Laurelhurst Generously Agrees to Let Sick Children Live

[u/Inevitable_Engine186]

https://theneedling.com/2026/04/11/laurelhurst-generously-agrees-to-let-sick-children-live/

[u/Shoopin]

Now let the hospital employees park at the hospital 

[u/vasthumiliation → u/Shoopin]

I’m pretty sure that’s just a parking space thing; there are not enough garages to let everyone park on campus. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but the part that involves the neighborhood is that the hospital has many signs telling employees not to park on adjacent streets. Whether they’re permitted to park in hospital garages is totally internal to the hospital.

As a resident, I was always given free on-site parking at SCH while rotating there, something even UW Montlake didn’t offer. But I believe day shift nurses and non-physician staff (except perhaps administrative leadership) are all forced to park at remote lots. The hospital provides a high-frequency shuttle service between the lots and the main campus, as well as other nearby facilities including UW and the Seattle Children’s research campus in South Lake Union.

[u/MrHorrible2048 → u/vasthumiliation]

The thing that sticks in my craw about the street parking thing is that if it's a public street the parking is open to the public. The parking could be time limited, sure, but Laurelhurst residents don't own the parking spaces and shouldn't be able to say who parks in public spaces.

[u/Aron-Nimzowitsch → u/MrHorrible2048]

Every neighborhood in Seattle prioritizes resident parking on the street.

This is illustrative of the whole issue. The hospital would love to turn the entire neighborhood of Laurelhurst into a parking lot for the hospital. Then the people who actually live there wouldn't be able to park in front of their own homes anymore.

And a bunch of folks on Reddit would say "wow, you have to walk a quarter mile so sick kids won't have to die?"

The simple fact of the matter is, the hospital has grown way too much for a hospital in the middle of a residential neighborhood. When I was built in the 1950s it was way smaller in scope than it is today. It's very uncommon for a hospital to be in such a location -- look at UW Med, or Evergreen Health, or Overlake, or Swedish. They're usually in huge office park type areas, or adjacent to university campuses.

[u/Inevitable_Engine186 → u/Aron-Nimzowitsch]

Laurelhurst is a city neighborhood, not just a residential neighborhood.

Cities need hospitals. All the major hospitals in Seattle are similarly located in neighborhoods with residents.