A mere three months later, I've finally posted them on a revamped East M/Boathouse Row page, where there first are photos of the Anacostia Community Rowing Center, followed by the new images from further up Water Street. (I also tinkered a bit with my main East M page.) Of course, as I'm writing this I'm realizing that it would probably be even better if I went across the river and took photos of the row from Anacostia Park--I'll add that to my To Do list.

There's actually a Master Plan underway for Boathouse Row by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and the Office of Planning. By doing this, " the District seeks to provide upgraded public facilities, improve environmental conditions, preserve existing functions and utilize remaining land to enhance and expand boathouse, marina, dock and water recreation uses." The DMPED info page on the Master Planning Process has a lot documents with much detail from the public meetings that were held over the summer and on Oct. 2 (which they don't seem to do a very good job of advertising, because I never heard about them). A handout from last week's Anacostia Waterfront Information Fair says that the Draft Master Plan is expected to be released by the end of this year (and I'm hearing there will be a public meeting in mid-December); the Oct. 2 meeting slides give a good summary of the plan alternatives being considered (and there's additional info on those here), along with long-range visions for the area.

In a few years, once the meters are paid in full, only five percent of the revenue goes toward meter and signage upkeep in the zone, and 75 percent goes to non-automobile transportation improvements in the zone, such as bike racks, sidewalk repair, etc.

There are a few numbers to pass along--so far in 2008 (from the start of the program on March 26 through the end of October) the Ward 6 pilot zone grossed a bit over $235,000 in parking fees, with it splitting pretty evenly between the 80 game days ($118k, averaging $1,650 per day) and the other non-game days ($115k, averaging $1,300 per day). However, it cost the city more than $860,000 to install the meters and signage, so the program isn't exactly operating in the black yet.

The current red visitors passes are scheduled to expire on Dec. 31--however, DDOT's Damon Harvey acknowledged that the realities of trying to send them out in late December (in the midst of the holiday mail deluge) and the issue of on-street parking enforcement for the inauguration means that it's likely DPW will be told to not consider the old passes expired until Feb. 1 or some other date.

There was really only one attendee who was vociferously against the pilot's restrictions; others who got up to spoke had concerns about portions of it, but given how these meetings can sometimes go, it seemed that most people were accepting of the program. DDOT's Harvey made sure to emphasize a number of times that this program is not just about ballpark parking--it's to get ahead of all of the expected development and commerce coming to Capitol Hill, Near Southeast, and Southwest, and protect resident and business parking before it gets out of hand.

There were no specific changes announced for 2009--however, it sounded like if there were changes they'd be put in place closer to Opening Day. Although most of the people who spoke at the meeting mentioned that they didn't really see any influx of ballpark-related on-street parking on the Hill or areas further away in Southwest, it would be wise to keep in mind two things for 2009: the possibility that the free Nats Express won't be running (no decision yet), and, on the flip side, the opening of two new office buildings within two blocks of the ballpark that will have three levels of underground parking that could become available (100 M and 55 M, and perhaps also the underground parking now being built in the hole just north of the ballpark, though there's been no announcements of whether any of these will be offering gameday parking). The potential lack of free parking could drive more fans to try to find on-street parking, but perhaps the growth of close-in garage spaces will mitigate that.

Tune in again in February when I'm sure the traffic and parking discussions will heat up for the new season! (Yippee.)

UPDATE: Don't miss my addendum, where I clear up that just because the meters haven't been paid for yet doesn't mean that the neighborhood won't already be seeing some of the revenue.