car modes. Specifically, they feel cyclists doored by drivers are to blame for the crashes.

“We have to open our doors,” they exclaimed, while laughing and drinking.

I guess they don’t find it necessary to make sure they open their doors safely. These parkers adamantly expressed their hope that doored cyclists flip over and fall, as any cyclist who manages to stay upright in the face of driver inattention fails to entertain them sufficiently.  

In the end, we will overcome parking advocates

It is highly unlikely parking advocates and their elected allies will actually manage to turn their wishes, such as expensive modifications to the Cleveland Park Metro grates, construction of a multistory parking garage in the neighborhood, or free-for-all bicycle dooring, into reality.

However, they succeed by changing the debate. Largely due to their advocacy, infrastructure improvements that should be no-brainers (such as the Purple Line or new protected bike lanes) become hard-fought debates, while initiatives that should be subject to serious cost-benefit analysis (such as construction of an extensive dedicated bus lane network in DC or a second Rosslyn rail tunnel) have little hope of seeing the light of day in the near future.

Thus, citizens simply wishing for an easy way to get to their destinations are out of luck, and instead are forced to use their hard-earned incomes to sustain reliable revenue streams for auto dealers, gas stations, and ride hailing companies.

But though parking advocates may delay progress, in the end our transportation system will improve in spite of their efforts. Eventually, urban mobility will consist of networks of high-capacity, efficient trunk transit lines supplemented by shared autonomous vehicles and extensive active transportation infrastructure, allowing municipalities and businesses to reclaim parking lots.

Even as we await such innovation, many citizens have expressed a desire to improve the communities they live in. At the same Cleveland Park Citizens’ Association meeting parkers attempted to commandeer, resident George Idelson spoke up for multimodal improvements, recommending the city extend the DC Circulator route that currently terminates in Woodley Park to our neighborhood.

In response, Councilmember Cheh explained that she is working to extend the Circulator route up Connecticut to the National Zoo. As for further extension to Cleveland Park’s business corridor and beyond, the fight has yet to begin.