CARTER HEADACHE: PARKING SPACE FLAP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85-00988R000600040004-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 26, 2006
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 25, 1979
• Content Type: NSPR

C2
Approved For e a,se 2006/127 t~b E00040004-8
i,uF ASiiINGTO ~'1' moral city is equaIlS up in arms. eo-
Tlwrsday, Oetaber 25,1979 ~
ple sad-they pay anywhere from $30
o of . . a.ng over their cars to
Carter Headache:
Parking Space Flap
President Carter, the nation's best--
known supervisor, is learning some
interesting things about the sensitiv-
ity of the Washington portion of his
far-flung federal bureaucracy. Things
he has learned:
? He can cut their pay raises and
survive.
? He can call bureaucrats names
without risking impeachment.
? He can take the "E" out of
HEW.
? He can question their pension
program.
? He can reorganize them -dizzy.
? But he runs into trouble when
he starts messing with their parking
spacesi
Begnning Nov. 1, presidentially
ordered free federal parking ends
here and in other government cen-
ters, from Alaska to Key West. And
the people here-20,000 drivers and
many more federal riders--are flip-
ping out.
Petitions protesting paid parking,
some with several thousand signa-
tures, have been sent to newspapers,
radio-TV stations and the White
House. Lawsuits testing the legality
of charging federal workers to pdraft-
ed, federal property are being
ed. Charity boycotts have been organ-
ized to protest the new rates that will
start off between $10 and $45 per
month and then, in two years, reach
regular commercial fees.
Even the director of the Central
Intelligence Agency, an Annapolis
colleague of the president, felt com-
pelled to ask for an exemption from
paid parking for his people, on
grounds that the CIA is remote and
hard to reach by bus. He got the
exemption, but most other freebie
parking will end Nov. 1.
The emotion (and reasoning) be-
hind the parking protest has sur-
prised many, and infuriated some.
It has angered federal workers who
say it is another anti bureaucrat
blast from the White House, a move e
that will doom some car pools
cut into the pocketbooks of lower-
parking lot attendants whose judge-
ment, and depth-perception, often
leave much to be desired. So wekae
to the real world, say the pro paid
parking people.
Whichever side of the fence you
may 'be on, it is safe to say the Park-
ing flap has generated more noise,
heat and anger than anything Carter
has done to, or for, the bureaucracy,
since he walked up Pennsylvania
avenue from the Capitol swearing in.
There were protests here, to be
sure, when Carter set a 5.5 percent
limit (later raised to 7 percent) on
federal pay raises. But that was noth-
ing to compare to the parking up-
roar.
Boycotts of the Combined Federal
Campaign have been organized at
HEW, Navy (the town's two biggest
employers) and other federal agen-
cies. Most of the uproar is coming
from workers in suburban areas
where transportation by car often is
a must, and local commercial park-
ing is non-existent.
Friday the protest will come to the
White House. By chartered bus, by
federal workers taking a half day of
vacation. Two groups-both from
suburban Maryland-have been is-
sued picketing permits by the U.S.
Park Police. They plan to bring 700
people to picket the president over
paid parking.
The Free Parking Underground at
one local Navy installation hopes to
organize a road-jammer Nov. 1. It is
encouraging all drivers to show up
with a $20 bill to pay their new 65-
cents-per-day-rate.
Government drivers and car pool
members say the paid parking is un-
fair in a city where public transpor-
tation 'leaves much to be desired.
They claim it will wreck car pools
(especially as agencies experiment
with varying hours shifts). And they
predict that residential areas will be
overrun with people who drive Part-
way and take the bus, or simply to
avoid paying for parking. Many claim
that expensive, new bureaucracies al-
ready are springing up in govern-
ment to handle parking fees, assign-
tentrsl Intelligence Agency Says
it aid not--as reported here yester-
daa---get exempted from paid park
iugbecause of its suburban (Langley,
Va.) location. CIA did get exempted.
But that was because comparable
cmercjal rates In McLean were be-
loW the Presit en4 s minimum guide
ling for parking charges. CIA work-
ers in Arlington and elsewhere *111
pay for parking.
;aid civil pWautsd For Release 2006/12/27: CIA-R?P85-00988R000600040004-8