Church Parking a Key Campaign Talking Point in D.C.

At a recent candidate forum at a church in Washington D.C., mayoral hopefuls responded to ongoing issues with churches leaving the city with a nearly uniform policy: easing parking restrictions for Sunday churchgoers. Will Sommer reports the candidate’s statements:

“Former State Department official Reta Jo Lewis revealed that there's a 'war on churches' afoot in the District. 'How it started was parking,' Lewis said.”

“Vincent Orange agreed with Lewis that there was a 'war on parking,' citing his own church's successful effort to get an exemption from the M Street bike lane. 'If it was up to me, I would relax parking on Sunday,' Orange said.”

“Tommy Wells' smart growth ways would suggest that he'd be the least likely candidate to go to bat for free parking. But Wells went the farthest of all, promising to create a cabinet-level position in his administration to cover church issues like parking.”

“Muriel Bowser got in on the parking too, saying that there's no reason government shouldn't be able to help churches find spots for their parishioners all seven days of the week.”