‘wheat pennies bw’
courtesy of ‘christaki’

Are you ready for some frothing? Get set, but put your thinking caps on before you consume the media insanity that’s going to surround this.

Specifically, today’s story from WTOP about how much money the District’s parking enforcement group brings in: 25 times what is collected in Fairfax County, and a per-resident rate that’s ten times what Los Angeles brings in. Other breakdowns in the article include fine revenue by parking space and comparison of the number of spaces in D.C. vs Montomery County.

Omitted is any mention of the fact that the number of people in the District doubles during the workday, a fact that makes the comparison to L.A. or Fairfax a little questionable. It also calls into question how you can talk about the number of meters in D.C. versus MoCo without mentioning the fact that MoCo has 6.5 times the total land area as the District.

An article with not enough math is just as bad as an article with incorrect math. Be a skeptical news consumer.