Residents around 15th to 23rd Avenues between E Madison and Spring have already been pondering the questions as SDOT considers expanding a restricted parking zone to cover the neighborhood’s streets. That decision isn’t expected until later this spring. In the meantime, SDOT is running a survey through the end of the month to gather feedback on the 37-year-old program that can help a neighborhood manage its street parking in a neighbor-friendlier way but also requires the overhead of more fees and yet another sticker to worry about when it comes to owning a car.
Here’s how SDOT describes the survey — you can take it here through March 31st:
Some of the questions RPZ-area residents will encounter
Seattle’s Restricted Parking Zone (RPZ) program was created in 1979 to prevent commuters to major institutions like hospitals and universities from parking on neighboring residential streets, and to balance the needs of all people using public streets.An RPZ is an area with posted restrictions on parking (such as 2-hour time limits); vehicles displaying a valid RPZ permit are exempt from these restrictions. Permits are designed to serve residents adjacent to major traffic generators; in some areas businesses are also eligible for permits.Seattle has grown significantly since the RPZ program was started. SDOT would like to know how the program can respond to changing conditions and priorities so it can better serve people using Seattle’s streets.
The survey will be open until March 31, 2016. For questions about the survey, please contact Becky Edmonds at[email protected] or (206) 684-5104. For more information about the RPZ program, visit the SDOT RPZ webpage or fact sheet.
I really like the option on the survey that reads “Do not give permits to residents who do NOT have off-street parking where they live.”
That would solve the problem real quick with apodment / microstudio buildings. When I’m out in the morning nearly every person from those buildings gets in a car to go to work. If the developers don’t want to add parking under the guise that their tenants don’t own cars then they shouldn’t need parking permits either.
Tim – I would argue that people without parking should be MORE eligible to park on the street. If someone doesn’t want to clean out their garage, why should they be able to park on street?
The real problem is that the permits are for two years and are basically free. You can’t give away something for free that’s finite and expensive that others sell for $200 a month and expect that to work out…..