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hear from a lot of people who complain about parking tickets they feel they received unfairly. Oh, the perfidy! Oh, the injustice! Often, upon closer examination, their excuses don’t quite wash: They didn’t see the “No Parking” sign. They were just a little late to their expired meter.

I’m sympathetic but I’m not that sympathetic. Then I heard the Curious Case of David Yacobucci. David, 38, lives in Fairfax

County. I will go into some detail about his commuting patterns because they are material to his case: Every weekday about 6:30 a.m. he drives with his fiancee to the Vienna Metro, where he parks his Ford Escape in the Metro parking lot. He takes the Orange Line to Rosslyn, where he works in the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service. In the evening he reverses the commute, exiting the parking lot by swiping his SmarTrip card. If David is to be believed, he

never drives into the District on a weekday.

That is why he was so surprised in October when he received a notice in the mail from the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles that

The Region

METRO

Restructuring of Bus Management Hurting Service, Some Workers Say

By Lena H. Sun

Washington Post Staff Writer

Metro has spent the past several months reorganizing Metrobus management to improve reliability and efficiency, but some frontline employees say the changes are hav- ing the opposite effect. Managers who are supposed to be on the street responding to bus accidents or helping buses get back on sched- ule say they are often tied up with administrative paperwork instead. As part of the restructuring, ad- ministrative duties previously han- dled by staff members at the agen- cy’s nine bus divisions are supposed to be handled by managers whose main job is to monitor bus opera- tions in the field.

The managers, previously

known as street supervisors, are as- signed to geographic locations and are responsible for responding to accidents and monitoring bus per- formance. Under the new structure, each also has to manage 25 bus op- erators. That means conducting the investigations and writing reports when operators have accidents. “Everyone thinks this reorg is go- ing fine, but it’s not working at all,” said one veteran supervisor based at the Bladensburg garage, one of

the largest of Metro’s nine bus divi- sions. Accident reports, for exam- ple, often have to be filed at the divi- sion office, which allows less time in the field, he said. “If you’re sched- uled to work 3 to 11 [p.m.], you might not get out on the street until 8 or 9 p.m.” He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The transit agency has long sought to give Metrobus a make- over because the service has taken a back seat to the subway, which car- ries more professionals and tour- ists, gets more resources and has higher visibility. Officials developed an ambitious overhaul plan last summer. In January, they began trimming layers of management and restructuring jobs. A board committee is expected to get a briefing on the reorganization to- day.

Officials say customer com- plaints and worker injuries have dropped because of improved com- munication between bus operators and managers. But they acknowl- edge that Metrobus’s on-time per- formance has remained about the same, hovering at about 74 percent. “It’s not something that takes place right away and you see imme- diate results,” said Metrobus Chief Milo Victoria. “It takes time to

change the culture at large organi- zations.”

He acknowledged that additional

paperwork means managers have had to juggle their duties. “It’s a bal- ancing act,” he said, adding that Metro plans to provide them with time-management training. Metro has also been short about 21 man- agers and recently hired 17, he said. Managers say paperwork has made it harder to respond to cus- tomers. On Tuesday, a bus operator was assaulted in Northeast Wash- ington, and a supervisor responsi- ble for Southeast was sent to handle the incident, said the supervisor who did not want to be identified. When an accident happened in Southeast, a supervisor was pulled from downtown, he said. As a re- sult, no one was available to follow up on a rider complaint about smell- ing alcohol on a bus driver’s breath on the 96 line, the source said. Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith said that there were two bus accidents reported but that she could not confirm the bus operator assault or the complaint about alco- hol. The bus operator apparently did not report the assault to the bus operations center but to Metro Transit Police. Smith said she would follow up.

he had an overdue parking ticket. According to the letter, at 11:05 a.m. Sept. 26, 2008 — a Friday — a ticket was written to a vehicle bearing Virginia license plates YBA7225, which was illegally parked in a residential area in the 2000 block of Fourth Street NE. Because the $30 ticket had not been paid on time, David owed $60. David was perplexed. He didn’t remember even being in the District. He decided to fight the ticket. He mailed in an adjudication form, claiming innocence. He was informed he was still liable. He gave his fiancee power of attorney to contest the ticket in his place at a hearing in December. The DMV excused the penalty but found him liable for the original $30 infraction.

David’s friends said he should

just pay up. He refused. Then, on April 2, he received another Notice of Unsatisfied Parking Tickets. A ticket had been issued at 11:04 a.m. Feb. 24, and another at 10:58 a.m. Feb. 25, both in the same block of Fourth Street. The fines were again overdue and had grown to $120.

“So here I am, glad I didn’t follow my lifelong friends’ advice to pay

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JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON

An Existential Parking Conundrum: How Can You Prove You Aren’t Where You Aren’t?

office at Metro and requested his SmarTrip records. They showed that on the dates in question David entered the Vienna turnstiles about 7:10 a.m., exited Rosslyn about 20 minutes later, reentered Rosslyn around 4:45 in the afternoon, exited Vienna about 5:10 p.m. and had $4.50 deducted for parking. But, said the DMV, although that

BY JOHN KELLY — THE WASHINGTON POST

David Yacobucci of Fairfax keeps getting parking tickets from the D.C. DMV. Just one problem: He says records show he was elsewhere.

the first one,” David said. He got copies of the parking

tickets from the DMV. (He had never seen them.) They showed the offending vehicle was a Ford pickup; David drives a Ford SUV. He contacted the general counsel’s

may prove David’s SmarTrip was used to enter and exit the Metro, it does not prove his vehicle wasn’t parked in the 2000 block of Fourth Street NE. He was contacted by a collection agency. On April 4, David woke up at 3 a.m. with an idea. He went online to the Virginia DMV Web site and ordered new plates. The plates arrived April 14, and he immediately put them on his vehicle. Two months later he received a notice that on May 18 his vehicle — with the old plates, the plates he swears are sitting on the floor of his garage in Fairfax (David says he didn’t know you’re supposed to turn them in) — was illegally parked on Fourth Street NE.

“I can’t even begin to give a plausible reason for why it’s happening,” David said.

I contacted the D.C. DMV, and

yesterday a spokeswoman told me that, “based on the confusion with the make and model of the vehicle,” it would give David the benefit of the doubt and dismiss the infractions. It is at a loss to explain this “anomaly.” I see three possibilities: 1. Somehow, the Virginia DMV made two sets of YBA7225 license plates. A Virginia DMV spokeswoman said no one there could recall that ever happening. 2. The parking enforcement officer is making a mistake when entering the violating vehicle’s plate number.

3. David is totally scamming

everyone or suffers from some sort of amnesia.

David is glad his fines have been

waived but is still troubled by the episode and fearful that the 2000 block of Fourth Street NE will come back to haunt him. “How do you prove that you

weren’t in one place?” he asked. That is a perhaps a question best suited for Mr. Kafka.

Give to Camp, Enjoy a Meal!

There’s just one week left in our Send a Kid to Camp fund drive. To

give you even more incentive to donate to Moss Hollow, the summer camp for at-risk kids, our friends at Clyde’s are offering gift certificates to anyone who donates between now and July 24. Donate $125 dollars and you’ll receive a $25 gift certificate for a meal at Clyde’s. Donate $200 and you’ll receive a $50 gift certificate. It’s their way of saying thank you for participating.

Here’s some more good news: A

very generous donor has offered to match each donation made between now and the end of our campaign, up to $75,000. Double our pleasure! To make your tax-deductible gift, send a check or money order, payable to “Send a Kid to Camp,” to P.O. Box 96237, Washington, D.C. 20090-6237. Or contribute online by going to www.washingtonpost. com/camp and clicking on the donation link. To use MasterCard or Visa by phone, call 202-334-5100 and follow the instructions on our taped message.

Been caught in bureaucratic purgatory? Share your stories during my online chat, tomorrow at noon. Go to www.

washingtonpost.com/discussions.

R

Thursday, July 16, 2009 B3

DEVELOPMENT

Pr. George’s Board Approves Project at National Harbor

By Ovetta Wiggins

Washington Post Staff Writer

The Prince George’s County Planning Board has given devel- oper Milton Peterson the go-ahead to build a convenience store, gas station and fast-food restaurant on his property at National Harbor, projects that some say are at odds with the upscale development. Andre Gingles, an attorney for National Harbor, said the panel’s unanimous approval last week will allow National Harbor to provide guests, employees and residents with amenities not found at the re- sort, which is filled with hotels, specialty shops, condominiums and restaurants.

“There is in excess of a dozen restaurants there, but there is nothing quick to serve those who want something fast,” Gingles said.

Area residents and history buffs who objected to Peterson’s initial proposal had said they were con- cerned about whether the build- ings would fit the vision of the re- sort and detract from historic sites next to National Harbor.

National Harbor representa- tives had asked the Planning

Board for permission to build a Wawa store with a gas station near Oxon Hill Road and National Av- enue and a gas station with a 7- Eleven and a fast-food restaurant on the south side of Harbor View Avenue. William Cavitt, vice president of the Indian Head Highway Area Ac- tion Council, said he went “nuts” when National Harbor officials suggested building a Wawa on property that abuts Oxon Hill Manor, a Georgian-style manor house that dates to the 1700s. “It was not in keeping with the character of the neighborhood, the historical properties that are there,” said Cavitt, a community activist.

Oxon Hill Manor was home to some of George Washington’s nephews and a nephew of John Hanson’s, the first president of the Continental Congress. Many think Hanson was buried in the estate’s cemetery. John Petro, president of the Prince George’s Historical Society, said that some of the group’s members had mixed feel- ings about the plan because Na- tional Harbor is an important eco- nomic development engine in the

county. “You can’t have no development,

but you also have to have responsi- ble development,” Petro said. National Harbor officials agreed to withdraw their original propos- al and concentrate on building a convenience store, gas station and fast-food restaurant on part of the land that is farther away from Ox- on Hill Road and the historic prop- erties. National Harbor doesn’t have signed agreements with any store.

Gingles said the store will have architectural attributes similar to those of Oxon Hill Manor, with sand-molded bricks and large win- dows. “We didn’t try to duplicate the manor, but we want to enhance the venue,” he said. Zeno W. St. Cyr II, president of

the Riverbend Citizens Homeown- ers Association, said that moving the location of the buildings and adjusting the architectural style has helped change many opinions about the project.

But St. Cyr II said some resi- dents don’t want this type of proj- ect in National Harbor. “They say we don’t need another fast-food restaurant” in the Oxon Hill area, he said.

ROBERT MCCARTNEY

Chop a Tree, Save the Environment

MCCARTNEY, From B1

extension of the better-known Capital Crescent Trail.

Opposition has arisen along the trail in Chevy Chase, as well as in some less affluent (and less influential) neighborhoods such as East Silver Spring.

“Nobody wants to walk and bike seven to 10 feet from the trains,” said Pam Browning of Chevy Chase, an organizer of the Save the Trail coalition. The group has gathered 18,000 signatures on a petition to O’Malley opposing the plan. Signers “don’t want the cathedral of trees destroyed,” Browning said, and are worried about kids’ safety along the tracks. O’Malley should push ahead anyway. If done right, the transit line promises to provide a spine for the inner suburbs to grow in coming decades into denser but still navigable and inviting communities. Each light rail station can be an anchor for a walkable commercial or residential district, along a line running inside the Capital Beltway and parallel to it, including in Langley Park and College Park. Adenser population in those communities is a plus, because that’s the antidote to continued suburban sprawl. If we can concentrate more people closer to the region’s center and have them use more mass transit, then it will mean less driving, congestion and damage to the environment. The same approach has shown success in Arlington County, along the Orange Line corridor.

“The city and inner suburbs are places that should be growing, so that we don’t continue to expand across farmland and forest,” said Cheryl Cort, policy director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Another environmental group, the Montgomery County Sierra Club, has endorsed the Purple Line plan, albeit with caveats, such as preserving as many trees as possible and running the tracks on a grassy roadbed instead of a paved one.

Opponents of light rail say the benefits could be had for about half the cost by running express buses along dedicated routes. The downside is that bus routes can be canceled, so developers are wary of investing along them, whereas rail tracks are permanent. Even skeptics of light rail acknowledge that it’s more “glamorous” than buses, while decrying the cost during a recession. “I think the days of snazzy for snazzy’s sake are

over,” said Pat Burda, Chevy Chase Town Council member. She would prefer to see buses run along a more northerly route, along Jones Bridge Road, thus protecting the trail. The town and Columbia Country Club, whose golf course is split by the trail route, are seen as the plan’s most potent foes. Their opposition is understandable, given their location, but contrary to the region’s best hopes for a more livable suburban landscape.

A Better Alternative

It’s regrettable that the only Purple Line options taken seriously are light rail and buses. What the region really needs, in the long term, is a full-fledged, heavy rail Metro “Circle Line” parallel to the Beltway. That would be serious smart growth. It would cost tens of billions, and the

conventional wisdom is that it’s just too pricey. Our grandchildren will blame us for being cheap and short-sighted.

robertmccartney@washpost.com

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