Road Warrior

The in basket: Karen Ebersole e-mailed Jan. 14 to say, “I couldn’t help but wonder what the plans are for the space freed up by the demolished cabin in NAD Park. Yesterday morning … I drove through around 9 a.m., veering around cars lining the road on both sides (must have been 40-plus vehicles)  and dodging people crossing the road in both directions. There was obviously a very well-attended disc golf match under way. This is not the first time this has happened, and I know the Scout Shop is often lacking for parking.

“The article in the Sun this morning indicated they will use it for open space,” Karen said. “I wonder if additional parking was ever considered, as it is often a hazard to drive through there – it tends to be a major thoroughfare.”

The out basket: No additional parking, though a recognized need, isn’t imminent.

Wyn Birkenthal, head of Bremerton Parks, says, “The Parks Department is working on plans to provide additional parking and pedestrian crossing safety on Austin Drive at NAD. (But,) ideally, additional parking wouldn’t come into the open space as far as the old cabin footprint.

“Funding to design and pave a new lot and pedestrian crosswalk is not available at this time and would have to be

procured through grants and\or community participation,” Wyn said.

If, like me, you weren’t sure from the from the story and photo about the demolition, which cabin was razed, it was an old caretakers cabin by the restrooms, not the one the Scouts use.

The in basket: Dan Barry of Silverdale writes, “I notice the new YMCA facility in Silverdale has a large number of parking spaces marked for ‘Low Emitting and Fuel Efficient Vehicles.’  I am curious why spaces are reserved for this particular class of vehicles.

“I’m also curious how it can be enforced since I’m sure the owner’s manuals of virtually every vehicle manufactured in at least the last 20 years, have language identifying the vehicles as having low emissions and being fuel efficient.”

The out basket’ Geoff Ball, senior executive director says the limitation was made in conjunction with Kitsap County, which shares ownership of the parking area. It has what is called “LEEDSilver” certification, which Geoff says is a green building, environmentally friendly approach used in many parts of the new YMCA. Pervious concrete that absorbs rainfall rather than letting if run off is another part of that effort.

There are 20 of the low-emission spaces among the 405 in the lot, Geoff said. They are more conveniently located than many of the general use spaces but not as much so as the handicapped spaces, which also have no curbs.

As for enforcement, that’s a self-regulating. There doesn’t seem to be a legally accepted definition of a low emission fuel efficient vehicle, he said.

“I can’t find any miles per gallon or carbon emissions definitions,” he said. “If other readers are more successful, I’d love to see it. ”

They hope not to see old pickup trucks or large SUVs in those spaces, he said. “It’s nice to see a hybrid there. If driver feels their vehicle is efficient,” the spot can be used.

The in basket: Karen Ross of North Kitsap said “We are having a wedding (at a home on) Beach Drive in Poulsbo on August 6 in the front yard, which is beach-front property.
“There will be a very large crowd, possibly 180 people, which could mean at least 120 cars.
“I am unable to find out what the law is regarding roadside parking.  The roads in our area have very wide shoulders.  Our neighborhood is rural.
“I plan to go door to door to let neighbors know that cars will be alongside the roads during the wedding,” Karen said.
“Do you know what the law is regarding roadside parking in our area? I would like to know what the law is first before I contact neighbors and I also think it would be good for me to let the county police know.”
The out basket: I would have known the answer had her road had white edge striping. It’s illegal to park on the shoulder with one’s tires on or across that white stripe.

But Beach Drive doesn’t have edge striping, so I had to go to Deputy Scott Wilson of Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office.

“This should not be an issue for the Ross family and their wedding guests,” he said.

“Vehicles parked on roads without painted edge (‘fog’) lines follow the same rules as roads with painted edges. Cars parked in this neighborhood should be positioned on the roadway shoulder, facing the direction of travel. Parked vehicles should not block the traveled portion of the roadway,  not block driveways and must remain at least 15 feet from a fire hydrant.

“This is a safety aspect primarily,” Scott said. “if there’s a requirement for sheriff’s patrol, medic or fire engine units to enter the neighborhood for emergency response, they need to be able to do so without having parked vehicles block or hinder their ingress/egress.”

The in basket: I have been noticing the signs in Gorst forbidding shoulder parking for a distance heading north, and have the possibly mistaken impression their location and distance has changed from time to time. At present, there is one on the Port Orchard side of Gorst heading toward Bremerton and another in Gorst, saying you can’t park on the shoulder for the next three miles. That means to the first exit into Bremerton.

I asked Trooper Krista Hedstrom of the local State Patrol detachment if the distance of the prohibition was longer and the placement  of the signs different in the past. I also asked the reason for the restriction.

The out basket: She told me I HAD overlooked a sign forbidding shoulder parking in the other direction, where Highway 304 enters Highway 3 west of Bremerton, extending through Gorst. But otherwise she couldn’t recall or confirm that the signs ever were posted other than where they are now, or carried the prohibition farther north.

The reasons for it, she said, are the narrow shoulders and high traffic volume on Highway 3 between Bremerton and Gorst.

“It should be noted,” she added, “that we give a one-hour window before impounding a vehicle and have WSP communications attempt to contact the registered owner as well.”

The in basket: Elizabeth Clark of Navy Yard City says, “On the east end of Charleston Beach Road in Navy Yard City, there are a few dozen parking spaces that are listed as two hours only.

“It’s clear that they don’t want shipyard workers parking here but it seems like a major waste of space since I very rarely see any cars parked there and the local businesses seem to have ample spaces of there own.  Why so many usable spaces sitting empty when there is such a parking shortage on base?

The out basket: As Brynn Grimley of the paper’s reporting staff wrote a year ago, the county restricted the parking after some business owners complained that customers had trouble finding a place for their cars because shipyard workers were using them all day.

It’s a familiar story in Bremerton, where shipyard employees (and college students) are always on the lookout for free all-day parking and the city tries to craft parking limits that leave spaces available for businesses and home owners.

But Charleston Beach Road is just outside the city limits, so the county has the say there.

And it may be asked to make some changes, because the two-hour spaces at one end of the road aren’t getting much use and the unlimited spaces at the other end are getting too much.

Rick Cordova at Westbay Auto Parts says it appears the word has spread about the availability of the free parking at their end of Charleston Beach Road. Increasingly their employees have to park on site, cutting into customer parking.

Jim Civilla, higher up in the Westbay hierarchy, made some inquiries just last week about whatever became of assurances he felt they got from Bremerton officials when the city’s Gateway project eliminated all parking along the highway that they would still have on-street parking for their employes on the county road.

And Chris Miller of Miller Sheet Metal next door agrees, saying the city should stay interested and involved in the issue, as it was the city project that made all the changes..

But it was all the two-hour parking at the other end of the road that  Elizabeth asked about .

Bryan Schoening of Cliff’s Cycle Center, the closest business to the two-hour spaces, says he’d like to see them retained, at least during business hours.

His business lost multiple spaces in front to the highway project and the public two-hour spaces take some of the sting out of that.

It wasn’t simply a matter of shipyard workers filling the spaces all day, he said. Many vehicles stayed in the same spot for days or weeks, and trash accumulated near them.

In two visits to the road, I found only one vehicle in any of the 50 or so two-hour spaces at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday and 1:30 p.m. on a Saturday, confirming what Elizabeth says she sees.

If those Charleston Beach businesses being impacted by shipyard parking seek some redress from the county, I’m sure the distribution and number of two-hour spaces will be an issue.

The in basket:  Mechelle Finklein says she ran into unexpected trouble July 1 trying to use her mother’s disabled placard while driving her on errands.

“I used a disabled spot in front of a business in the Fred Meyer

parking lot,” Michelle said. “My mother decided not to get out of the car, as it would

take more time for me to get her walker out and for her to

get in the business then it would be for me to drop off what I needed

for her.

“A volunteer Port Orchard officer (whom she described as “very kind”) pulled up behind my car and asked to see a permit, so my mother got it out and showed it to

him.  When I came out of the business, he talked to me. He said

there  was a fine for parking in a disabled spot if the driver of the

car was not the disabled person.  He said they were designed  for the

driver of the car, not because the driver was driving some one that

was disabled.

“The  officer also said that I could park in front of a business to get my mom

out of the car and LEAVE her there and

move my car to a regular parking spot,  then when she was

finished with her errand, I could LEAVE her standing at the door and go

move my car to the front of the business, put her in the car and

leave the parking lot   Sorry, but I’m not leaving my 88-year old

mother anywhere that she may not be safe.

“If this is really the law,

people need to be told and the law needs to be changed for the

convenience of the disabled. If my mother not getting out of the car

caused the violation, then people  need to be informed of that

also.”

The out basket: I told Mechelle that I didn’t think the officer was spot on in what she understood him to say about the law, but that he was fully justified in contacting her.

As I’ve long understood it, her problem wasn’t that the driver of the car wasn’t disabled, but that the disabled person to whom the placard was issued didn’t need the closer proximity to the business, because she stayed in the car.

Though it happened in Port Orchard, I contacted Deputy Schon Montague of the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, who has taken over from the retired Deputy Pete Ball in supervising the county’s volunteer disabled parking patrol officers.

While noting that it was a Port Orchard incident, he described the rules that govern his volunteers and his reading of the law.

“I know that a person without a disability can drive and park in a

handicapped spot and take a handicapped passenger into the store using

the passenger’s placard,” he said.

“You can do this because of a transference

of authority from the handicapped person to you.  If they were driving,

they would have used it but if you drive for them they still need to

walk that shorter distance if you don’t want to drop them off at the

front door.

“However, in this case the handicapped person was not really

using the authority of the placard because she was not getting out of

the car.  So there was no transfer of authority to the non-disabled

driver.

“Long story short I agree with you and the Port Orchard

officer/volunteer.”

The in basket: Lance Hagele asks, “Why is the parking lot on the corner of Fairgrounds Road and Tracyton Boulevard closed? 

“It has been closed for a very long time and I thought it might be closed  for renovations,” he said. ”I noticed it was open for vendors to park their RV’s during the Kitsap County Fair. 

“This parking lot supports the Anna Smith Park. Now people must park along Tracyton Boulevard, which poses  an unsafe condition to enjoy the park,” he said.

 The out basket: Dori Leckner of Kitsap County Parks replies, 

“The parking area you mention is blocked off because many used it for  illegal dumping. People left campers, cars, trailers, dead animals, headstones and yard waste there. 

“When the parking lot was open, there were break-ins and vandalism to vehicles parked there because of its remote location. 

“We’ve kept the Master Gardeners at Anna Smith Park informed about these challenges and they understand why this parking lot is closed,” she said. “We are working to see how we can alleviate these concerns and open the lot in light of these challenges.”

The in basket: Kim Cunningham recently wrote to say, ” I recently renewed my drivers license and was reviewing the information booklet provided at the drivers license office regarding traffic signs. 

“A common regulatory sign is a stop sign,” Kim said. “It is required to be red and white, and the other common type required to be red and white is No Parking. But I noted in downtown Bremerton (around the Norm Dicks Government Center) the No Parking signs are a dark blue with white letters.

“If I got a no-parking ticket while parked in a stall marked with a blue and white sign, could I contest it as it’s the incorrect color?”

The out basket: The city of Bremerton has put a lot of effort into dolling up its downtown street signs, using white on blue in most cases.

I wouldn’t expect a city official to encourage a challenge such as Kim proposes, and Larry Matel, city street engineer said, “Any ticket is contestable,” and left it at that. What he, I and Kim don’t know is whether such a challenge would prevail.

The section on no-parking signs in the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices does appear to require red lettering or symbols on a white background, as  ”Spanky Arbuckle” and Jane Rebelowski note in comments below.

If anyone gets a ticket for parking where a blue No Parking sign forbids leaving your car, he or she can find out if the sign’s color is grounds for a successful challenge by challenging it. I won’t attempt to predict the outcome.

The in basket:  Michael Hilt of Manchester writes, “Evidently I need some clarification on the parking rules for the city of Bremerton.

“With the completion of the downtown tunnel and the waterfront park, the city has posted signs along First, Second, and Pacific Streets advising this area is one-hour parking only.  There seems to be only one dedicated handicapped slot here, on Second Street.  

“However,” he said, “more than a dozen vehicles with handicapped stickers (both blue and red – I don’t understand the difference) routinely occupy spots along these streets all day.  

“Most of the vehicles also have PSNS civilian access stickers on the windshield indicating to me the vehicles belong to PSNS civilian employees, thus conveniently giving them prime parking at the front of the Bremerton Gate. 

“This would seem to limit the availability of parking for visitors who wish to tour the park and museum and those who wish to shop in the downtown area. 

“First, can those with handicapped parking stickers use a dedicated one-hour spot all day?  If so, this seems to be a benefit not available to others who park downtown all day and are forced to pay for all-day parking within the city.”

“Second, doesn’t PSNS offer parking, either on base or in one of their off-base garages, for their handicapped employees?

“I think some PSNS workers have found they can take advantage of the situation,” Michael  said.

The out basket: It certainly seems that way. At noon on March 25, 16 spaces from Second Street to the ferry terminal were occupied by cars with disabled placards hanging on their rear view mirrors.  That was about 50 percent of the available spaces in that area. Many but not all had Department of Defense decals as well.

But, yes,  those with disabled plates or placards can park all day in spaces with time limits if there are no signs saying otherwise. They also can park at parking meters without paying, though I’m not sure there are any more parking meters in the county.

Lt. Pete Fisher of Bremerton police traffic says a city can enact its own rules to modify the state or federal laws that allow this, but he doesn’t believe Bremerton has done so. 

It makes no difference that a car might also have apparent access into the shipyard, he said.

The Navy does provide disabled parking spaces, says Lt. Michelle D. Kibodeaux, assistant operations officer at Naval Base Kitsap. ”

There are 15 spaces in the Navy’s parking garage in Bremerton, 125 spaces in Z lot , located across from Pier D, and 20 in F lot, located outside Missouri gate. There are also several sporadic disabled parking spaces located around the base, available primarily to areas that support customer service and require a disabled customer service space, she said. A Kitsap Access bus provides trips to and from Z lot, the one inside the base.

She noted that presence of a DOD sticker doesn’t necessarily confer parking privileges on base, or even necessarily identify  the car as that of a shipyard person, as it’s good on many other bases as well.

Fellow Navy PAO Tom Danaher says the Navy doesn’t involved itself in parking enforcement questions outside the base fences.

I’ve never learned why state law (RCW 46.61.582  Free parking for persons with disabilities) grants this kind of exemption from normal parking time limits to those with the proper plates and placards, but I hope to hear some comment on this blog from advocates for the disabled as to why it’s defensible. 

Maybe we’ll even hear from a shipyard worker or two about why parking outside the fence is preferable when they can drive inside.

The in basket: Maynard Peterson of Port Orchard read the recent Road Warrior column saying it’s illegal to park on a bridge, specifically the Trigger Avenue bridge over Highway 3 near Silverdale, and had a question.

“How come I have often seen Washington (State) Patrol police cruisers stopped over freeways while the officer uses a radar gun trying to catch speeding motorists using the bridge rail to hide behind,” he asked. ”Does that mean as long as the vehicle is occupied its okay?  Or do they have unwritten approval?   

“Or is it just the old double standard where they can claim they are enforcing the rules in any way they see fit? 

“What about the police stopping on on-ramps out of view to unsuspecting motorists and catching them on radar after they have passed the point of slowing down to try to avoid the speeding ticket?  Are they legally parked there?” 

The out basket: It shouldn’t surprise anyone that police are allowed to do things the general public can’t, while performing their duties. RCW 46.61.035

says emergency vehicles, “when responding to an emergency call or when in the pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law or when responding to but not upon returning from a fire alarm,” may stop and stand, speed, turn and go through red lights and stop signs, if done safely. 

There is some wording in the law that might be construed to require the officer to have his car’s emergency lights on, but the wording is so convoluted, I doubt that would be an out for a speeder. 

Anyone can park briefly on the shoulder of an on-ramp if they stay in the car, such as to talk on a cell phone, State Trooper Krista Hedstrom said, so the police can, too. Staying in the car probably could permit parking on a bridge, as well. It’s leaving the car unoccupied that’s clearly an infraction for citizens.