I really like Washington, DC. However, parking in most areas of DC is awful and it is because of that issue that I really have (in the past) considered dropping DC from my service zone.
65% of my clients live in DC. As the owner of a service business, it would not be wise to cut out DC in its entirety. I have been fortunate in that my DC clients either have a space on their property where employees may park or they live in areas not heavily monitored by meter maids.
Not only is it unsafe for employees to park in certain parts of DC, but even when I go to do estimates, I am often afraid of getting a ticket.
Case in point. I went to give a client an estimate in DC recently. As we started our walk through, I started to feel uneasy. I have been doing estimates long enough now to know when I will not win over a client. I typically can tell within the first minute. On one hand, it was clear to me that my company charges more than she is willing to pay, which is fine. However, I had my car parked 2 blocks up the street and meter maids were prowling.
Not wanting to be rude, I went through the motions—knowing I would not earn her business but at the same time, hoping that—at a minimum, to get out of the area without a ticket.
The ticket issue in DC is beyond horrible. And the tickets range from $30 to $100. Check this out:
Let’s be clear about the situation I confront as a resident of Washington DC. According to the Washington Post, the District issues about 1.5 million tickets a year. The Post notes this is more than triple the number of parking tickets issued in Baltimore. In fact, the Post goes on to argue, “parking control officers in the District–population 600,000–write about half as many tickets as those in the city of Los Angeles–population 4 million.” You read that correctly, Washington DC is the parking ticket capitol of the nation. SOURCE
Before leaving, I inquired about parking. The woman told me that she is able to borrow parking permits for visitors. So if she decided to hire us, the employees’ cars would be safe.
Upon leaving, I walked the 2 blocks to my car and sure enough, a $30 ticket.
I guess that there are generally thorns amongst roses. DC is a “rose” in the sense that so much of my clientele resides there. But the thorns are the meter maids and the ridiculous tickets. So pathetic. And such a scam.