Post navigation

Prev: (05/16/22) | Next: (05/17/22)

Capitol Hill car owners, start your engines and resume the 72-hour shuffle

(Image: City of Seattle)

Seattle’s 72-hour parking rule is back fully in effect.

The City of Seattle announced last week it has resumed “full parking enforcement for any vehicle that has remained in one place unmoved for longer than 72 hours, returning to the normal standards which were temporarily paused in 2020 due to COVID-19 public health guidelines.”

“While full enforcement is resuming now, parking enforcement officers will continue to provide official warning notifications on vehicles allowing owners and occupants to move them before enforcement occurs,” the announcement from City Hall notes.

CHS reported here in October on the city’s plans to resume enforcing the rule suspended as part of changes made in 2020 to help reduce exposure and maintain essential services during the pandemic.

Homelessness service organizations and advocates including City Councilmember Kshama Sawant have called for the permanent end to the rule to protect those living in cars in the city. In 2018, researchers found that people living in cars, trucks, and RVs represented the fastest growing segment of the region’s homeless population with an estimated more than 40% living in vehicles.

The city says “the first step of enforcement” will continue to be official warning notices giving owners time to move voluntarily and avoid enforcement action. “If it appears that people may be living in one of the vehicles, they will receive information about assistance, support services, and resources,” the city says.

Seattle Public Utilities’ RV Remediation program continues, focusing on “cleaning up and disposing of debris and waste around RVs to ensure public health and safety.”  “Days prior to a scheduled remediation event, SPU and parking enforcement staff engage with people staying in RVs to make them aware of the upcoming clean-up activity,” the city says.

On-street parking, perhaps surprisingly, has ended up as one of the most measurable elements of government’s adaptations to the pandemic. The resumption of 72-hour enforcement is joined by increased enforcement of street parking rules and payment in general in Seattle as more regular staffing levels and schedules have helped re-power the city’s “meter maids” while other services have lagged or remained far from returning. In March, CHS reported on Seattle’s increase for some on-street parking rates on Capitol Hill and on the city’s busiest blocks — though the pandemic-reduced rates remain ridiculously cheap.

Capitol Hill drivers, meanwhile, must return to old habits.

“Vehicle owners should get back in the habit of regularly moving vehicles to avoid a possible warning and citation,” the city’ announcement on the resumption of enforcement reads. The city says vehicle owners should also “check their block regularly for temporary parking restriction signs, which can be placed with a minimum of 24-hours notice for things like emergency utility work, cleaning, or special events.”

 

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.

 

 
Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

4 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Guesty
Guesty
1 year ago

im going to go out on a limb and assume there will still be two sets of enforcement on this as always…

SquireParkMom
SquireParkMom
1 year ago
Reply to  Guesty

Sure seems that way. Cars that look shitty aren’t allowed to sit around nearly as long as newer cars. It’s blatant classism.

Little Saigon Resident
Little Saigon Resident
1 year ago

We should just get rid of street parking entirely (at least in residential areas). Why is so much sq footage of public space used for people to store private property.

If you want a car, fine, but figure out how to store it yourself.

Consensus
Consensus
1 year ago

Sounds good! All of us lucky enough to own houses here in town near good public transit will see our values increase. Rents will go up if the apartments have parking. And screw those poor people who can’t afford these prices!