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Parking tickets everywhere last night in loyal heights...

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Started 2 years ago by SeattleRichardson
Latest reply from lyl

SeattleRichardson

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Woke up this morning to parking tickets on a lot of cars on my street (Earl) this morning, including my own!!! The ticket was soaking wet so either they came down our street late last night or very early this morning. My car wasn't in my driveway all the way and so my bumber was sticking out ink the sidewalk, $42 later I wasn't too happy. I have been parking that way for at least 5 years and never a problem, and I didn't even really think about it as a lot of our neighbors park the same way to give more street parking to people who have multiple cars. Anyway i have some solis in that all my neighbors had tickets too, so it want just me. After seeing all the tickets I'm guessing maybe somebody called the parking enforcement on somebody on our street and then they decided to go down the whole street after that. We must have seen at least a dozen tickets as we drove down just part of the street, and it wasn't very early so I'm sure there were more.

Anyway this is a heads up to everyone else in the hood....

Posted 2 years ago #
SweaterGirl

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So, being self-righteous about not having respect for pedestrians makes you unhappy? Psst, sol great you had "solis", whatever that is. Just as long as others were called out for being just as self-serving! What ever floats yer boat

$420 to make up for the public not wanting ro raise taxes. It's a start, right?

Posted 2 years ago #
eric

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eh, i've seen plenty of cars that park sort of in their driveway and block the entire sidewalk (not saying that is what you did). it doesn't really put a damper in my day, but i'm certain that if someone was in a wheelchair they'd feel differently. i suppose if you were just dashing into the house for something...

why not just pull all the way into the driveway?

either way, are you upset that you were caught parking illegally or that you are somehow innocent here?

Posted 2 years ago #
drinkypoo

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Could you please be more specific about your location? Maybe a cross street would help.

Posted 2 years ago #
SeattleRichardson

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sweater girl - Not sure why you'd think pedestrians would be unhappy, we didn't block anything, heck my neighbors bushes block a lot of the sidewalk. I was out about 1 foot or so past my driveway I wasn't blocking right of way. Not saying I'm not wrong it was more of a heads up to others. I think they also gave tickets out to the cars parked facing the wrong way on the street...never seen that before either.

And thanks for being my spellchecker, the spelling is solace.

Psst, it was only $42.

Posted 2 years ago #
SeattleRichardson

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Drinkypoo- I drove down Earl from 75th down to 65th and that's where all the tickets were.

Posted 2 years ago #
drinkypoo

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Good to know. I routinely report anything that blocks the sidewalk, especially cars or vegetation. Next time I'm on my way down the hill into downtown Ballard, I'll take Earl.

Posted 2 years ago #
Dweezil

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I see alot of cars parked facing the wrong way in that area. If the enforcers keep that up, the city may be out of the recession pretty soon. ;)

Posted 2 years ago #
collingswood

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All it takes is one complaint. If one citizen registers a complaint and the parking enforcement officer issues a citation, then all other illegally parked cars on that block will get a citation also. Otherwise, the first car owner will claim, justifiably, unfair treatment.

Another possibility is that there is a "vigilante" in the neighborhood. This is a citizen who patrols the neghbor hood looking for any and all parking violations, then calls the list in to the city to have the cars ticketed.

My source for this information is my brother, a parking enforcement officer for Portland. BTW, a common misperception is that parking in a "No Parking" zone with your four-way hazard lights on does not mean you are parked legally. The officers interpert the blinking lights to be saying "CITE me, CITE me, CITE me....."

Posted 2 years ago #
SeattleRichardson

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Drinkypoo - sounds great but it might take you a while, bring your tree trimmers with you. Maybe you could hand out your own parking tickets too, that would be a great thing to do while your at it. Don't worry I'll tell the neighbors you're just a concerned citizen.

Posted 2 years ago #
Nora Bell

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'About 1 foot or so' can be a major problem for wheelchairs, strollers, people who walk with canes....

Posted 2 years ago #
Mondoman

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Although I haven't seen short overhangs as an issue, I have run into (well, almost!) cases of cars blocking most of the sidewalk while riding my bike. Not such a big deal on quiet side streets, but more frustrating on arterials with cars whizzing by.

Posted 2 years ago #
SeattleRichardson

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Nora Bell - you' re correct but not in our situation there wasn't a problem with "room to get around" our car, it was just that we were hanging over the sidewalk.

Posted 2 years ago #
GAM

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This reminds me of when my neighbors routinely let their car block the sidewalk "by not very much". One day I look out and a blind person is awkwardly trying to negotiate around the car. I'm sure my neighbors would have felt terrible if they'd seen that, but of course, the damage was done.

Posted 2 years ago #
cdpenne

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Man. All you have to do is call in a complaint? That's great! Next time someone parks within 5 feet of my driveway, I'm calling. I just love the opportunity to be a "concerned citizen."

Posted 2 years ago #
GAM

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I also have problems with people parking within 5' of my driveway. I leave notes on the cars rather than calling it in, to avoid the blanket ticketing this block received. I've considered painting the curb so people can see where the 5' is. Has anyone done this? Did it help?

Posted 2 years ago #
ethel

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I'm not good at measuring distances by eye, but five feet sounds really excessive. Wouldn't it be more like three, or at most four?

Posted 2 years ago #
Streaker Troll

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GAM... it is legal to paint the curb 5' in either direction from your driveway with "traffic yellow" paint according to the city. Anything more or in any other color and they seem to get miffed and will come out and paint it gray again. Not really sure how effective it would be on a residential side street however.

Posted 2 years ago #
GAM

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Streaker is correct about the law, including the specific paint color and distance.

ethel, for a narrow driveway like mine, 5' is pretty much what you need to not have pulling out become a 2 or 3 point turn, since our street is narrow. For the newer, wider driveways (which I covet), you would not need that much clearance, 'tis true, though the law still requires the same clearance. I usually tell folks that are too close that the law is 5', but I could make do if they'd just leave me 3'. Sometimes I don't even get 1'!

I don't want to invest in paint if folks find it is ignored, so if anyone has tried this, I'd love to hear.

Posted 2 years ago #
mghart

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Dweezil, I'm not sure that parking your car "facing the wrong way" is illegal in Seattle, although I know it is in some other cities. Can someone clarify with a code regulation?

As for blocking any part of a sidewalk, where pedestrians have the right of way, I can see where a citation would be in order. Accessibility for all is the primary concern, and people with mobility challenges need an unobstructed path. A tough way to be reminded of it, though.

Posted 2 years ago #
GAM

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Parking the wrong way is illegal, even on one lane streets as are common in Ballard. I've heard it explained that it has to do with pulling in/out of traffic from the wrong side so the driver's visibility is compromised.

Posted 2 years ago #
mostobstreperous

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GAM -- Yellow traffic marking paint in a can that sprays upside down is about $5.00 at Fred Meyers.

Or you could always print off a ticket from here to put on their car:
http://youparkedlikeajackass.com/

Posted 2 years ago #
lyl

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So do you just go to the local paint store and ask for "traffic yellow"? Everybody carries it? I am ready to paint five feet on each side.

Posted 2 years ago #
mostobstreperous

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It's in the spray paint section.

Posted 2 years ago #
lyl

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Thanks! With the fence, the power pole, the model T driveway, the narrow street with cars parked solidly along it, I am pretty well trapped if someone parks right on the driveway which they do from time to time. Will let you know if it helps, I will let my next door neighbors know that it is not (necessarily) directed at them.

Posted 2 years ago #
ethel

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I guess you guys are right. See http://www.cityofseattle.net/transportation/parking/drivewaymarking.htm:
Seattle Municipal Code 11.72.110 - Driveway or alley entrance

"No person shall stand or park a vehicle in front of a public or private driveway within a street or alley or in front of or in an alley entrance or within five feet (5') of the end of a constructed driveway return or alley entrance return, or if none, within five feet (5') of the projection of the edge of the driveway or alley."

Seattle Municipal Code 11.72.120 - Driveway - Painted curb

"The prohibited area for driveway returns described in Section 11.72.110 may be maintained with traffic yellow paint by the property owner or occupant."

But I think if I subtract five feet from each side of the curb in front of my house, that would leave an allowed parking area just *slightly* too short to fit two cars. In actual fact, there are frequently two cars in front of the house (not necessarily mine, which is in the driveway most of the time), and they seem to fit fine. It would look really greedy to park spang in the middle of that space.

Posted 2 years ago #
racerX

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Parking tickets for wrongdoers... freaking awesome!!!

Posted 2 years ago #
oldcrimson

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The city can afford to allocate its resources to write midnight parking tickets on side streets - the off-duty officers have the bar district covered and will handle all the riff-raff. Good to know.

Posted 2 years ago #
Apple

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Glad to hear that people who are parking illegally, even if they are only "about 1 foot" in the sidewalk and have "been parking that way for at least 5 years", are getting tickets. Wish the police would come to my street and ticket the idiots who can't seem to get their cars closer than 3 feet to the curb and seem to think that the fire hydrant is there to create an exclusive parking spot for them.

Posted 2 years ago #
MidWest

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The cops completely ignore the blocked fire hydrant on our street, whilst ticketing other cars for minor infractions. We apparently are subject to this on our block:

"car owner will claim, justifiably, unfair treatment"

We claim *unfair treatment* of cars in our immediate neighborhood by the ticketing officers. Why do the police selectively enforce/ignore around Salmon bay Park? Weird.

Posted 2 years ago #
pennyboy

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Tickets tickets tickets next those will be on behalf of me! I shall call them in for your refusal to welcome me back from my journey. You could have welcomed me and it would have been a simple thing indeed. However you have all choosen the harder path!

Posted 2 years ago #
teigyr

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Parking enforcement has definitely been out and around. It's good for us because we have a car rancher type person who leaves his undriveable cars strewn about the street. Seems though for those areas that have been parking as they usually do, maybe a warning would have been appropriate?

Posted 2 years ago #
great idea

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I must live on Apple's block. My neighbors all seem to have three or four cars which are regularly parked in front of the hydrant or close to the driveway.

I don't think I'd paint my curb though. that seems passive aggressive.

I'm all for the tickets. bring 'em!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l87Vvb7JcDU

midwest--what were those other cars ticketed for??

Posted 2 years ago #
pennyboy

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Yes yes I shall ticket them all. All the cars I shall get ticketed. You shall see. Rue the day you refused to welcome me back into the fold!

Posted 2 years ago #
BallardENTP

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"No person shall stand or park a vehicle in front of a public or private driveway within a street or alley or in front of or in an alley entrance or within five feet (5') of the end of a constructed driveway return or alley entrance return, or if none, within five feet (5') of the projection of the edge of the driveway or alley."

That seems to prohibit parking "in front of" a driveway. But it doesn't prohibit parking IN the driveway.

So it seems like you can legally park in the portion of your driveway that crosses the planting strip. In other words, the bit between the street and the sidewalk.

Hurray for Mini Coopers!

Posted 2 years ago #
Alonzo Neighbor

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Many houses on my street have painted the curbs yellow. If you have a fire hydrant, the 5' portion of that curb can be painted red. It does seem to help, but a heads-up to neighbors is a nice courtesy. We have several businesses at the end of our street, so parking can get pretty dicey at times.

Posted 2 years ago #
Sunflower75

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We noticed the parking enforcement out in our neighborhood near Adams on Saturday night - around 9pm. Driving around - looking for cars to ticket. We thought it was interesting - they were out so late, but kinda fabulous to give these monsters tickets that improperly park and eff up my day.

Posted 2 years ago #
cdpenne

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Quick question...
I was told by neighbors that since our block is one side park only that we can park facing either way. No one has gotten a ticket that I know of and everybody parks which ever way they happen to be going, but I wondered if this was actually true.

Posted 2 years ago #
SunriseSunset

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We have a dead-end alley that is actually a designated city street *XXrd PL* with four houses facing it and five garages facing it. Our garage is at the end of the dead-end street. Negotiating around cars is a nightmare and they are all technically parked on the street--no curbs, etc.

Posters seems pretty up on laws so can someone tell me how closely a vehicle can be parked in front of my garage. Thanks for any help.

Posted 2 years ago #
mostobstreperous

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cdpenne -- that's a tough one, same on my block. All I can say is that in neighborhoods where parking is at a premium (Pill Hill, Eastlake) I do notice that the the regulatory signs for parking are posted to face cars parked in either direction (i.e "No Parking North of Here" posted to both the north and south sides of the same telephone pole).

Posted 2 years ago #
RichY

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I have sent the parking question to the SDOT and awaiting their reply.

SunriseSunset, that should be 5' the same as a driveway ???

Posted 2 years ago #
great idea

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I wish the meter maid would patrol the area in front of the Lock Spot cafe.

those parking spots are probably barely legal size and almost daily I see people with their rear-ends sticking in the sidewalk. This is especially dangerous here since the sidewalk abuts a busy street.

Posted 2 years ago #
Sunset Hill David

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It seems that people are being very rude today. I think SeattleRichardson was just trying to warn people to be heads up about parking in front of their house. He didn't deserve the abuse.

Posted 2 years ago #
mghart

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I haven't been able to find any SDOT regulation about parallel parking facing only in the direction of traffic. I can see how that would apply on multi-lane streets (duh), but what about narrow streets in the neighborhoods? Can anyone cite a regulation?

Posted 2 years ago #
Quercus

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SMC 11.70.040 "parallel parking - right-hand side"
http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?d=CODE&s1=11.70.040.snum.&Sect5=CODE1&Sect6=HITOFF&l=20&p=1&u=/~public/code1.htm&r=1&f=G

Posted 2 years ago #
SunriseSunset

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Thanks, Rich Y. I'm not doing a good job of illustrating the situation. When I open my garage door to back out, there is a vehicle parked behind me about 10 feet, maybe, and I have to back my vehicle out, try to clear the edge of my garage and navigate around that vehicle to begin the trek to the other end and out onto the street.

Posted 2 years ago #
SeattleRichardson

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Sunset Hill David - Thank you, that's all I was trying to do. I thought it was unusual and would let others know in case they aren't parked legally so they wouldn't get a ticket too. I guess I shouldn't have talked about my own ticket. And that's exactly why I don't post on here very much. Most of the time I stick with restaurant openings in Ballard or other food related topics or tips I get since I’m in the food industry. It seems that some people just love to take out their passive aggressive behavior on others on the internet...just like those same people do when their driving. I know a lot of people who are the nicest kindest people in person but put them in a car in bad traffic and the worst comes out of them.

Posted 2 years ago #
Ballard Ninja

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SR, your post did come off more as whining about a $42 parking ticket you received for parking illegally than just informative.

Posted 2 years ago #
Elemental

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So maybe his driveway is short and his car doesn't fit and years ago (even before he bought the house) someone turned the garage into a spare bedroom. Rather than be a parking hog, he uses his driveway and a wee little bit of that land that is his but is covered by sidewalk to park his car, freeing up space for someone to park on the street.

I say that is nice. And instead, some d-nozzle decides to complain and so he gets a ticket. Never mind the fact that practically ever corner has a f&*^%ng tree or a hedge blocking the visibility, or hanging so low the branches endanger the eyes. No, no, let's not complain about the damn trees. Let's heap blame and ridicule on drivers.

This is why I hate cities.

Posted 2 years ago #
RichY

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Quercus, "wheels on the right side of the vehicle within twelve inches (12") of the right constructed curb or with the wheels on the right side of the vehicle on a shoulder"

Says it all

Thanks,

The SDOT has not got back to me yet - there may have been a change after 1979, but unlikely.

So park on the wrong side of the street - get a ticket, the city maybe in the "black" sooner than expected with this new revenue stream

Posted 2 years ago #
great idea

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elemental--you hate cities because of all the trees and hedges?

do you also hate the country because of all those pesky bucolic buildings?

usually, in fact I think almost always in ballard, the sidewalk is on city property.

Posted 2 years ago #
SeattleRichardson

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Ballard Ninja - yes, l don't like parking tickets and wasn't happy about it.

Elemental - you hit the nail on the head with my parking situation....freakishly close actually.

Posted 2 years ago #
pennygirl

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It's threads like this that make me thankful that I live waaaaay up north, in The Land of No Sidewalks :-)

Posted 2 years ago #
teigyr

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yup, no sidewalks here either though we've been tempted to paint that dirt strip 5' on each side of our driveway :) Seriously, people will park with half of their car blocking our cars so we can't get out. Heathens!

Posted 2 years ago #
Elemental

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Nah, sidewalks are easements.

I hate cities because people complain about the wrong things: Let's keep the garbage blowing in the street: maybe we can make the water taste like a very blue swimming pool; pay no mind to the leaves rotting on the sidewalks; let's not worry about the colossal mismanagement of public funds that makes the city have to close the libraries for long periods of time; let's not care about the gross abuse of public trust that is the SPD.

But by god, let's bitch about the guy parking on his driveway.

god I am homesick. And my eye hurts because of that stupid tree, which I am going to cut down tonight.

Posted 2 years ago #
RichY

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My reply from SDOT:

SDOT Blog says:
February 14, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Both state and city law mandate that on two-way streets, drivers are required to park their vehicles on the right side of the road facing the direction of lawful traffic movement.

QED

Posted 2 years ago #
mghart

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Thanks, Quercus! Exactly what I was looking for.

Posted 2 years ago #
Quercus

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Sidewalks in Seattle are most definitely not easements, in fact, in most residential neighborhoods, property lines are usually several feet inboard of the sidewalk. Street ROW's are generally 50-80 feet wide. So it's City property, but the private homeowner 'gets' to maintain it.
About the curb paint - we had some problems with folks parking across or right up against our very narrow driveway (not neighbors, we live near a church and school), and so we painted our curbs, which has helped a lot, and it wasn't a situation where doing that reduced the number of parking spaces, so I didn't feel too bad about it. We bought a gallon of traffic yellow paint, and redo it every year or so.

Posted 2 years ago #
cdpenne

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I painting my curb for sure. It will help curb my desire to vandalize.

Posted 2 years ago #
onederfullone

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Some entrepreneuring youth (I know there are still some of those around) would do well do take this on. Add in the house address application as well as yellow driveway locator striping.

Just throwing it out there.

Posted 2 years ago #

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Parking tickets everywhere last night in loyal heights...

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