Disabled still unhappy with D.C. red-top meter plan

Despite months of negotiations, advocates for the handicapped on Monday said they’re still unhappy with the District’s plan to install hundreds of red-top parking meters and start charging disabled drivers who use them.

The program, newly revised in a bill sponsored by D.C. Council member Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, would require disabled drivers to pay for on-street parking — something they now get for free — but reserve one in 10 of the city’s parking spaces, marked with red meters, for them. The program aims to curb the use of fraudulent use of disability placards, which officials say is rampant downtown.