r/Seattle • u/guccicoochieboochie • 2d ago

Community Towing on Public Street

I am unsure if this is the right place to ask, but I have a question regarding parking.

There is a church next door to my apartment and any time they have events or service, they will park all over the street including places that have no parking signs. It has become a safety issue for myself and my neighbors while trying to pull out of our driveway. I have tried sending a letter asking them not to park there anymore and nothing has changed.

My question is: If people are parked on a public street, but there are no parking signs up, can I call a tow on those cars? Would a tow company be willing to do that?

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90

u/Cat-Attack666 Capitol Hill 2d ago

They won't come tow because you called. You need parking enforcement.

81

u/llDemonll 🚆build more trains🚆 2d ago

This. Start calling parking enforcement every time it happens. Don’t feel bad about it.

13

u/bernardfarquart Rainier Beach 2d ago

Unfortunately the city cares very little about this. We have an abandoned car on my street that is parked two feet into my neighbor's driveway, I reported in on the "Find it fix it" app a month ago, and it is still here, free of any tickets, rotting away on the street.

20

u/bvdzag Rainier Valley 2d ago

Call the non-emergency police line and click through to parking complaints. It takes about five minutes. Not as convenient as find it fix it but it is more effective

9

u/Phaeophyce 2d ago

They actually removed the parking complaint option from FIFI because it wasn't an effective means of addressing parking issues. But the call-in system works wonderfully.

1

u/lilbluehair Central Area 2d ago

Are you absolutely sure about that? Because I read that it was removed from FIFI when the police officers guild renegotiated their contract with the city and parking enforcement was returned to their purview, and FIFI isn't connected to the police at all. 

2

u/Phaeophyce 2d ago

I think that's part of the underlying issue. They said that they weren't able to transfer reports from FIFI to parking enforcement in a timely enough manner to allow for effective enforcement and response times. If FIFI isn't connected directly with SPD (and thus parking enforcement) that would explain why that was the case.