Big City Pain: Parking in Seattle

While walking the dogs this morning, I witnessed no less than five Providence workers parking their SOVs on my neighborhood streets. Hospital workers are now parking as far north as Union and as far south as Fir.

I also overheard a snippet of conversation: “Took me an hour-and-a-half to get from Auburn yesterday.” My initial thought at hearing that was, “Maybe if you and your friends took the bus or carpooled, it would only take you 45 minutes from Auburn. Fool!” (Then I remembered irritation causes stress and disease, and that I should love my fellow citizens. So I offered a “good morning” as I passed by.)

This morning’s invasion reminded me of a recent post on the Central District Website highlighting the same issue:  residents prevented from parking near their homes because commuters in SOVs crowd the available spaces. The post references a Seattle P-I article  detailing the city’s proposal to limit residential parking permits. Depending on your neighborhood, you’ll be allowed 1-4 parking permits per household.

It seems commuters are the problem in the CD. On Capitol Hill and Queen Anne, it’s more bar-goers and simple density issues. All those new townhomes with inaccessible, tiny garages put lots more cars on the streets than the single family homes they’ve replaced.

Welcome to the big city, eh? I don’t know that the new permit limits will solve the problem, but they’re a start. My block currently doesn’t even require permits, which is why the Providence folk park there. Before limiting the residents, I’d prefer to see more limiting of non-residential parking. Parking for an hour or so while you run some errands is fine; parking for 8 or more hours each day isn’t.