Evening star., 1934-05-08
To the Editor OF The Star:

To the Editor Of The Star:
Allow me to outline in your good
paper my views with regard TO the
suggested ban on all-night parking OF
automobiles in this city.
1t is safe to say that all of us would
like to have convenient garages in
which to keep our cars, and it is
equally safe to say that several thou
sands of the present automobile own
ers never would have purchased cars
had they known that all-night park
ing might be denied them. Keeping
the old family bus on the streets Is
the only way many persons can al
ford a car and If deprived of this
privilege 1t would mean that they
would have to forego the little trips In
the city and out into the country
which a car provides Tor family at
comparatiJ ely small cost, which
means so much IN these trying times.
Some might say that persons not
able to pay garage rent should not
own cars; the same could be said
about persons keeping dogs in apart
ments-that they should not keep
dogs unless they could afford a house
with a yard for them to live in. OF
course it might add to the beauty OF
the city if all cars were swept off the
streets when the curfew rang, but
who would be awake during what
would constitute the "all-night" park
ing period to enjoy the open spaces
created thereby, other than the milk
man? And, for the sake of argument,
suppose that every present car owner
were able to obtain a garage, how
early in the night would they get
their cars off the streets? 1t is likely
that they would not be put away un-
til after traffic for the night had sub
sided to a minimum, and in the
meantime they would be parked along
the streets just the same, SO why all
the agitation about leaving the cars
parked a few hours longer each day
during those hours when there is the
least traffic?
1t has been stated that Washington
is one of the few cites which permit
all-night parking. Is it not fact.
however, that most of the streets in
Washington are sufficiently wide to
permit such parking, whereas the
streets OF other cities in many cases
are like alleys compared to the thor
oughfares of Washington.
The newspapers recently published
a police report to the effect that there
are garage facilities for So per cent
of the cars in Washington, but the
published report did not state in
what out-of -the-way places most of
these garages are located and how
difficult, if not impossible, it is to
get in or out of many of them. Sew
eral years ago, while living at Seven
teenth and S streets northwest, !
owned a model ''T'' Ford and for a
while kept it in a garage. In order
to find one as low as $40 per month
I had to go two blocks away and then
it was located in an alley so narrow
that even to get the Ford in and
out of the garage I had to maneuver
back and forth each time I entered
or left it.
1t would seem that the situation
should be summed up as follows
Cd Even If it were possible to find
garage accommoda for every car
there are many owners who would
have to junk their cars on, account
of not being able to pay garage rent;
(") in view of the fact that there is
a great lack of satisfactory garage
accommodation (the published police
report to the contrary notwithstand-
ing) the rents for those which might
be used would be increased 50 that