Cover Story
Acrescent moon hangs on the horizon, dividing black night from the dawn breaking orange over Union Station. A block down Massachusetts Avenue NW, the door to the old Gale school at 65 Massachusetts Ave. NW clangs loudly as more than a score of sleepy District employees in white shirts and blue trousers hurry inside the Bureau of Parking Services for their 6:30 a.m. roll call.
Known officially as Parking Control Aides (PCAs)—the meter maids and meter men of yore—they are assembled for a dawn assault on illegal parkers. Just 113 strong, these blue-and-white soldiers raise more than $60 million a year for the city. They also manage to alienate most of the population while doing so.
As four supervisors with gold badges confer at a desk at one end of the squad room, 23 ticket writers with silver badges collapse into chairs that line the walls, looking like an encounter group for compulsive yawners. At precisely half past, there is a sharp rap on the wooden desk and George Carr, the morning shift coordinator, stands.
“Today is September 14th,” he announces. “September 14th.”
The date of this Tuesday is important. Every parking aide is expected to write 85 to 100 tickets a day, and if a writer labors through his entire shift scribbling the wrong date (it has happened) scores of tickets could be voided in adjudication.
“Good morning,” Carr continues. “You know today is election day.” He urges the crews to vote in the council chair race, and there is an immediate and lively barrage of complaints and quips.... Continued 
Issue of Sep. 24 - 30, 1993
News and Features
- That's the Ticket
Cover Story - Naked Truth
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The Mail - You Be the Judge
The Mail - The Butt of a Joke
The Mail
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Artifacts - And the Winner Is...
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City Lights
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- Band of Susans
City Lights - Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra
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City Lights - Paul Hemphill
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City Lights - Stephen Carter
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