Monday, April 24, 2006

More Press Coverage on Church Parking

As a follow-up to yesterday's post about the rally in Logan Circle, here's a rundown of local press coverage on the issue.

You can watch ABC 7's segment on the rally yesterday here. You may also be interested in today's stories from the Washignton Post and Washington Times on church parking, and yesterday's editorial by Terry Lynch, Executive Director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations. Finally, check out the DCist for another take on the rally.

A lot of people seem to be asking who they can contact to voice their concerns. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Contact your local ANC Commissioner. For those living in Logan, you can find your commissioner on ANC2F's website.

2. Contact DDOT regarding the church parking proposal. Contact information is available on DDOT's press release and in our prior post.

3. Another resident suggested contacting: William Howland, Director of DPW, and Michelle Pourciau, Acting Director of DDOT.

4. Contact Terry Lynch, Executive Director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations.

If you have any other suggestions of who to contact, please email us.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jack Evans office as well (http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/EVANS/newsletter/Newsletter.htm), but you will get no help from his office. He lost my vote and I hope he looses yours. The guy is a weak politican who will not stand up for the very residents that he says he respresents. Pathetic.

Anonymous said...

First off, I am pro Logan Circle RESIDENTS, but I found the editorial by Terry Lynch has the correct, conciliatory tone that this debate needs. We need more parking, but we need people to actually use it. Let's hope his voice of reason, devoid of race bating, can shine through.

Anonymous said...

Chris, I agree with you but Terry also stood behind the church leaders at that Rally. Bascially he gave me and other Logan residents that impression that he doesn't want enforcement. Kind of funny seeing that he made himself the chairman of the Logan parking committee that came up with the compromise plan to add parking spaces and ENFORCE the parking laws.

I wonder if he is for enforcement or not because his actions on Sunday make me question why he was the CHAIRMAN of the Logan parking committee

Anonymous said...

Hmm, I'm saddened to hear that Mr. Lynch was at what can be politely called an inflammatory event.

Anonymous said...

My understanding of this rally was the city-wide response to the parking enforcement issue. We have to realize that here in Logan Circle, there have been traffic changes implemented prior to the proposed enforcement. No other area of the city has had new parking conditions implemented yet, so they are more concerned about the enforcement aspect without a plan in effect. It was my understanding after having worked with Terry on the Logan Circle issue was that he supported enforcement, provided that alternatives and parking situations were addressed first. I think that any opposition on his behalf may be directed at a city wide enforcement. We have to realize that he represents churches all accross the city, not solely Logan Circle.

Anonymous said...

The churches have been represented at every level of this debate. Who has had personal meetings with the Mayor? Residents? NO! The churches. Who sat as the so-called neutral chairman of the Logan Circle parking committee? A church representative!!!

I fail to see where the churches have been excluded? If anything the residents have been the ones who have been left out. We have never had a meeting with the mayor's office and have not been contacted about the new taskforce. I am guessing the mayor will place a church leader on the taskforce and say he is representing the community.

Anonymous said...

I think that we should all be careful not to categorize this as a fight between "RESDIENTS" and and "CHURCHES" - we are all part of the same community. Many of our residents attend churches locally, and let's not forget that the churches are residents of our community as well. What's needed is for us to come together as a community to resolve this - how we go about that? I don't know.

Anonymous said...

"What's needed is for us to come together as a community to resolve this - how we go about that? I don't know."

We did come together as a community when the ANC endorsed the creation of a church/residents parking committee. We created a compromise plan that put in place new parking spots (150) with an enforcement provisions. Isn't that resolving the issue? For the churches no. That rally was a disgrace and a slap at the face of every Logan resident.

Any respect I had for Wheeler is gone. He was part of the compromise plan and agreed to enforecment. When he stood up at that Rally and said we should just live with double parking I found him to be a lier and I will never trust him again.

Anonymous said...

When Logan Circle wasn't such a great place to live, and crime and drugs were the rule here, the Churches still operated and tried to hold together some form of community. They have been there through thick and thin offering community services and have ultimately been greatly responsible for the great area that Logan is today.

Let's not forget that. Areas decline and rise again, and for the future remember, will decline again.

Let's think in terms of compromise - perhaps valet, etc.

Anonymous said...

Chris,

You and I know each other and worked on this issue. I respect you and I thank you for your support on this issue, but I have to disagree with your assessment of Mr. Lynch. Not only did he stand with the church leaders, but he has recently came out and stated that delay in Logan is a good thing. To quote him in the lastest Washtingon Times article:

"There may be further enhancements that can be done," in Logan Circle, said Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, who mediated the original Logan Circle task force for the churches. "There may be certain values of what can the government do more to facilitate more public transit options, there may be additional steps that the government can take."

I find Terry Lynch's words to ring hole and his actions to show where his loyalties are. I don't think it is a problem that he does support the churches viewpoint, but we as RESIDENTS shouldn't have trusted him to be a neutral party in this matter. His acitons show that he was less than truthful when he said he wanted to find common ground.

WE DID FIND COMMON GROUND. The residents of Logan and DC gave in to so much and we got crap for it. I can not express the feeling of anger and distrust I have for the so-called political process. It isn't about compromise. Its about giving into powerful churches.

Jack Evans and Anthony Williams care nothing for Logan residents. Evans personally knows nothing about what is going on in the area he reports to respresent. He is a weak shallow politican who has the nerve to say:
"I think the mayor has done the right thing to put together a task force to see if they can try to work this thing out." EVANS has no clue what went on in Logan or what his constituents want. The guy is a joke and I hope he gets voted out of office.

Anonymous said...

Last post hole=hollow. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

I had to laugh at this:

http://loganparking.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

According to the new signs, we can no longer park in front of our home at 11th & Vermont - ever. They have taken the parking away for good and posted no parking signs. Of course, I'm sure this will be waived on Sundays for people who don't live in the area. Meanwhile, we now can no longer legally park outside of the home in which we live. Bravo.

Anonymous said...

Anon,

I am sorry. I was the only resident who did the walk through with DDOT, DPW, church leaders, and other public officials. I knew that some of the parking changes being proposed would anger residents, but much of that needed to be done to compromise with the churches. The residents who were on the parking committee acted in good faith to get a deal accomplished. Too bad the churches lied to us and had no intention of upholding their end of the deal.

Yet, even if enforcement would have occurred, I thought the residents did get screwed. The new parking spots on 11th add congestion and some of the changes the residents flat out were against and weren't part of the plan. City officials seem to always side against the residents wishes and the churches seem to get their way. Kind of interesting.

Anonymous said...

Do you realize how dangerous it is to have to back up on 11th St., a busy street, and try to diagonal park? It is now just one lane of traffic which makes it difficult to do this. Diagonal parking on Sundays only would be fine. Whoever came up with this plan......sheesh.