For Release: Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021
Contact: Nick DelleDonne,
703 929 6656
DDOT Will Fix a Broken Bike Plan on 17th St. with Tickets
DDOT has a carrot and a stick and if the residents and patrons on 17th St. insist on being bad actions, DDOT will punish them. That is what DDOT said at an ANC2B meeting Aug. 17. Last week DC contractors, Ft Myers Construction and DCI, installed new signs for unsuspecting residents. This week the city began to issue literally hundreds of tickets up and down the street. Yesterday, about noon, a DDOT van pulled up at the Safeway and let off a meter maid who began ticketing cars left and right.
Now that the DDOT 17th St Bike Plan has removed most legal parking, almost all parked vehicles can be ticketed. That is how DDOT makes a broken Plan work. “Business will fail,” said Nick DelleDonne, president of Dupont East Civic Action Association (DECAA), which is advising people to fight the tickets.
The whole strip along Corcoran by the Safeway is illegal. TrueValue Hardware and McDonalds lost all street parking this week. Patrons are complaining that they cannot carry all their wares home on their back. We reported one patron emerging from McDonalds with dinner for his family found his car ticketed. What part of his week’s wages was that? Patrons are saying they will shop elsewhere.
The owner of Cairo got a $100 ticket. Picasso got four tickets. But DC government workers are being excused. DECAA has photos of MPD, DPW and DC contractors wantonly parked in no-parking zones with impunity. Yesterday a housing inspection emerged to find the meter maid had issued a ticket and got it revoked on the spot as government business. Two standards exist – one for them and one for us.
DECAA has begun a campaign against the DDOT 17th St. Bike Plan. It urges ticket holders to ask for a hearing and send tickets to CM Pinto at bpinto@dccouncil us who has refused to hold a public presentation of the Plan. “There is no justification for ticketing under these circumstances. We will go with you to the hearing,” said DelleDonne.
On Monday night, Georgetown ANC heard about proposed DDOT plans and pushed back. “We can do the same and get this reckless and dangerous plan revoked,” said DelleDonne. On Wednesday, Sept. 8 at 7 pm, Dupont ANC will consider a resolution for an extension of the 17th St. Plan to Florida Avenue. Plan on attending. We will post the link. Join our campaign to PUSHBACK. Sign our petition here https://chng.it/R6Z8QLyL
DECAA has scheduled strategy meetings on Saturdays at 10 am. Contact us to get the link.