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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
Highly competent driver has "no other option but to park there" - well guess what: NOBODY HAS ANY PARKING OPTIONS IN SEATTLE. BS excuses count for nada.
your shit is not fully worked out, SDOT.
And then you guys want to snitch on the delivery men to the police. Delivery men who's livelihood is being negatively impacted for your cycling convenience.
You know what, Fuck you cyclists! This city has bent over backward for you. And all you can do is act like you're entitled to more more more. Assholes.
If there is really a problem with freight delivery in the area, hopefully SDOT will take a look.
Somehow, everyone survives it with feelings intact. Maybe because the momentarily inconvenienced cyclists sympathize with the schleppers?
It's a big city, folks. Deal with it.
Ansel, this is the business of the city. Heavy shit is moved to and fro and sometimes actual humans like yourself have install things so you and your cohort can eat, drink and be merry.
Snitch these guys out by calling 911? The recommendation of an entitled pricks, IMO.
Also, you do not think it is a bit hypocritical to call out other people hypothetically flipping shits, when you are right here, flipping your own shits because strangers dare to disagree with you?
I'd love to see your reaction to the truck that blocks a through lane on Fourth and Seneca at rush hour at least a few times per week.
So what's your suggestion for making them stop?
Delivery companies typically have parking tickets baked into their cost of doing business, by the way.
Typically a delivery truck will block ONE lane of car traffic. If a truck (or say two side-by-side trucks) took up all the car lanes on a street, I'll guarantee you that car drivers would not like that.
The truck above is taking up the the entire cycletrack, not just a portion of that that people can bike around.
Get your shit together SDOT and city of Seattle. Every business license and large housing complex should outline delivery and large truck protocol before building construction happens. For those grandfathered-in before the new road/cycling structure there should be side-street options set aside for delivery and maintenance vehicles.
Let's stop blaming cyclists, delivery drivers and motorists for those asshats who made these issues arise in the first place.
Instead of trying to reform the police we should de-fund them and put the money into a new agency that will do what the people want them to do.
Clearly freight drivers don't care. They need to be made to care, using any and every legal tool the community has at its disposal.
Until freight drivers decide to behave responsibly in the city, they should be shown no mercy. It is their responsibility to act in accordance with the law, and it is our responsibility to call out bad behavior in our community until it changes. The law is not the first or last measure of safety in our community. We, the people, are that first and last measure. It is time we remembered that and started acting with that truth in the front of our minds.
If we do not take the time and effort to clean up our streets, we can guarantee that nobody with a badge will either.
Fuck these guys. Call 911 on them before someone has to call 911 on your remains smeared on the asphalt.
We live in an urban center, we need the things that trucks have in them, and those trucks are going to need a temporary spot to park while those things are unloaded.
I have an office on 12th and Pike, specifically chosen so I could bike to work every day. One day, I ordered a bunch of office furniture. It arrived in a truck! There were no parking spots, so it was parked in an illegal spot for 20 minutes to do its truck job. To anyone who was mildly inconvenienced by this, sorry, and thanks for not being a total douchebag about the truck!
In the 12th Ave photo, the delivery guys could easily pull 12-18 inches closer to the curb. Since their truck is wider than a normal parked car, they would still spill over into the bike lane. But they would spill 12-18 inches less, allowing a cyclist that much more width to veer around without veering into harm's way.
In the Broadway photo, there is clearly intended to be a loading zone along that stretch, but in the parking lane, which is to the left of the bikeway. In order for the cars, trucks, and enforcers to understand this, the bikeway buffer must be painted yellow. It's not enough to paint the curb but leave the buffer white, implying normal paid parking, as evidenced by the unbroken line of parked cars in what is supposed to be the zone.
Observing and thinking and problem-solving is a whole lot more productive than yelling and cop-calling.
I know this has happened in Pioneer Square, and I've seen it in San Francisco and New York as well.
Because that's how cyclists feel about "should bike as far to the right as is safe".
Well yeah, if the city hasn't established loading-zones adjacent to these buildings (and seriously, what building in this town DOESN'T have a loading zone - several in fact - next to it?), then they're breaking the law and should be held accountable, because, to answer your (presumably rhetorical) question: finding another place to park, even if some distance from their destination (or conversely driving around the block a few times until a designated zone opens up) IS EXACTLY what they're fucking supposed to do.
If I have to drop off several boxes or bags and I can't find an open parking stall next to where I need or want to be, I don't get to double-park in the street or block access to a driveway or garage entry, hell I'm not even allowed to use most designated Yellow Zones; I have to go to where there's a place I CAN legally park, even if it's blocks away and I end up having to shuttle everything in several trips. Why should delivery vehicles be held to a lesser standard, particularly when they already enjoy the benefit of being able to park in a lot of places I CAN'T? If they're breaking the law by parking in a bicycle lane or cycletrack, then they're BREAKING THE LAW, period, just as they would be if they double-parked, or blocked a lane of vehicle traffic, or a driveway, or garage entry, or passenger loading zone, or any other location where they're legally restricted from parking.
This ain't rocket science kids, it's just basic parking enforcement.
They absolutely are dicks. So are construction crews and self-employed contractors/tradesmen. On that latter point, if you're on a bike, fear the white van. Those guys are out to kill you.
Those guys will always and forever do whatever is most convenient for themselves and their employers and will only ever change their behavior if given alternatives and if they're *forced* to use those alternatives.
"fuck freight delivery" (paraphrasing a few of you) well, how would you like to live in this city if no one could stock your bike shops or get tools and materials in here to build your super special green condos?! ...and why should the trades workers even want to build them for your elitist condescending asses?!? ("shitty jobs" etc)
and @3 there often are not adequate freight loading areas especially in the more residential margin neighborhoods where density is growing and substantial but infrastructure has not caught up. i would imagine bicyclists might understand what its like to not have all the access and resources they feel they need. so maybe try a little fucking empathy...
as for all the high and mighty following the law talk, i'm sure every one of you never goes through a red light on your bike - even when no one is around, never makes an illegal lane change, always wear a helmet, etc etc etc.... and never smoked weed before 502 was passed.
What I hate are taxis and personal vehicles that park or stop in bike lanes. On Friday, some idiot disgorged his passenger into the bike lane on Dexter, directly in the path of 20 commuting cyclists.
So I yell "watch out!" at him so he doesn't get himself pummeled (at no point did he look for incoming bicycle traffic). What do I get for my effort?
A water bottle thrown at my head.
Which is precisely why I have all items delivered to my office, where I have a very convenient allocation of reserved parking spaces designated for just such a purpose. Sorry about not paying the extra fees/fines/whatever. But, that's the price one doesn't pay for thinking ahead and planning accordingly.
And anyone who's been caught doing any of those things probably knows full-well they'll be cited for the infraction, because that's what happens when you get busted. So, what's your point? That people should just indiscriminately break laws whenever they feel like it and NOT expect to take their lumps because somebody else somewhere once got away with it?
I believe my "fucking house" (are you suggesting it was once or currently is a brothel? I'm not sure) was delivered sometime early in the last century, when my street was a rutted dirt road traversed mainly by teams of oxen (and the occasional horse-drawn cabriolet) plodding up the skid road from Yesler's Mill, although it's just as likely the timber was felled, bucked, sawed, and planked from the trees on the property, that being a fairly common practice around here back in those days.
I'm sorry, what was your point again?
I haven't verified for Seattle, but for Renton, they have a FAQ that states that delivery trucks can block a lane for deliveries:
http://rentonwa.gov/living/default.aspx?…
The RCW (46 something 560 or 570) relates specifically to parking in places prohibited or outside of cities. Is there a municipal code violation here? Please cite it with evidence that it has been enforced.
Is that so hard to understand?
Even though it's an SPD representative ENCOURAGING citizens to call 911? Seems there's a bit of a disconnect if it's the police themselves who are advocating an action you seem to feel is worthy of punishment.
Or maybe we should fine SPD for suggesting it in the first place?
It's covered under SMC 11.72.100 (Double Parking): "No person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle with its side next to or adjacent to another vehicle which is stopped, standing or parked on a street, or alley except while angle parking." There is no exception made for delivery vehicles occupying a lane of traffic, either here or in SMC Section 11.74 which covers loading and unloading of commercial vehicles.
I called 911 for a car accident with injury. Same when I saw a person having a major seizure on the bus. I wouldn't call 911 in Ansel's case because I can just merge in with cars and go around or hop onto the empty sidewalk and be on my way. And while SPD may have given the green light to make such a situation -a 911 call, I do discern the difference given the demands on SPD and emergency services. I guess what I'm saying is the truck situation is irritating as heck, but I can deal with it on my own.
All the way back @38, I pointed out the solution to both problems:
- on Broadway, the yellow paint needs to be to the left of the cycle track, where the intended loading zone would be made obvious to delivery drivers and general parking-space seekers alike;
- on 12th, the truck can easily pull at least another foot closer to the curb, and is both morally and legally obligated to do so.
But it seems that not a single one of you read my comment, nor referred back to the photos to vet my conclusions. You all would rather literally argue from ignorance, employing pre-molded stock responses about who is the most "entitled" faction in town.
I would submit that willful ignoramuses of all stripes seem equally entitled around here.
Either way my point was that your reasoning is asinine and very self centered. You must be proud of yourself.
I guess, if you consider a 300 ft/sq mother-in-law apartment built into the basement of a 110 year old farm house in the "exclusive neighborhood" known as The Central District indicative of "elite status". But, you go right on ahead making an ass of yourself; it suits you.
And you ARE aware that most non-arterial residential streets in Seattle DON'T have designated loading zones, nor bike lanes, sharrows, or cycle tracks, yes? Which, apparently, by your definition must mean people who live in Haller Lake or Rainier Valley or South Park are also elite, self-absorbed yuppy scum, because they don't have delivery trucks illegally blocking NON-EXISTENT designated bicycle thoroughfares.
So, again I ask: what IS your point?
You're starting to comment to your own self. Maybe someone should call 911 for YOU.
It may be a "simple error" to you, but from my perspective it may be indicative of a mild form of Multiple Personality Disorder, which, in addition to your penchant for anonymous trolling, means I do NOT in point of fact KNOW to whom I'm talking; for all I know, you could be a 12 year-old girl in Argentina.
But, if the answer to your question is so vital to maintaining your sense of personal well-being, stroking your ego, or fulfilling your need to score insignificant rhetorical points, I guess you'd have to ask my landlord.
As for the rest of ya I'm with d.p. @ 82 and LEE @ 71.
I just do not understand why anything having to do with bicycles turns Sloggers into such raving maniacs.
Thanks. I don't think anything having to do with bicycles TURNS some Sloggers into raving maniacs - it just seems to be one of many, many subjects that can trigger the latent mania which is always inside them. If they couldn't express their outrage over this, I have no doubt they would have little difficulty finding another object upon which to direct their impotent spleen-venting.
- On Broadway, the yellow paint needs to be to the left of the cycle track, where the intended loading zone would thus be made obvious to delivery drivers and general parking-space seekers alike;
- On 12th, the truck can easily pull at least another foot closer to the curb, and is both morally and legally obligated to do so.
These are pretty straightforward problems to ameliorate.
These individual drivers should be punished, and SDOT/SPD should look into what needs to be done to improve the situation for drivers and cyclists alike.