D.C.'s Idea of Private Property

Why do you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? Well, in the capital city of the Land of the Free, the question is moot. Residents can't park on a driveway -- even if the driveway is on their own property. From WTOP Radio:

Beverly Anderson is mad as hell. She just started to get tickets for parking in her own driveway.

That's right. The District of Columbia is ticketing people who park their cars in their own driveways.

"This is clearly an attempt by the city to extort money out of property owners," Anderson tells WTOP.

Anderson has received two of the $20 tickets in the past month. Anderson has owned the Capitol Hill house (and the driveway, so she thought) for more than ten years and has never gotten a ticket. And she's not alone.

The law in question states:

"Any area between the property line and the building restriction line shall be considered as private property set aside and treated as public space under the care and maintenance of the property owner."

Basically what that means is most property owners in the District don't own the land between their front door and the sidewalk, but they are responsible for taking care of it. It's why you can get a ticket for drinking beer on your front porch in the Nation's Capital. You're technically on public space. It's also why the city can ticket you for parking in your own driveway if you don't pull your car deep enough into the driveway beyond the facade of your house or building.

To be clear, we're not talking about people who park in shallow driveways and let the rear of their cars block the sidewalk. The cars are off the road, off the sidewalk and in the driveway -- just not far enough back for the city.

So, when a private individual bullies someone for money, it's called extortion. But when an agent of the state does it, it's called public service. I think I have it figured out now.