NE 50th Street Parking Taken Up Almost Entirely By Hospital Staff (Violating Hospital Parking Policy)

NE 50th Street

Why are hospital employees allowed to occupy at least 20 spaces on NE 50th Street each day instead of parking in the hospital employee parking lot on Magnuson?

Document (in part) titled "Frequently Asked Questions About Laurelhurst Parking Policies and Law Enforcement" by Edna Shim on State Government Affairs and Public Affairs on the Laurelhurst blog.

2022 Seattle Children's Parking Policy and Enforcement FAQ: Laurelhurst Neighborhood

Our parking policy states that Seattle Children's employees are not permitted to park nearby. We have a strong strategic commitment to support this policy. Seattle Children's parking rules and restrictions apply 24/7. Parking violations at Seattle Children's are tracked and counted as benefits.

Problem

The document goes on to say:

Every day, our parking enforcement officers patrol the streets of each area, randomly switching between different patrol areas to prevent predictable law enforcement action. We track suspected parking violations by checking these license plates against our child labor database.

However, neighbors said the patrol car had not been seen in the area since March, after the children's hospital staff retired. Tom patrols the streets around the hospital every day, checking to see if the staff are breaking hospital rules and parking on neighboring streets. The head of children's affairs was seen walking around the area several times a day, and he was known to many residents who lived near the hospital. He retired in April and has never seen a patrol car on the roads around the hospital since.

It was reportedly Drew Dressman ( drew.dressman@seattle.childrens.org) . He took the role, but he was never seen in the area, and there was no patrol car.

A neighbor said:

We appreciate Tom guarding our driveway and checking cars arriving at the hospital because we know hospitals have strict neighborhood parking rules. He always accepts our calls and studies each car in detail. We haven't seen a hospital patrol car in the area for almost a year. This allows the hospital staff to park wherever they want without the hassle and waste valuable parking space. And it completely distorts what kids tell the neighbors about their strict parking rules.

Since Tom retired, there are several places in the area where the hospital staff stopped every day: Northeast on 45th Street and 45th Avenue, Northeast on the Seattle church neighborhood, on 45 43rd Street and 43rd Avenue, Northeast on 41st Street. NE, up and down NE 45th Street, 46th Avenue NE, 44th Avenue NE and other locations.

And on NE 50th Street, most of the child laborers stopped from Sandpoint Way to NE 45th Avenue. It literally eats up all the parking spaces on NE 50th Street . The neighbor said he counted 30 cars in one day, with out-of-state license plates and drivers driving directly to the hospital campus. Neighbors said they spoke to several vehicle owners who confirmed they worked at the hospital. And the cars usually arrive around 7 or 8 in the morning and leave after 12 hours. All the non-resident cars had non-government number plates, neighbors said .

A neighbor commented:

Northeast 50th Street is the road and free parking lot for the hospital, and it would be unfair for residents to use a residential street as additional parking. It is not clear why the parking violation was not disclosed when the hospital became aware of the situation .

The hospital staff created a safety problem by parking at the corner of Sand Point Way, making it very difficult to see when turning right onto NE 50th Street and exiting on Sand Point Way. Many cars park too close to the stop signs at the Sand Point Way intersection.

Over the past 7 months, the hospital seems to have taken some steps to encourage residents to park in front of their homes.

The hospital does not have street parking restrictions , so the neighbors are wondering what can be done to allow them to park outside their homes .

The time the hospital looked at the grounds was just before Tom retired. He and other members of the parking planning and management team have been in constant contact with neighbors:

A large number of nurses travel outside the region to fill the gap in the workforce, and we believe that this problem comes from the misunderstanding when they join us. Over the next two weeks, we will schedule a 3 a.m. appointment for someone to intercept and remove vehicles coming into the field. Please let us know as this may continue.

Then, suddenly, the neighbor's email was sent by Edna Shim 's Department of Local Government and Public Affairs , and the secretary no longer checked NE 50th Street and continued talking to the neighbor as usual.

Edna becomes the hospital's representative, although she is not involved in the hospital's parking enforcement and the parking attendants do not have the authority to report to anyone.

His attempt to directly engage with hospital parking controls from Laurelhurst Blogging, which has been running at full speed for more than a decade, was suddenly reported by Edna Shim:

As you know, our transportation and security team is working on various solutions. In the future, I will be your primary contact for environmental issues.

Seattle Children's is committed to enforcing our parking policies to minimize the impact on our community. Seattle Children's continues to teach and enforce neighborhood parking rules for all employees.

However, if law enforcement continues to operate, it is unclear why 20-30 cars have been parked on NE 50th Street for 8 months.

Edna says it happened, but the neighbor only saw it happen once or twice.

Most of these places have non-Washington license plates, making it difficult to identify the owner. This is what we have done and will continue to do until the matter is resolved .

• Give preference to this seat on an indirect basis for new parking inspectors.

• Street parking attendants interrupt parking attendants.

• The parking attendant writes a complaint

• Parking attendants leave leaflets in cars about parking regulations.

• Reinforce no stop signs in the area. Road signs are installed at the discretion of the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). :

Ednam also provided this information:

In the year In 2020, Mayor Durkan and Mayor Harrell signed an emergency order to provide free on-street parking for hospital workers when the pandemic hit. We are checking with the municipality, especially SDOT and SDII, when the mandatory parking ban for all major institutions (hospitals and universities) ends. We understand that SDCI believes some elements still exist. Depending on the Covid-19 situation, the freedom to park on the road may end this summer.

However, SDOT provided this information to the Laurelhurst blog:

In March 2020, the City of Seattle began issuing temporary permits for on-street parking near certain health care facilities and stopped issuing these temporary permits last year.

As of June 2020, Children's Hospital has informed us that they will be offering staff parking and will no longer require dedicated on-street parking spaces.

The neighbor presented the decision to the hospital, "It is not clear why this has not been solved, it is a quick, cheap and effective solution."

• A sign will be posted on NE 50th Street on the hospital grounds to remind staff that suburban parking is prohibited.
• Assign free on-site parking for mobile nurses
• She contacted a travel nursing agency.
• Ask officers to patrol the streets at 7 a.m. to remind staff about parking rules at hospitals.
• Hang the leaflets about the parking rules in the hospital on the car
• When the neighbors call, name the car immediately
• Asks employees to update STNK information.

The Laurelhurst Blog sent a staff-only message to Department of Transportation Director Jamie Cheney on June 24:

Vicky, Lisa and Samuel -

I think Edna is on vacation. On Monday, I set up a time to chat with the three of them.

Since then, however, neither the Laurelhurst blog nor the neighbors' blog have received any response, and the parking problem remains - 2-3 blocks are occupied by hospital staff.

A neighbor commented:

I expect that the workers will continue to park on the road. This is not good for the environment. One day neighbors said there were only 4 cars parked on NE 50th Street belonging to residents. All other cars belong to the orphanage staff.

A few townhouses on NE 50th Street are still vacant, but NE 50th may have more cars parked after the sale. That would be nice, but if you combine this with the kid workers who fill most of the street and the parking restrictions on NE 44th Avenue, the parking lot is constantly crowded from the hill on NE 50th Street.

Northeast 50th Street is packed with cars, and it's unfortunate that it's a one-way street, as many Seattle Children's workers choose to park here.

In the past, Seattle Children's has imposed restrictions on staff parking. It seems clear that the application is very stagnant. NE 50th Street is always used by hospital employees, so they don't pay for parking.

It's also dangerous to drive down the hill on NE 50th Street with long cars parked and merging onto the very busy Sand Point Road. Last week, I saw two cars almost collide when I turned right onto NE 50th Street without expecting the other car to go down the hill.

Another neighbor said:

It is not clear why the kindergarten class are not good neighbors. They claim to enforce parking regulations, but that hasn't been the case on Northeast 50th Street for nearly a year. They no longer control our territory and have not informed the neighbors.

Edna is disconnected and can't even talk to her neighbors now. It is an insult to say that the hospital treats its neighbors this way. There is a simple and quick solution that can please everyone.

Another neighbor commented:

We always enjoy staying at Laurelhurst and the hospital is always a great neighbor. However, the situation changed completely last year, and Edna took over the management. Our basic need for parking in the area where we live is far from over. As parents, we feel safer standing close to home, but we can't do that. However, the hospital continued to ignore this issue and even had the decency to inform the neighbors.

Jim Sawyer, the hospital's director of security, once said on the Laurelhurst staff blog:

The hospital takes street parking restrictions seriously. Hospital Security actively processes tickets on the street seven days a week and tries to respond to all complaints within one hour. We will respond to all transportation inquiries for any application assistance. This is a priority for our security and regulatory team. Whether we receive a call or not, we wait and control the road. If one of our neighbors calls, we answer and deal with their problems as a priority.  

We have a systematic parking enforcement process that includes regular (but at different times and days) patrols, license plate scanners and database matching tools, as well as the ability to provide remote links .  

Hospital policy requires employees to register their vehicles and keep this information up to date. The hospital has access to the DOL database to search for non-compliant vehicles. If the name does not match the employee's name, we may attempt to match the registered owner's address with the employee's address at the same address.

There are no allocated parking spaces nearby - all allocated parking spaces are available on the hospital grounds or in one of the designated off-site parking lots. 

Please inform the staff that the routes do not cross. Parking is prohibited on all streets. Keeping a safe distance, an employee asked, "Is it okay if I park a mile and a half in?" We mean if he asks. When we asked them these questions, we were told, "No - if you're driving, you should stop where the excuse is, not if you're parked far away." 

HR takes on-street parking seriously – it's a performance issue that can affect or compromise occupancy.  If an employee is a repeat offender, this will be a serious performance issue, which may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.  

Parking control is available. Contact transportation@seattlechildrens.org or call 206-987-5500. Enter the vehicle's location, time, license plate and vehicle description.

Here is more contact information:

• Jamie Cheney (Director of Transportation): jamie.cheney@seattlechildrens.org, Tel: 206-696-6824
• Drew Dressman (Head of Parking Planning and Operations): Drew.dressman@seattle.childrens.org, mob: 206-349-2273
• Jim Sawyer (Director of Safety): Jim.sawyer@seattlechildrens.org , Office: 206 987-6213
• William Woodward (Security Officer): william.woodward@seattlechildrens.org Office 206-987-2030

   

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