READER REPORT: Car mystery, solved.

| Crime | Pigeon Point | West Seattle news

Rose on Pigeon Point discovered this car, stolen from Kirkland, dumped in front of her driveway. But you might learn from how she solved the mystery:

That car was blocking her driveway for more than four days. She called Parking Enforcement, and said they told her that while they could come out and tag the car, they couldn’t tow it for at least a week. She didn’t want to pay to call a tow truck herself. When she told a neighbor about the dilemma, they suggested seeing if the car’s doors were open so it could be placed in neutral and rolled away from the driveway. It turned out to be unlocked but rather than rolling it away, Rose found a receipt inside with a phone number, called it, and learned the car had been stolen. The owner plans to come pick it up.

Christopher B. December 2, 2024 (6:12 pm)

The owner might not want to skip the step of reporting it as recovered before they try to come pick it up and drive it home. I mean, unless they want to potentially have the experience of being the subject of a guns-drawn felony stop.

Rusty December 2, 2024 (6:15 pm)

Are you kidding me that they treat a very blocking the driveway the same as an abandoned car?That is some of the dumbest —- I have heard in awhile

Darren December 2, 2024 (7:38 pm)

That’s good she did some research on her own and solved it. If she couldn’t, the vehicle is illegally parked if it’s less than 5 feet from the driveway. The procedure is to write a warning or issue a ticket then and a tow truck is called by the PEO. Maybe the PEO/non emergency person misunderstood the situation? Just don’t want people to think they have to wait a week for a tow if their driveway is blocked.

rose December 14, 2024 (1:28 pm)

I did talk to Parking Enforcement. They were the ones who told me it would be a week! And yes, I said it was at the end of my driveway!

West Seattle Mad Sci Guy December 2, 2024 (7:53 pm)

I think the surprising part of this story is they couldn’t tow it for a week even if it was fully blocking a driveway. I feel like blocking a driveway is sufficient for immediate tow. What if it was unlocked and they pushed it in neutral so that it was blocking the street (not that they should). Would it then qualify for immediate tow for blocking the street? Or also wait a week?

flimflam December 3, 2024 (6:02 am)

Yes, i agree – what a strange policy.
WSlite December 3, 2024 (6:07 am)

Seattle Parking Enforcement Officers CAN tow vehicles immediately for blocked driveways. Either there is something missing from this story or there was a miscommunication on their phone conversation with office.
- rose December 14, 2024 (1:29 pm)
  
  I talked to Parking Enforcement. Was clear it was at the end of my driveway. They had no urgency and said it would be at least a week
Lola December 3, 2024 (7:35 am)

If this were in front of a business blocking something they would take care of it right away. I work down in Georgetown and we have stuff dumped by the homeless on our business property all the time. We came into work one day and a dilapitated trailer had been left over the weekend. We used a forklift to push it out into the street and the city came and took care of it.

RickB December 2, 2024 (9:14 pm)

Gosh, if we just gave the police even more money I’m sure all our problems would go away!

Mike December 3, 2024 (5:56 am)

Report it as a stolen vehicle rather than a car parked illegally. SPD doesn’t handle the non emergency line nor 911 now, so put blame with the incompetent city leadership that decided to do that.

RayWest December 3, 2024 (3:39 am)

Why wouldn’t Parking Enforcement run a check on the license plate to see if the car was stolen? It’s left in front of a driveway, it’s parked haphazardly and sticking out into the street, it’s unlocked, and that doesn’t raise any red flags? Even if it wasn’t stolen, why would Parking, after determining the owner based on the license plate, not call and tell them to move their illegally parked car. Is it legal to block a homeowner from leaving/entering their own property? Isn’t Parking Enforcement part of SPD? This boggles the mind.

WSlite December 3, 2024 (2:55 pm)

RayWest – I think there was a misunderstanding with Rose’s conversation over phone. She did not speak with Parking Enforcement office. Had she, they would’ve dispatched a Parking Enforcement Officer to her location for a blocked driveway and not mention tagging the vehicle for 72-hr violation so don’t go too far deep into a rabbit hole on this. 1.) Seattle Parking Enforcement Officers CAN AND DO immediately tow cars for blocked driveways upon discretion 2.) Parking Enforcement Officers can run license plates and see if vehicle is stolen (if vehicle was reported stolen by owner) 3.) Rose might’ve spoken to non-emergency number (NOT Parking Enforcement Office) and there was miscommunication on vehicle in violation. To be clear, PEOs tow vehicles for blocked driveways, they do not tag for 72-hr violation for this.
RealizeRealLies December 5, 2024 (12:28 pm)

You never ever had to park your car in the road because the driveway was full of things that needed to be moved into the house or garage?

Robert December 3, 2024 (6:23 am)

I know of a business which had an abandoned vehicle blocking their loading dock for several days. After repeated calls to SPD went without results, the business mgr. took their forklift and moved the car to a bus lane where it was towed within an hour.

Frustrated December 3, 2024 (9:04 am)

A few weeks back a small group of us got our cars stuck in a garage in Pioneer Square because someone dumped a car in front of the door. Tow company would not come until it had a SPD ticket. We called it in and waited 5 hours with zero response. One member of our party even stood on the corner of 1st and Yesler the entire time trying to flag any cop that might come by none did. We finally gave up at 2am and took an uber home. Called Merchants Cafe the next day to see if the car was still there and they said someone came and drove it off in the middle of the night SPD never came

CuriousCat December 3, 2024 (9:10 am)

Question for Mike – when did that change happen? Who decided that? And where do those calls go now?

Be Responsible December 3, 2024 (10:00 am)

Lola – Thanks for making your problem something for us as taxpayers to pay for. The garbage on your property is in your possession because you (or the building owner) possess the property itself, and you need to maintain your property. Pushing the trash into the street for tax payers to pay for was not the right move. We all need to be responsible for making Seattle a better City, not pushing things to the curb.

rpo December 3, 2024 (11:18 am)

If the city dealt with stolen/abandoned goods when dumped on personal property or when blocking access to personal property, then issues like the ones experienced by Lola’s business would be rare, and they would likely handle it when it rarely occurred. But the city does not, and this is not a rare event as per Lola (and this news story is additional proof of that), so I fully support the business doing what they need to do in order to function. Nothing will change unless we force the city to change.P.S. If Rose had decided to move this abandoned car into the street to access her driveway which would block the street but would force the city to do their job, I’d be fine with that too.
Jeff December 3, 2024 (11:19 am)

When official channels do not yield results, unofficial actions (or indeed vigilantism) become the public’s only recourse.
Eric1 December 3, 2024 (12:20 pm)

Uhh maybe the “be responsible” should be directed at the city. That trash was left by a Seattle citizen that is being enabled by an incompetent government. I get that if random trash blows onto my property it is my responsibility. But the city of Seattle has done nothing to protect law abiding citizens from the trash from homeless individuals. If it were a one-off occasion, I am sure the business would just deal with the garbage. But because the city systemically pushes the homeless problem onto the neighboring citizens, I have no problem with individuals putting the trash back into the streets. Sure I pay for it but I recognize that the real problem is the fault of the city. If they don’t like it, maybe they should “be responsible” and deal with the root cause of why trash keeps appearing in the businesses’ property.
Lola December 3, 2024 (2:36 pm)

Be Responsible,It was not our trailer it was left by all the Homeless that live down there. It is most certainly the Citys Problem. Since they let them do what they want, we took matters into our own hands, Just like the other business who had the stolen vehicle blocking their Ramp. They put it out into the Road so the City could and Should take care of it when we call. We will make sure to bring it over to your property next time and see What you shall do? People living in Seattle should not have to put up with this kind of crap. We do have outside cameras now so we can see who has done what. A trucker pulled onto our lot after hrs. and pulled all of Electrical Wires down as he got to close to the Bldg. with his truck. He decided to leave, but not before the Camera’s got all the info we needed to make him pay for all the damage he did.
- Be Responsible December 4, 2024 (10:28 am)
  
  Lola – I am sorry for the troubles your business is experiencing in the area. I agree that we need to take matters into our own hands, and that could include fencing, lights, cameras, or guards. Pushing the trash into my yard or your very City’s street (which is my street and your street) is a band-aid to the real problem of Seattle not enforcing other certain laws/codes. I’ve never been in your situation where I own a business in Seattle that receives undesirable activity, so I do recognize it’s difficult for me to say exactly what I would do in that situation. Best of luck, hoping your location gets more police attention and less mischief.

Justathought December 3, 2024 (12:17 pm)

Seems like a long time for 1. A vehicle parked within 5ft of a curb let alone blocking a driveway 2. A stolen vehicle that should have been immediately investigated/owners contacted and potentially impounded.Unreal

Tracy December 4, 2024 (3:28 pm)

Our 2015 silver Prius stolen this early morning from 56th Ave SW. We were going to meet my son at the hospital for his open heart surgery at 530 this morning and no car to get us there!! License AYF6993 yellow and black bumper sticker “Save a Nurse Wear A Mask” it’s not as if we already were stressin over my son’s surgery. Took a cab to u of w calling Geico/police etc! Please call police if you see it.the license plate cover has Marin Toyota but is a Wa state license thanks.

WSB December 4, 2024 (4:25 pm)

Please email us (you can include a photo) so we can publish a separate Crime Watch report .. TR

westseattleblog@gmail.com

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