Dumb City Parking Rules: DC Edition

I've recently learned about (and been on the receiving end of tickets for) city parking rules that I deem to be excessively, for lack of a better word, dumb. Mostly because they are counter-intuitive, but generally because the sole purpose of most seem to be to extract (more) money from the visiting or short-term-resident District of Columbia population.

I also learned recently that when contesting such tickets, physical evidence is required. (I add this because in many cities - ahem, San Francisco - you can just bring in a camera, show the photos and zoom in on the relevant portions, and have the ticket dismissed then and there). //insert sigh of annoyance//. Contesting a ticket in DC via the walk-in hearing also means at least a 4-hour time commitment and tour through three separate waiting lines. Efficiency, thy name is not synonymous with DC government. 

Anyway, some rules I haven't seen anywhere else, and was not made aware of until recently. DC websites aren't terribly helpful for this sort of thing, and I find blogs by other citizens provide better and more information than the  government. Here's my $0.000002 contribution to the pile based on personal and anecdotal experience.

The more you know...

1. Parking a car with an out-of-District plate between 11 pm - 6 am is sufficient "evidence" to DCPD that you actually reside in the District. Even if you're just out to dinner late at night, you can get ticketed for not registering a car in DC. You actually have to apply for an exemption to park in the District during these hours, and I'm sure there is some crazy fee attached. I get that they're trying to make sure short-term DC residents register their car appropriately in DC. However, this could be done through a better warning system, lower fees, and easier exemption application process. Perhaps they could start with improving awareness of the exemptions?

2. Parking within 25 feet of a stop sign is prohibited. You'll get a very expensive ticket, even though the curb is unmarked (and this is legal in MANY other cities). Note that out-of-town drivers desperately looking for parking near touristy areas are often victims of this one. Easy money for DCPD but a really terrible, misleading rule (is it really that hard to paint the curb??).

3. Parking at a broken meter is only OK for the remainder of the time shown on the meter. Even if you report the meter as broken, get a confirmation number, and stick a note on your windshield AND the meter noting the broken meter, you will still get a stupidly expensive ticket. Good luck getting it dismissed.

4. To get a "No Parking: Moving Truck" sign that allows you to reserve a spot on the street for a moving truck 48 hours in advance, DC recently instituted a new process that allows you to do everything online, rather than go through your local police station. The fee went up from $0 to a whopping $50 + $5 technology fee for 4 hours of parking. This is more than it would cost to get a year-long residential parking permit OR to feed the meter for an entire day for the same amount of space. Fee information is now available on the website, which is nice, although I still think the pricing is on the high side. When I called to find out the fee structure (or any fee-related information, since nothing is available on the website), I was told "we can't tell you that". I thought all city government data had to be public? For the record, Mary Cheh did not respond to my question on this topic. Glad to see our diligent city councilmembers standing up for our concerns. Not that I'm bitter.

What absurd and only-in-DC rules have you fallen victim to?