It’s partly the convenience of Metro and the warnings about parking. It’s partly the fact that the Nats are not exactly pennant contenders. But what parking exists, both the pay parking near the new ballpark and the free parking at RFK, are going mostly empty.

According to a City Paper article (via JDLand, the relatively cheap 1,000-car Lot HH, under I-395, got only 18 cars in April 7 and has never had more than 100. Most other lots are about 20-30% filled. “They actually built more parking than they needed,” says Councilmember Tommy Wells.

They did indeed, and hopefully the rash of “parking isn’t so scarce after all” stories won’t just encourage Metro riders or bicyclists to switch to driving.

How about that performance parking? “The real problem may be Ward 6’ers themselves: People with valid parking stickers are driving to the games and parking on closer-in streets. Other than that irritation, the residents who walk to the games or who reside in the impact area say they’ve seen no increase in congestion.” Some say that’s a reason to scrap the performance parking rules, but the existence of the rules likely contributed to the very lack of congestion residents are celebrating.