This notice comes to us from Tisha Washington:

On Monday, July 4, 2011, there will be several events taking place in the District of Columbia in relation to the Independence Day Festivities. In conjunction with these events, there will be numerous street closures and parking restrictions that motorists should take into consideration:

A Capitol 4th – Celebration on the National Mall: No Parking Restrictions 5:00am to 11:00pm

You are in a hurry to get somewhere in Downtown D.C..  After looking all over to find one, you finally discover an open parking spot, and when you go to put coins in the meter, the meter is broken.

You could follow the directions that the traffic operators have provided on the meter.  You know, that three-step process of dialing a phone number, reporting that the meter is broken, and then writing down a confirmation code to provide in case a ticket is given while you're gone.

But instead, you decide to skip the process because it would further delay you from getting where you need to go.

When you return, BAM: parking ticket.

Now you have no confirmation code to contest the ticket with, and you look like an idiot for not following the easy steps laid out for you.

It's happened to all of us.

I might be late to the party with this topic...if I am forgive me.  I decided to post this anyway because this issue is really starting to irk me.

Recently, I've been seeing more and more parking spaces in Downtown D.C. reserved only for motorcycles.

The notion seems pretty absurd, to me at least, for several reasons:

1. It doesn't seem as though there are that many motorcycles in D.C..

2. There are no parking spaces "reserved" for cars.

3. Parking in the city is already slim pickings as is .

Check out the photo below, which was taken at mid-day on K Street right in front of Franklin Park.  There were no parking spaces available for cars on the block, but plenty available for motorcycles...only motorcycles.  

I think it's pretty ridiculous to see cars driving in circles in Downtown looking for a place to park when there a spaces that are going unused.  Or should say, spaces that are "reserved".