ROSA, RPP, Guest Passes: It's Complicated (Part II)

This article is a continuation of yesterday's discussion of the conflicts between the ROSA, Reciprocity, and RPP Guest Pass parking programs.  If you missed yesterday's article (which explains all the acronyms), it's here.

Can a guest of a DC resident park legally on a street zoned for RPP (Residential Permit Parking) more than once in a 30-day period? William Howland, Director of the Department of Public Works, says no, and says that anyone who does so may be slapped with a $100 ticket. But according to former ANC 3-C Commissioner Richard Rothblum, Howland is misreading the law.

ROSA, RPP, Guest Passes: It's Complicated (Part I)

Where and how are your overnight guests allowed to park if you live on a street zoned for residential parking in DC? This question has been batted back and forth on the Cleveland Park Listserv recently, and the Director of the DPW has weighed in on the matter on Second District Police’s listserv. The multitude of voices, each offering his or her own reading of the parking regs, has only served to make the picture murkier. Here are some of the factors in play.

First, DC will ticket any car parked more than two hours on a zoned residential street unless that car displays an RPP (Residential Parking Permit) sticker for that zone. You can purchase an RPP sticker for your car only if you have registered your car in DC and live on a street zoned for RPP parking. So, for example, if you live in an apartment building on Connecticut Avenue, there’s no way you can get an RPP sticker, no matter where your car is registered.

Now if you do have an RPP sticker, you are also entitled to a guest parking pass to give to your visitors from out of state or from other zones in the city. You might think that this pass would allow your overnight guests to park on the street and not get a ticket. Here’s what happened to a neighbor who had a frequent overnight visitor using the guest pass on his car.