You asked, so we asked: Here’s why West Seattle Junction RPZ expanded – a bit

Six years have passed since SDOT created a Restricted Parking Zone (RPZ) in The Junction, after two community requests in the span of a decade. Its boundaries have expanded a few times. But that usually comes with an announcement and/or outreach. Not this time. A reader sent us the photo above and the observation/question:

New restricted (2-hour) parking zone signs are being installed along the west side of Glenn Way north of Oregon. Is this occurring elsewhere around the Junction’s existing RPZ limits? No public notice or community outreach by SDOT?

RPZ residents pay $95 for a two-year permit ($10 if they meet income requirements), which does not guarantee parking in the zone, only the right to not be subject to the restrictions. We asked SDOT about the new expansion, and received this reply:

SDOT recently installed these signs as part of a small, one-block expansion of the existing RPZ in that area.

This change was made in response to a request from the two households directly adjacent to that block, who had been experiencing issues with all-day commuter parking. Because their homes are located right next to the current RPZ, we were able to extend the zone to their side of the street in alignment with the goals of the program.

We didn’t send out broader notices for this particular change because it was such a limited expansion and came directly from the residents most affected — in this case, the same two households who are now covered by the new signage.

This isn’t the first time the Junction RPZ has expanded at residents’ request; less than a year after its inception, in 2020, we reported on the addition of several blocks whose residents petitioned the city. We also reported – again, thanks to a reader tip – on a one-block expansion last year. SDOT’s process for expanding or creating RPZs is explained here; existing RPZs are mapped here. (Besides the one in and around The Junction, West Seattle has one other RPZ, near the Fauntleroy ferry dock.)

k August 11, 2025 (12:16 pm)

The cost of those permits is criminally low.

My two cents August 11, 2025 (1:13 pm)

How so? Rationale?
- Shawn August 11, 2025 (2:15 pm)
  
  Market price for parking is about $10/day, so a two year permit should cost $7300, not $93.
  - Mike August 11, 2025 (9:05 pm)
    
    Shawn: those “ permits” are not a guaranteed/delineated parking spot. They just mean you don’t get ticketed for exceeding the 2 hour time limit. The intent is for adjacent homeowners (who pay tons of property taxes) to be able to park overnight without being ticketed. If you’re looking to identify freeloaders, try the commuters who don’t live in the neighborhood or patronize the local businesses, but simply leave their cars there all day while they bus to work.
    - Neighbor August 12, 2025 (6:22 pm)
      
      These are public streets. The amount you pay in property tax doesn’t affect your right to access public property even if it is in front of your home. Please disabuse yourself of that notion. Further it is nonsense that people parking on public streets pay more or less in property tax. You just can’t know that and there’s no reason to believe it. West Seattle is poorly served by local bus routes so it’s entirely likely that the people parking near the junction for the day are also local taxpayers, even in the same neighborhood. You don’t even know if they park there to ride the bus or if they patronize local businesses. Your suggestion that they do suggests a bias against transit riders that is as ignorant as it is disguising. Your rights are no more valuable than anyone else’s.
- K August 11, 2025 (2:36 pm)
  
  It allows individual homeowners to petition the city to get RPZs, allowing them to effectively claim the space in front of their homes for themselves by restricting visitors to the neighborhood, and undermining the purpose of parking restrictions. If the cost were anywhere close to the cost of private parking, metered city parking, or even the price difference between homes with and without off street parking, there would be some incentive for people to take responsibility for their own car storage.
- Nolan August 11, 2025 (2:36 pm)
  
  Where else can you privatize ~160 square feet of public land for 13 cents a day?
  - The King August 11, 2025 (8:20 pm)
    
    Wherever you damn well please apparently. Been around the city lately?
    - Nolan August 11, 2025 (9:22 pm)
      
      Citation, please.
- walkerws August 11, 2025 (2:50 pm)
  
  It’s subsidized parking on public streets. That parking has a market value many orders of magnitude larger than what the RPZ permit costs.
Jim August 12, 2025 (7:37 am)

RESIDENTS shouldn’t have to pay AT ALL
- Foop August 12, 2025 (9:33 am)
  
  Get a drive way.
- Neighbor August 12, 2025 (6:25 pm)
  
  It’s public property. You have no additional right to it just because you can see it from your house. Get over yourself.

Admiral2009 August 11, 2025 (12:35 pm)

k – agreed

Person August 11, 2025 (12:39 pm)

That makes sense, but now the city needs to give Genesee Hill and Alki regular bus service so people don’t need to drive to access public transportation.

walkerws August 11, 2025 (1:25 pm)

Alki, maybe, but Genesee Hill is practically the Junction and has a huge amount of regular bus service.
- Person August 11, 2025 (3:48 pm)
  
  Much of Genesee Hill is a mile or more from the junction. Up a huge hill. I think there are many people who can’t walk that who would love to be able to take the bus.
- Al King August 11, 2025 (4:07 pm)
  
  Walkerws. Clearly you have NOT been anywhere on Genesee Hill. They do NOT have a “huge amount of regular bus service”. Lame try though.
- WS Urbanist August 12, 2025 (1:39 pm)
  
  The 57 running only 3 times in the morning and then 5 times in the evening only on weekdays is not “regular bus service”Also what google maps calls Genesse != Genesse Hill. I’d say the walk to and from 55th Ave to the Junction is probably not feasible for everyone.
WS Resident August 11, 2025 (10:37 pm)

I live on Genesee Hill as well, and I park near the C line to access transit. I think the RPZ exists, because other people must be doing the same. It’s a 25 min walk from my house to the C line.
Herongrrrl August 11, 2025 (11:23 pm)

Absolutely what Person said. Bring back route 37!!

Frank August 11, 2025 (12:42 pm)

I wish RPZ expanded to Admiral District… Nothing worse that people with neighbors with 5 cars hogging up spaces or commercial vehicle’s after 5pm…

FeesPlz August 11, 2025 (1:58 pm)

RPZs are a cancer destroying communities.
They are discriminatory, unfair and easily skirted.
Why should workers in the Junction not be allowed to park on a street where a homeowner with a garage full of recreation toys is allowed several spots on the public street?

At some point someone will have the will to do the right thing thing and monetize all street parking in every neighborhood.
Monetizing with demand pricing would guarantee a place of everyone to park and clear our streets of scofflaws and “vehicle ranchers”.

Anne August 11, 2025 (3:53 pm)

Oh please- what’s discriminatory is that everyone isn’t paying the same. You have a car-you want to park in an RPZ then -pay the price of the permit. Or-no RPZ at all -first come-first served for every single open space in every single neighborhood.

WS Senior August 11, 2025 (4:23 pm)

Part of the problem is the zoning/development rules. For example, several new developments are underway and/or recently built with NO parking spaces, or a minimal number of parking stalls for the number of units. Single-family houses with garages and off-street parking are being replaced by multi-unit developments. Accordingly, anyone with a car (think someone who works shift work, needs a car for work, or has a child) struggles to find parking. We have the most expensive Ubers/Lyfts fees in the country, and bus service is helpful for those working regular day shifts and are mobile, but only part of the answer. We are pricing/forcing anyone who needs a vehicle out of our area. In the long run, lack of parking required in developments will hollow out our neighborhoods.

Nolan August 11, 2025 (6:23 pm)

If you don’t want to live in a development without parking, then don’t. Those who do will happily take the reduced cost of construction, the elimination of vehicle upkeep, the reduced noise and air pollution, and the improved quality of life those things provide.

Try not to make the mistake of thinking everyone should be forced to cater to your whims.
- Canton August 12, 2025 (7:41 am)
  
  So, in others words; live how I tell you, not how you would like… Tired trope…
  - WS Res August 12, 2025 (8:20 am)
    
    Very hard to see how you could possibly get that from Nolan’s comment.

WSMatt August 11, 2025 (4:56 pm)

Hmm….. sounds like SDOT has accommodated a personal request for reserved and dedicated use of public right-of-way for the two households. Note the following: 1.) House on NW corner of Glenn Way/Oregon has a 2-car garage with an off-street driveway off of Oregon. 2.) Next house to the north has their own personal driveway off of Glenn Way. 3.) A good portion of this extended RPZ fronts two undeveloped and narrow pie-shaped parcels prior to the mid-block alley. No houses here. Why extend this RPZ so far? 4.) The two homes who requested this RPZ extension are directly adjacent to existing RPZs (1 south of Oregon on Glenn Way and another across the street on 45th Ave). Why not issue them a RPZ permit to park within these areas and leave Glenn Way north of Oregon for commuters/others?

No public notice. No comment period. But public tax dollars paid for and continues maintains the full ROW of this street. Yeah, all this sound valid and fair.

Mike August 11, 2025 (9:13 pm)

With all due respect, you misunderstand what these permits are. They are absolutely not a reserved dedicated spot. Anyone can park in those spots for up to two hours. There is no guarantee that a series of different drivers won’t do exactly that, while they access local Businesses in the junction. This just prevents people who don’t live in the neighborhood from parking cars there indefinitely. Not everything warrants an injustice narrative.
- WSMatt August 12, 2025 (7:34 am)
  
  The entire block of 45th Ave SW, located directly
  across Glenn Way from these two residences, is an existing RPZ which gets
  little use as on-street parking since the RPZ was established. Why not simply
  grant these two households the option to purchase RPZ permits for their use of this
  existing RPZ in lieu of extending the Glenn Way RPZ to accommodate two households??
Plf August 13, 2025 (8:43 pm)

As the increase of RPZ happens it pushes the long term parking to the next streetrpz runs on 44sw to Andover, guess what happens by 8 am folks have parked all day north of Andover. Not sure what the answer is, but the post office delivery more often have no where to park for delivery and I’ve been charged 100 dollars for delivery because no where to parkagain not sure the answer but its a mess

Dysfunction August 11, 2025 (7:10 pm)

Well I hope K and the others that actually support this also aren’t the ones complaining about affordability here. That would be talking out of both sides of the mouth. Stupid junk fees like this are why Seattle is so expensive.

Little One August 12, 2025 (2:51 am)

Perhaps the contrary in this case. Does the low cost of the permits cover SDOT’s costs to create and enforce the permit zones? Maybe when there’s enough households or if non-tax income streams cover it.
K August 12, 2025 (11:36 am)

RPZ permits aren’t required to live in the city and have no impact on housing affordability. I don’t have an RPZ permit because I chose housing that meets my car storage needs, and do not rely on the city to subsidize my parking. Those permits are a luxury priced like a necessity. It’s asinine.

Another_reader August 11, 2025 (8:33 pm)

I do wish sdot installed paid parking meters in the Junction. So hard to find a parking spot quickly in the area.

Little One August 11, 2025 (9:02 pm)

That is actually kinda odd, compared to other cities. Metered parking is actually an income source for many cities as well, especially once there was a transition to credit card machines (easier enforcement, less labor). The ROI for one city was covered in an engineering econ book.
Foop August 12, 2025 (9:36 am)

I’ve never had an issue parking in the junction as long as I am willing to walk a few blocks or pay 2.75.i recently bought an ebike and now it’s a complete nonissue, although a bike lane on California would make getting there feel much safer.

Joe Z August 11, 2025 (8:40 pm)

Some advice. RPZ holders are still required to move their vehicles every 72 hours. Anyone can report vehicles left on the street for more than 72 hours with the Find It Fix It App.

WSMatt August 12, 2025 (7:55 am)

Joe, have you tried this with any success? I haven’t had any
and have given up this type of reporting. I walk to the Junction to catch a bus
every weekday and notice vehicles that haven’t been moved for months,
not days. These vehicles typically have a thick layer of leaf and dust
accumulation, weeds growing up through cracks in the pavement around it, and
dirt/sediment collection under the car. When I have reported such an occurrence in the past to the
Find It Fix It App, it takes parking enforcement a min of a week to make note
of and mark the vehicle, then another full week to confirm the 72-hour
timeframe has actually lapsed, then issuance of a pink warning placard on the
vehicle that it will be towed after another 72+ hours, then the tow truck has
to be dispatched (easily another week). My take is that the pink warning slip
on the windshield signals the vehicle’s owner to move the car to the other side
of the street and the cycle begins again.
- WSOG August 12, 2025 (12:31 pm)
  
  WSMatt is correct about the 72 hour rule. It does generally take weeks for action of any sort.I wonder why the parking enforcement officers drive by these vehicles described by WSMatt. They have obviously been parked for months. One never knows whether these vehicles are intentionally stored on our streets, stollen and/or abandoned. Other cities solve this by posting street cleaning signs requiring vehicles to be moved, fined and/or towed once a week. The SPO unit supervisors are difficult to ferret out and I have yet to see one at any community meeting?Driving in West Seattle has changed dramatically since our social justice moment followed by covid. Once unheard of, driver lawlessness is now a common experience.My questions: what are the rules for emergency flashers, parking in the center lane, passing in the center lane, u-turns, parking on curb, parking on the ‘wrong’ side of street residential, parking on wrong side of street arterials, parking within 30 feet of “No Parking within 30 Feet” signs, parking within five feet of curb cuts, parking across cross walks, parking in Bus zone, parking in disabled space without placard, parking in alleys, double parking…Seattle was once notorious for parking enforcement as well as jaywalking enforcement. The jaywalking ban was recently removed by Seattle. Is parking enforcement next? It would appear that enforcing established, now ignored, parking codes would clean up our streets, enhance safety, generate income and pay for additional enforcement officers.

Dr Wu August 11, 2025 (9:05 pm)

The residents who live and work in the Admiral Junction, you don’t need a vehicle. Please take the bus, ride a bike or walk. There is no need for you to park in a residential neighborhood. Thank you.

Admiral2009 August 11, 2025 (10:17 pm)

Dr. Wu what bus in Admiral District, the 56 and 57 do not operate midday or in the office peak direction and thus are useless routes for many of us that would use a bus midday if only one was available. And the 50 is a terrible alternative due to its circuitous route. Bring back midday 56 and 57 bus service and then you would have a valid point!

SoTiredOfWS August 12, 2025 (8:45 am)

Ride the bus, but don’t have the bus go to all neighborhoods.Drive my car and park somewhere close to a bus stop; DON’T PARK HERE, but RIDE THE BUS.The hypocrisy is not hard to see here. I didn’t know two households could be so influential to get a RPZ enacted without any sort of public commentary until after the fact. This is getting so out of hand and so tired. I’ll just keep driving my car, ducking into bus lanes to get where I need to go and let everyone know they are number 1 when I get beeped at, I have a life to live.

ShopAndPlay August 12, 2025 (9:18 am)

I actually feel that the 2 hour limit is an issue. I can’t shop and have a meal in two hours. And I am usually bringing someone new to the Junction who will also shop.

MCA August 14, 2025 (4:52 pm)

RPZs really weaken the case for allowing developers to build giant living spaces without any parking. The idea that people don’t need parking spaces seems mute if the residents of theses buildings need special parking considerations. Let’s pick a lane!

Sorry, comment time is over.