Am I Missing Something? New Sunday Rules?

Maybe I missed the announcement that on Sundays you can park in bike lanes?

I was pretty surprised to run into (not literally-because I was forced into traffic lanes to avoid these parked cars) at least 5 cars parked in the bike lanes on 15th Street NW. The thing that really stood out: these guys had to squeeze in behind the posts designed to, you know, separate the bike lanes from the traffic lanes.

I'm well aware of what a challenge it can be to find parking in downtown DC--hunting for a spot during business hours on a weekday is guaranteed to raise your blood pressure, but what's up with this?
Anyone have an idea?

For the record, only two were out of state plates---NY and MI.

This in no way negates my lovely encounter with a perfectly nice man on Saturday who was impressed because instead of racing him to one of two parking spaces on Connecticut Avenue afternoon, I backed up so he could take the first slot, and I took the second.

As he got out of his car he joked "You canNOT be a native Washingtonian and be that courteous!" I admitted I'm no native, but I'd cop to the charge of being courteous. We laughed and shook hands.

Then I went to put a quarter in my meter and found it was broken. So I called it in. Now here's another nice encounter: I couldn't find the number on the meter to report back to the call-taker. Instead of copping an attitude or getting impatient, she simply asked me for  the block designation and I offered the number on the nearest meter as another way of giving her the closest possible location. She was so nice and friendly I told her so, and you could hear the smile in her voice.

So bike-lane-takers, you didn't ruin my weekend or really grind my gears, but what's with the lane-hogging?