Last week, someone plastered fake DOGE parking signs over real parking signs in DC. The signs bore messages like “DOGE Parking Only” and “Violators subject to fines up to $10,000.”
The signs, DC Councilmember Charles Allen wrote in a post on X, get an “A+ for effort,” but are not real. According to his post, the signs were found around 2nd and D streets, Southeast.
“It might be an attempt at being clever and funny with local parking rules and I give them credit that it certainly got some people’s attention,” Allen tells Washingtonian in a statement. The signs are a reference to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the brainchild of President Trump and his now-departed special government employee, Elon Musk. “But I think it says more about the very real pain and disruption DOGE has wrought on tens of thousands of dedicated public servants here in Ward 6 and the very real benefits they’ve cruelly ripped away from Americans in need,” Allen says.
Since Trump took office, his administration has laid off more than 120,000 federal workers, making for an especially competitive job market in the DMV. DOGE and Musk have also touted a dubious $175 billion in government savings due to cuts to programs that include healthcare research and international humanitarian aid.
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) posted on X that it is working to remove the fake DOGE parking signs. DDOT did not respond to requests for comment before publication time.
In the last few days, DC residents have posted about the signs on social media. One Reddit user posted that they found a sign in Navy Yard. The fake signs follow the Trump and DOGE-mandated return of thousands of federal workers to offices in DC, which raised alarms for Washingtonians about a possible shortage of parking, including in Navy Yard.
