Disabled drivers will get an extra two weeks of free parking in the District while Mary Cheh is learning to speak Spanish in Mexico.
The D.C. councilwoman didn’t get around to scheduling a meeting of her transportation committee, whose blessing the District Department of Transportation needs before it can restart its controversial Red Top meter program.
The program, intended to cut down on disabled placard fraud, forces handicapped drivers to pay for parking for the first time but reserves the Red Top spaces for them.
The program was halted for 90 days in March after advocates for the disabled complained that they weren’t given enough warning and that the city was making money on a vulnerable community. The 90-day suspension is now up.
Cheh can take up the issue when she returns from her vacation, a spokeswoman said.
Even after the council allows DDOT to restart the program, it could be months before it goes into effect, since the agency still needs to install about 1,000 more Red Top meters. DDOT is waiting for the council to act before it begins installing the additional meters, an agency spokeswoman said.
