Howard U. Homecoming is this Saturday: parade, street closings, events and more

Howard University's Homecoming celebration, one of the biggest events of the year on the Hilltop, is this Saturday. That means parades, music, and lots going on, and it also means street closures around the area.

The Washington Post has a good guide to all the events. On Saturday, the parade starts at 10am and a good spot is near Banneker High School. The Pleasant Plains Workshop also invites people to come and watch from their spot, which is at 2608 Georgia Ave NW. There's usually a lot of floats, dancers, bands and more. (Although Complex magazine has a kind of meandering article about some changes this year to the events.)

The actual homecoming football game itself starts a 11am with Howard versus Morgan State. Later on there are block parties, music, and Brandy and Trey Songz performing on campus.

As for the street closures, here's the info on that!

Please note the following streets will be closed for HU Homecoming this weekend:

Yard fest and Homecoming Parade on Friday & Saturday, October 25-26, 2013. 

600 Blk Howard Place                    Friday & Saturday, October 26^th  12am-6pm

600 Blk Girard Street                       Friday & Saturday, October 25^th thru 26^th  12am-6pm

2100-2700 Blk Georgia Ave           Saturday, October 26^th  12am-1pm

600 Blk Florida Ave                         Saturday, October 26^th  8am-12pm

1800 Blk 5^th St NW                          Saturday, October 26^th  8am-12pm

400 Blk T Street NW                        Saturday, October 26^th  8am-12pm

600 Blk Fairmont Street NW          Saturday, October 26^th  12am- 6pm

1800-2600 Blk 4^th Street NW         Saturday, October 26^th 12am-1pm

2100-2200 Blk 6^th Street NW         Saturday, October 26^th     12am-1pm

2300-2700 Blk 6^th Street NW         Saturday, October 26^th    12am-6pm

400-500 Blk College Street NW    Saturday, October 26^th    12am-1pm  

Councilmember Bowser parks illegally, ANC commish spots it and reports it

This is pretty funny: Ward 4 councilmember and DC mayoral candidate Muriel Bowser's car parked illegally the other day, and ANC 1A commissioner Patrick Flynn spotted it. Flynn documented the offense on SeeClickFix, a website where people can submit service requests and violations and the city will respond.

Flynn emailed the photo to me, with a note: "Council members are not above the law! Who does this mayoral candidate think she is!?" As you can see, the car with a Ward 4 council license plate is fully past the "no parking or standing anytime" sign.

Of course it's a pretty minor offense, but he makes a valid point.

And this isn't the first time we've spotted a councilmember parking illegally while in the midst of a campaign: there was a car with a Vincent Orange for Council sign parked illegally on 14th Street a while ago -- complete with a bullhorn blaring that Orange favors aggressive enforcement of DC laws. Sometimes you can't make this stuff up.

UPDATE: I've made a few attempts to contact the councilmember about this, and have not gotten a response. As a matter of fact, I've emailed the councilmember or her staff a few times about neighborhood issues and have never gotten a response. You'd think that someone who's job is to represent constituents would actually respond. I've always gotten quick responses from Jim Graham and Jack Evans when I've emailed them about things.

City launches new visitor parking pass system for Columbia Heights, other parts of Ward 1

If you've ever had a visitor in town with a car, you may have noticed that parking for them can be tough: odds are they'll get ticketed. Formerly you could get short-term parking passes for visitors, but you had to to go the police station to do it, and even then it was tricky.

The city is trying to remedy that with a new system, which applies to any area with residential parking permits, plus ANCs 1A, 1B, and 1C, which cover our area -- Columbia Heights, Park View, Pleasant Plains, and Adams Morgan, among other areas (basically that's all of Ward 1 except Mt. Pleasant. Full map here.)

The idea is that local residents can apply for a pass which is good for a year, and a visitor can use it for as long as they want anywhere in the immediate area.

This sounds great if you have guests in town often, but DCist reports that a lot of people are opposed. Lots of folks see possibilities for abuse, namely selling these passes to people who aren't visitors. Critics like Greater Greater Washington fear that could worsen parking in these areas, and if the system fails, they worry the blowback will make it overly restrictive to any kind of visitor, with a parking pass or not.

I don't have a car, so maybe I'm naive to think that this doesn't seem like a big deal. A full year and no limit on how long a visitor can park somewhere does seem too long (who visits for more than a couple of weeks?) but it does seem like it'll result in much less hassle for those folks with visitors.

What do you think? Nice benefit, or too much possibility for abuse?

Trying out Car2Go: about the same price as cabs, sometimes more convenient

A few months ago I signed up for Car2Go, the newish shared car service. It's sort of like Zipcar, you reserve a car for a short amount of time, but unlike Zipcar you can drop off the car anywhere in DC that's a legal parking space, and they charge you by the minute. They use only Smart Cars, the little bitty city cars, and you don't have to worry about gas or anything unless it's really low.

So far I've really liked it. I've done a few trips, and in each case it's about the same price as a cab. It seems to be more economical for longer trips -- I took one from Columbia Heights to 22nd Street NE via another friend's house, a total of 6 miles, for $12, which I would assume is cheaper than a cab. Other trips, from G Street downtown to northern Columbia Heights was about $12 (cabs are usually $11-$13 for the same trip), and from 13th and U to northern Columbia Heights for $9, so that's a little more than a cab.

They charge $0.38 a minute, or up to $13.99 for an hour. For longer trips, it goes to $0.45 a minute after 150 miles, or $79.99 for a whole day. You can drive them out of the city (so maybe good for a little road trip), but you have to park them back in the city. You can also park them in residential zoned parking spaces with no problem, they have a deal with the city.

The Smart cars themselves take a little getting used to, the gas and brakes are kind of herky-jerky, and the suspension is really bumpy. They also are quite small -- I had a tough time fitting a big box in the passenger seat -- so they're really only good for you and a friend to scoot around.

There's also sometimes a demand problem -- a buddy who takes them frequently likes to show a map that shows Columbia Heights in the morning as a donut hole where there are no cars. I haven't had a problem finding them, but I've also not used them in the morning rush hour. The evening one has been fine though, I've only had to walk a couple of blocks at most.

In short, I'm a fan. Have you used it? What do you think?

Parking rules change then change back on Sherman Avenue

If you park on Sherman Avenue between Euclid Street and Barry Place, it might have been a rough few weeks. After the streetscape construction finished, the city changed the normal "2 hour parking-Zone 1 exempt" to 4-hour parking, meaning residents couldn't park there during the day or overnight.

After a resident complained to Jim Graham, Graham got DDOT to change the changed parking back to normal.

So don't fear, parkers whose zones get changed, you might have some recourse.

Here's the resident's email to Graham.

My tenants at a small six unit building on Sherman between Euclid and Barry (across the street from the Howard parking lots and firehouse) have been parking on Sherman for the last 15 years. The block was posted with the standard "2 hour parking, zone 1 permits excepted" signs for years. After the streetscape was done, the city put up signs on one side of the block indicating "only zone 1 permits" which was fine for my tenants. The other side of the street was posted with 4 hour parking for everyone. Last week, the city took down the signs indicating "only zone 1 permit" parking. Now, there is 4 hour parking for everyone on both sides of the street. My tenants now have to troll for parking on Euclid and Fairmont and other side streets, making parking more congested for residents on those blocks than they were before. And Sherman between Euclid and Barry sits empty of cars because of the new signs.

There are no businesses, restaurants, etc. on this block to necessitate 4 hour parking with residents excluded. It is very unfair to the few residents on the block and a bad use of city parking resources. Did Howard pressure the city to remove resident parking on this block? No one ever parks on this block, so why would residents on the block be excluded?