Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › RANT – THE LITTLE GYM CUSTOMERS ARE TAKING ALL THE PARKING
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February 22, 2010 at 3:09 am #593956
galinaMemberSince THE LITTLE GYM moved in on California and Myrtle in place of Alki Mortgage – the parking in the area is a murder – their clients use up all the parking! Shouldn’t a commercial establishment provide parking for their patrons?
February 22, 2010 at 5:15 am #689019
DianeParticipantare you referring to “The Little Gym”?
February 22, 2010 at 5:21 am #689020
galinaMemberyes, the little gym. They have crowds and crowds of people coming in, the parking have become a total disaster.
February 22, 2010 at 5:26 am #689021
DianeParticipantfyi; this post originally referred to JUNGLE GYM parking
February 22, 2010 at 5:41 am #689022
galinaMemberDiane – sorry I edited it for clarity’s sake – thank you for correcting me. I did refer to it originally as a ‘jungle gym’ honestly i thought it is all the same company…
February 22, 2010 at 6:58 am #689023
WSBKeymasterGalina, we were flagged to this post as it does not follow WSB rules – if you post a “rant” you need to explain how you have called the business/owner’s attention to the problem. Please add that information. Thanks.
Meantime, the city codes relating to required parking are here:
I don’t know how many spaces the building has nor how many square feet the Little Gym uses (Alki Mortgage is still elsewhere in the building, I believe) but in general, when covering development, we have learned that the city requires less parking for both residential and business buildings than you might think.
February 22, 2010 at 4:22 pm #689024
SueParticipantI think it’s unrealistic to expect that every commercial business provide parking. I also think it’s unrealistic for people who choose to live close to a commercial zoned area to be upset when customers/employees park there – it should be an expected risk, such as I expect that since I live near an express bus stop that people may park there for the bus.
Besides, do you know for a fact that it’s all customers of that business? We go to Cafe Ladro often, which is on the same block, and park over there.
February 22, 2010 at 6:04 pm #689025
galinaMemberRight, I did not contact the owners – so sorry I didn’t understand the rule about that. However I will be in contact. Just contacted them now though – waiting fo the callback. My problem is that I own a building across the street 4301 SW Myrtle and my tenants are complaining – they get home from work and they cannot find a parking spot sisnce the Little Gym moved in. I will try and talk to the owners today to see if we can arrange something. Cafe Ladro has been there forever – there is no problem with that – it just doesn’t draw as many people at the same time. Imagine how many kids they have in one class and how many classes a day do they have?
February 22, 2010 at 6:43 pm #689026
galinaMemberSue, yes, I know for a fact – it is customers of the little gym that are taking all the parking. First of all – it didn’t happend until the little gym became fully operational. Second, I spent a lot of time watching people park and go into the building with their kids. Also, nobody have chosen to live in commercial zone – the alki morgage building used to be an apartment building with 8 units, they changed to commercial as alki mortgage and at the time they have to comply with parking requirements for alki mortgage which means just a few employees which was just fine. After mortgage business went under they rented to little gym – but at that point nobody was looking what type of business it was as far as parking is concerned – all the zoning paperwork was done before that for alki morgage.
February 22, 2010 at 6:51 pm #689027
clark5080ParticipantWould seem to me galina you should provide parking for your tenants
February 22, 2010 at 7:03 pm #689028
JustSarahParticipantclark – exactly what I was thinking! Seems a bit hypocritical to be upset with a business for not providing parking for its customers, and then to back it up by saying it’s because your tenants now don’t have parking.
I’m sorry, but you and your tenants don’t have much recourse here if your property doesn’t include private parking.
February 22, 2010 at 7:12 pm #689029
galinaMemberwell, right, if I had any space I would. I can tear the building down and turn it into a parking lot ;) I am only asking for 8 spaces max – really at this point I only have 4 tenants with cars and they cannot even find parking. ‘The Little Gym’ however take over the whole block – they take all the parking around their building, my building and next to cafe ladro as well. They even park in the’no park’ school zone by the Gatewood Elementary and by the private residences along the Myrtle Street. And I am only asking for meager 4 spaces.
February 22, 2010 at 7:12 pm #689030
WSBKeymasterThe parking requirements – for new construction, anyway – are also fairly small for residential buildings, fwiw.
February 22, 2010 at 9:29 pm #689031
carterbioseaMemberWell, as a person who walks to the Little Gym and as one who is very happy that they are there, I can’t really muster up much sympathy for any parking woes. There are lots of side streets with very little parking restrictions, if any. There is also a pretty quick turnover in parked cars, since the classes are less than an hour long. Since the Little Gym is “only” a tenant of the building, I don’t see how they have any obligations to provide parking. Not to sound insensitive, but people just might have to walk a little farther than across the street.
February 22, 2010 at 9:43 pm #689032
galinaMemberJust talked to the owner of ‘The Little Gym’ and we worked out an agreement. I will second you on being very happy about having this kind of business in West Seattle. When my daughter was little I could not find a gymnastics place close by.
February 23, 2010 at 4:35 am #689033
OliverMemberSo I’m curious what the “agreement” you reached is because The Little Gym doesn’t have any authority over where I choose to park.
February 23, 2010 at 5:23 am #689034
DianeParticipantyes, after all the “ranting”, would be nice to know “worked out agreement”
February 23, 2010 at 7:04 am #689035
grrParticipantFebruary 23, 2010 at 9:11 pm #689036
KBearParticipantLandlords who can’t provide off-street parking should be limited in the number of units they can rent out. Tenants don’t have any special right to park on the street near their building. Street parking belongs to everyone.
February 23, 2010 at 9:16 pm #689037
SueParticipantI’d also be curious as to the exact definition of the tenants not being able to find parking – does that mean they can’t park within 10 feet of their house, or does that mean they’re parking many blocks away? Growing up in NYC, many of my friends had to walk 5+ blocks home from their parking spot in certain neighborhoods. I used to visit my sister and park 3 blocks away. There were spots to be had, but just not as convenient as I would’ve liked. I have a feeling this is what’s happening there – I park there fairly often for Ladro and sometimes I have to walk a bit. But I always find parking.
February 24, 2010 at 6:45 pm #689038
KBearParticipantExactly right, Sue. When you don’t have assigned off-street parking, you have no entitlement to park right next to your building. Or even in the same block.
February 24, 2010 at 7:16 pm #689039
BonnieParticipantAs one who has complained about parking here in West Seattle in the past, I have vowed not to complain any more. Last weekend we went to a party on Lower Queen Anne and talk about a parking nightmare! Those businesses didn’t provide parking for their customers either. Everybody was driving through the neighborhoods looking for parking. Terrible.
No more complaints from me about West Seattle parking. If it’s free, I’m not complaining.
February 25, 2010 at 3:45 am #689040
DianeParticipantagree Bonnie; I NEVER complain about parking in WS; try downtown, Cap Hill, QA; ugh; and I am one who also lives in apt building where I have to park on the street; never a problem; WS is a dream
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btw, I found it hilarious one day when I parked on 36th, on the public street, near the Viewpoint/Olga/Admiral bus stop; the guy who lives there put super mean note on my car, and then came out to yell at me for parking in front of his house; he clearly did not give a damn that he was wrong; and since I don’t want slashed tires, I have not parked there again; rather avoid the crazies
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also, stopped into Little Gym yesterday, very nice lady at desk; signed up for trial class with my temp 2 ½ yr old (I take care of wee ones, so visit all the kidlet venues); looking forward to trying out this great addition to our business community next week
February 25, 2010 at 6:08 am #689041
galinaMemberThe agreement is that she will ask her customers not to park in front of the building, of course she cannot tell people what to do. The particular problem is with evening classes – when one class starts and the other ends there are a number of people parked around the area at once. It does not last long but it is difficult to find parking at that particular time of day. And yes, KBear, I AM limited to an amount of units I can rent out and amount of free parking spaces my tenants are theoretically ‘allocated’ by the city – which is 8. The same is for the Little Gym by the way. I only currently have 3 tenants that even own a car. It was 4 just last week, but one moved out.
February 25, 2010 at 5:13 pm #689042
RainyDay1235MemberYes, Lower Queen Anne is parking HELL. I used to try to go to the free concerts at Easy Street Records, or hit a restaurant. No longer worth the stress and possible tickets on very confusing signage. Just like 405 and 520 – I pretend it doesn’t exist! :)
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