Local teachers struggling to find parking near schools
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SEATTLE -- For some Seattle teachers, the most difficult part of the day is finding a parking spot at work.
A wide area around Montlake Elementary School is zoned to keep University of Washington students and commuters from parking all day, but many Montlake teachers are caught in the crackdown.
Principal Claudia Allan is fighting for the right for her teachers to park.
"They should not be stressed out about parking," she said. "They should be thinking about what are they going to do to instruct their children that day."
There are about 30 staff members at Montlake Elementary, and they're currently allotted four parking spaces.
"People have to go out and move their cars every two hours to park anywhere near our school," Allan said.
That's no easy task for teachers, but it's necessary in more and more neighborhoods as 2-hour restricted parking zones spread through the city. Only those who live in the area can park for longer periods of time.
"We can park up to three, four or five blocks away. If we're carrying our gear, it's a big hassle," said teacher Margaret Gingrich.
Teachers who don't abide by the parking rules can end up with expensive tickets.
"I get about one ticket a year, which is about $54 right now. Some teachers get four or five," Gingrich said.
A couple of tickets can wipe out a day's pay for a teacher. The city is now working out a potential compromise for next year that would allow daylong parking passes while nearby homeowners are mostly away at work.
"Not for the weekends, not for the football games, just for getting to and from their classrooms," Allan said.
In the meantime, some homeowners have been loaning teacher their Zone 1 visitor passes and even allowing them to park in their driveways during the work day.
A wide area around Montlake Elementary School is zoned to keep University of Washington students and commuters from parking all day, but many Montlake teachers are caught in the crackdown.
Principal Claudia Allan is fighting for the right for her teachers to park.
"They should not be stressed out about parking," she said. "They should be thinking about what are they going to do to instruct their children that day."
There are about 30 staff members at Montlake Elementary, and they're currently allotted four parking spaces.
"People have to go out and move their cars every two hours to park anywhere near our school," Allan said.
That's no easy task for teachers, but it's necessary in more and more neighborhoods as 2-hour restricted parking zones spread through the city. Only those who live in the area can park for longer periods of time.
"We can park up to three, four or five blocks away. If we're carrying our gear, it's a big hassle," said teacher Margaret Gingrich.
Teachers who don't abide by the parking rules can end up with expensive tickets.
"I get about one ticket a year, which is about $54 right now. Some teachers get four or five," Gingrich said.
A couple of tickets can wipe out a day's pay for a teacher. The city is now working out a potential compromise for next year that would allow daylong parking passes while nearby homeowners are mostly away at work.
"Not for the weekends, not for the football games, just for getting to and from their classrooms," Allan said.
In the meantime, some homeowners have been loaning teacher their Zone 1 visitor passes and even allowing them to park in their driveways during the work day.
In the meantime, some homeowners have been loaning teacher their Zone 1 visitor passes and even allowing them to park in their driveways during the work day.
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I was going to suggest that when I saw the tag line for the story.
This is one of the reasons I refuse to work in Seattle!! Geez, all your wages go for parking! I would rather make less and have a place to park instead of the stress these poor people face every darn day!
It sucks. But I guess I don't feel that bad. I live on the Eastside and work for a major hospital near downtown where all the parking is 2 hour max or zoned residential. If I drive I can park in the parking garage at a cost to myself of $9 per day or I can take the bus to and from work. Employees do not get free parking. I think it's terrible, but it's the choice I have to make if I'm going to work in Seattle.
More great planning from the City. (Sarcasm)
".... That's no easy task for teachers, but it's necessary in more and more neighborhoods as 2-hour restricted parking zones spread through the city. Only those who live in the area can park for longer periods of time ...."
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And at the same time, the city is allowing UNLIMITED parking, no penalties, for DAYS at a time in ANY zone no matter what it is signed as for the new "Car2Go" service that started earlier this month. They interviewed a gentleman on the news yesterday who owns a restaurant in Magnolia, it has 2 hour parking in front of his business - and a Car2Go car was left parked there for FIVE DAYS without any tickets & not subject to be towed.
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Talk about screwed up. The people who NEED to park are driven out & away - but shorter time limits, increased fees, increased hours of enforcement, while a private company basically has the run of the city for any spot anywhere for any length of time with no penalties. All because they paid the city $1300 per car for a "special permit" per year for 330 cars - a whiopping $429,000 total.  I would seriously doubt the city is breaking even on that for the lost parking revenue, and it is DEFINATELY creating a whole lot of ill-will from the people who have to obey the rules.
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And the city had SUCH an attitude when they talked about - saying "there are more than enough parking spaces throughout Seattle to accommidate these 330 cars. Yes, "technically" that is probably true, but if they are being left in restricted zones, or in front of popular restaurants & businesses for DAYS at a time, then they are NOT doing those businesses a damn bit of good - they are just taking up space.
 @LocalLady I thought that story about the parked Car2Go cars was ridiculous. Those cars are so tiny - so what if it took up a half of a spot? I go to that restaurant in Magnolia all the time and even on a busy weekend night, it's not hard to park in that area. On an unlucky day, I have to walk half a block to walk to the restaurant. So maybe with this car there I would have had to walk another 10 feet.Â
Well, the neighbors down there are really nice to lend the local teacher their parking plaque OR let them park.
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Now, if the school people would do something to help their teachers TEACH the students that'd be nice.
The comments below are funny. Clearly many of you aren't familiar with that neighborhood. The entire area is zoned as residential parking. It's basically a very high end suburb of Seattle, and the residents control their parking. Call it cesspool or whatever. You couldn't afford to live there! The city should give the school some passes. It's a public school after all.   Â
If you haven't figured it out yet, you work for an ultra-liberal city that doesn't like cars. Try the bus or a bike or live within walking distance to your job. If you don't like those solutions, try teaching the next generation to not be fanatical liberals and maybe you can have some parking by the time you retire.
That's what a park and ride is for. If they have gear, they should carry it or "think" out a solution, instead of expecting us to figure out ways to fix things for them "so they aren't stressed." Or is thinking for themselves too hard?
I graduated from Lake Washington Senior High in 1963. There was a teacher's parking lot
on campus, plus student parking on campus. That sort of planning reflects a mind set
that is totally missing today, both for the schools, and in much of the new construction
for today's society.Â
If the students did not find parking in the student lot, area churches allowed parking in
their lots. The article mentioned local co-operation from home owners regarding the
parking issue, but I am sure that the community and the city can find solutions including
prominently displayed passes for the school staff that the city would honor and not issue
tickets the teachers. That would not necessitate or entail changes the allowed time for general
parking, but would simply demand that the parking patrol look for the pass before issuing a
citation for overtime parking. That concept might be too simple for politicians to grasp but
it would work.
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Maybe these liberal teachers should probably stop voting for Mayor McSchwinn, who has a war on cars in Seattle. You get what you deserve, now walk and be quiet.Â
 @NW-Economist ...or being the good liberal socialist democrats that they are, take public transportation. We don't need those evil cars clogging up the road, spreading their deadly emissions into the air, spreading harmful oils onto the roads which will run off into the streams & murdering all those pretty fishies and causing global warming and causing the ice caps to melt raising the shoreline and causing more intense hurricanes killing hundreds of people and making thousands homeless........oh wait, my bad...my sarcasm got out of hand again.
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 @nw-economist:Â
So, you know for an absolute fact that EVERY teacher there lives in Seattle & every teacher there voted for McSchwinn? Must be nice to be so all-seeing.
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MANY teachers cannot even afford to live in the districts they teach in - and this is NOT jut a "Seattle" problem, it is a problem state-wide.
 @LocalLady  @nw-economist: If they didn't vote for them then they paid to have him elected through their union dues, I know that for a FACT since you can trace the money through the WEA's political contributions.
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It is nice to be able to use the internet, you may want to learn how.Â
 @LocalLady  @nw-economist: give me a break, if all the members used the religious/charity option there would be no union, I know the vast overwhelming majority of members making the political contribution as there is intense peer pressure in the closed shops to conform or be cast out.Â
 @nw-economist:Â
Well, other than your snarky comment, you have not added anything to support your original premise - that THESE teachers ALL elected McSchwinn, meaning that they ALL live in the Seattle City Limits. Where is your proof of this?
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And as for the WEA - no need to google, as I have family members who are teachers as well as a number of close friends. Not all teachers support everything the WEA does. My brother specifically refuses to have his dues used to pay for "political" things - in Washington State, ANY union member can request this.The issue was decided by the State Supreme Court.
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A day pass should be issued to the teachers if the school doesn't adequately have enough parking for all its staff members.
Shouldn't the headline read "Local teachers struggling to find parking near school."
There is nothing in the article to say this is a problem beyond one school.
Having said that though, looking at the school from Google's spy sattelite, options are few there beyond leveling something and putting up a parking garage.
 @pacman:Â
I would bet it is NOT just that single school that has a problem, and I would bet it is worse at the high schools since many kids feel like they "HAVE" to drive once they get their license.
Take the bus like everyone else. No one has a sense of entitlement like a teacher. I'm surprised that the WEA hasn't called a general strike over this.
@KOMO_Sapiens :Â
Teacher bashing trolling again, huh?
 @LocalLady Hmmm, 6 likes for me, none for you. Who's the troll?
If you work in an area with no parking, you need to figure something else out. My husband works for The State and has to walk pretty far to work sometimes because there is just no parking.
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He can hope to get a spot in the small pay lot, but that is a long shot for the time he gets to work. Pay or hoof it, that is what I have always done.
 @Melissa Angevine A bicycle can work, too...
This is Seattle. Â Green Wimpy Liberals are supposed to take Public Transit...So, get them with the program....
There are many alternative options out there besides driving to work everyday. People face parking problems everyday, just be smart about it. For example, when I went to college there would be no parking spots after 8:30 am, so I showed up at 8:00 and found parking no problem on campus.
Hey, this is Seattle! You're supposed to take your bikes, public transportation, ect.! Seriously though, they don't even have a faculty parking lot?
 @zoso:Â
I would bet that they possibly did at one time, but it was sold to a developer to get $$$ for the school district. For parents dropping off & [picking up their kids, it must be hell, too.
 @LocalLady Wouldn't be that much of a stretch considering how much of that has gone on around the city, too many to mention that I know of.
IF paid parking is necessary to get good teachers it would be worth it. Where to get good teachers?
That clown town never ceases to amaze me at times...
They should take the bus, bike, walk, carpool, vanpool or skateboard to work. Â It will eliminate their stress of finding a parking spot. Â
 @GoEast542 That was mu first thought. My work provides an Orca pass. I see lots of people, with lots of gear who have to think about their upcoming work day ride the bus. It can also be a stress-reducer when someone else has to do the driving.
30 staff members and 4 spots? WTH?
 @Powderhound who made that RE deal?
 @contraryjim Trollin' again are we?