---

Seattle Parking Enforcement Corruption

This web page details our opinions of and experiences with:

The City of Seattle
Parking Enforcement Officer (PEO)
Corruption and Selective Enforcement
DOCUMENTED

 

The Seattle City Government is corrupt, and that's a fact, but perhaps the worst offender within the Seattle City government is its parking enforcement department, a division of the Seattle police department. SPD is famous enough for incompetence, unprofessionalism, and downright corruption, but its parking enforcement officers (PEOs) are legendary. With Seattle's PEOs on the job, who needs muggers?

 

On 8-27-08 I was cited for "parking on a planting strip". The fact of the matter, as though those pesky, inconvenient things called facts had any bearing in this matter, is that I was not parked on the planting strip, but rather on the curb. People in this area do that out of a (possibly misguided) sense of courtesy to those who would traverse these narrow, poorly designed residential streets, and they do it also out of a sense of self-preservation. After all, the government won't take any real or significant steps to make sure anyone can ACTUALLY, COMPETENTLY, DRIVE A MOTOR VEHICLE, so those of us who can, must take extra steps to protect ourselves from the people who can't. To that end, we try to leave plenty of room for bad drivers to get by us without hitting our cars. Those of us with folding mirrors even retract them at night in the hope of still having them the following day. The streets of Seattle are, after all, often  a scene of chaos. To try to protect one's property when law enforcement won't is a simple concept. But the city of Seattle isn't able to grasp that concept and leave well enough alone. The government steadfastly refuses to incorporate a testing procedure within the DMV to screen out bad drivers, but it also steadfastly refuses to allow us to take little precautions to protect ourselves from them -- like parking on the curb so as to allow bad drivers to get by us on narrow streets.

In any case, I was cited for parking illegally. In the City of Seattle, it's illegal to park on a planting strip (that space between the sidewalk and the street), and also to park on the curb. The RCWs make no mention of curbs, but SMC 11.58.250 makes it so.

And so be it. I didn't know it was illegal to park in a courteous manner. I know it now. I paid the $35 fine. End of story.

But not quite.

At the very moment I was cited, I was surrounded by vehicles who were parked both on the planting strip and on the curb. One of those vehicles is owned by a Seattle City cop. That vehicle wasn't cited. How curious. How could it be that I was cited, yet a Seattle city employee's vehicle, one car length away, wasn't cited for the same thing? None of the other vehicles who were also illegally parked within a couple of car-lengths of mine, were cited either. I began to ponder the discrepancy. I'd posted a website critical of Seattle's parking enforcement department years before. That website is HERE.

I began advising SPD of these other, unpunished infractions, to see if they'd send someone back to cite them. I was especially curious to see what hoops they'd jump through to avoid citing "one of their own". When I received no responses to emails sent to the city (imagine my surprise), I advised the city via registered mail, because the city has a long and colorful history of "losing" letters and complaints it doesn't like, then claiming they never received said complaints. Registered mail, of course, provides proof of delivery. The first such notification was signed for on 9-13-08, as shown below..

I continued to document the illegal parking via photographs, and I continued to send them to SPD and the Mayor's office, along with instructions as to how to view them on this web page. I expected no replies, or, at most, meaningless and rhetorical replies.

  
8-27-08

The above vehicle had been parked on the curb for about 16 months and was parked there at the time I was cited, only one car length from mine. It was not cited.

I continued to document illegal parking within a 100 foot radius of where my own vehicle had been cited, and I continued to send pictures like those shown above and below, to various Seattle City government entities.

      
Above: 9-2-08

Obviously Seattle's corrupt parking enforcement has no intention of following up on our complaints and doing it's job. Seattle is as corrupt a city as we've ever seen. Most city governments will risk corruption for big gains and big powers, and Seattle is no different. The thing that amazes us most, however, is that Seattle will sell its soul and its credibility for things as petty as this. The Seattle city government simply doesn't care who knows it's corrupt. After all, what's anyone going to do about it? Expose it? The proper venue for handling corruption in any city law enforcement agency is to file a complaint with the county Sheriff. Unfortunately, the King County Sheriff is documentably more corrupt than Seattle City PD. The proper venue for a corrupt sheriff's office is to file a complaint with the FBI. Try it yourself and see what happens. Regardless of the quality of your documentation and the severity of the corruption, you'll never receive so much as an acknowledgement letter from the Seattle office of the FBI. Even in cases where the documentation has been sent via registered mail, and the FBI has signed for it, they'll later deny its receipt if you press them for action. We've documented and proven this in the past (in fact we documented a case in which two deputies collected evidence of corruption (selling stolen goods, among other felonies) on two city judges and took it personally to the FBI; six months later, when nothing was done, the deputies re-approached the FBI and inquired; they were told the FBI had never heard of them. Disgusted, both deputies quit that week). The Seattle city government is well aware of this good 'ol boy routine and counts on it to continue business as usual. It's despicable that the city should be allowed to continue to stick its residents in large and major ways, but to grind the city under its stiletto heels in stupid little ways like this seems, somehow, even worse.

9-6-08

The two images below are self-explanatory. Even though we began notifying the city of Seattle of this specific problem way back on 8-29-08, Seattle's Parking Enforcement still has not been back to uniformly enforce the law. They clearly have no plans to do so, and we believe that is because they would also have to cite "one of their own" at that time, and they simply refuse to do that.

 

We continued to advise various Seattle City government agencies via registered mail, as shown below.

On 9-22 we sent the following to the Seattle parking police at carbina.resendez@seattle.gov. No reply was ever received. This was sent again via registered mail:

We require an answer to this question: Is it legal or illegal, within the City of Seattle, to, at any time, park a legally licensed vehicle (a ford pickup, let's say) in such a way that any of its tires are resting completely on the raised curb, but NOT on any "planting strip" or sidewalk? If necessary we'll send this again via registered mail. We await a prompt reply.

[No reply was received.]

We contacted the Seattle Mayor's office again and advised that we would file a criminal complaint of corruption if this was not dealt with by 10-1-08. They replied and asked for the original citation number; it was promptly provided (again). They then advised they were escalating the matter up to another agency.

(below) The problem continues, unabated:

Our experiences with ALL aspects and facets of the Seattle City government have run their course just about like this one. Remember that this is the city that approved funding for a new monorail mass transit system, and purchased all the properties needed along its entire route, and kicked every business out without proper compensation (many went broke), then, when this fiasco was complete, the City of Seattle announced that the project had to be abandon because the city had forgotten to factor in the INTEREST on the gaga-million dollar loan to build the system. Of course any 16 year old kid is counseled by every even semi-responsible parent on this precise concept before buying their first $1000 car -- but somehow the ENTIRE CITY OF SEATTLE missed this dog-simple lesson, and didn't catch it for.....what? TWO YEARS??!! THAT is the mentality we, the people (of Seattle), are at the mercy of, and it has become downright frightening. It's not incompetence; it's not even stupidity; it's actual mental retardation.

Carbina Resendez (carbina.resendez@seattle.gov) continues to refuse to respond to the very simple question (above). Therefore, the following has been sent to Resendez's office, as follows:

Grace Crunican and/or Department Manager
Seattle Department of Transportation
PO Box 34996
Seattle, WA
98124-4996                                         Registered Mail Receipt: 2103 8555 7491 1449 XXXX

 

The following message was sent and delivered to your "Carbina Resendez" on 9-22-08.

That individual has refused to respond.

We now appeal to your department head via registered mail.

We demand a reply to the following very simple question.

The original email reads as follows, and the question stands:

“Is it legal or illegal, within the City of Seattle, to, at any time, park a legally licensed vehicle (a Ford pickup, let's say) in such a way that any of its tires are resting completely on the raised curb, but NOT on any "planting strip" or sidewalk? If necessary we'll send this again via registered mail. We await a prompt reply.”

This matter is being documented at the following url:

http://www.truth-or-consequences.com/bad_government/more_seattle_corruption/seattle_corrupt.html

In perpetual disgust,

[signature]

10-2-08

 

 

Before we could finish our corruption complaint to the King County Sheriff's office (who will do nothing anyway), we received the following masterpiece from the Seattle Police Department, specifically one -- well, actually, the author couldn't be bothered (or purposely neglected to) type out their name, so the public is left to try to decipher the signature, which APPEARS to read:

Als Ops Mgr
Rwoodside (R. Woodside?)

It's a common ploy for insignificant bureaucrats, who know they're signing a stupid document, to pull this particular stunt and try to be sure they can't be traced back to said document. If a bureaucrat is proud of a letter they've drafted, they'll make sure their signature is prominent and clear, typed out in bold, but if they're trying to slither around a problem, their signature will usually appear as this one does. Watch for the pattern in your own dealings with bureaucrats -- you'll see it's true.

The letter, below, received by us on 10-15, could not possibly illustrate the stupidity and backwardness of our city PD any more effectively. This, to us, demonstrates yet again that Seattle Parking Enforcement knows exactly what it's doing in terms of selective and corrupt parking enforcement, that it plans to continue doing it, that it's arrogantly thumbing its nose at every Seattle resident who demands FAIRNESS for its money, and that if ANYONE tries to expose and stop it, they'll receive air-headed nonsense like that shown below, for their trouble:

 

And the problem continues unabated:

 

On 11-15-08 we served SPD with a public disclosure request for copies of all parking citations issued in this area in the past six months. We'll post them here, redacted to protect any names, addresses, etc.

On 11-19-08 we received the following; our reply is appended to it:

This is to confirm that you received a reply from Seattle Police Chief R. Gil Kerlikowske regarding the parking citation you received. It is my understanding that you have made a public disclosure request and will seek redress through legal means. Our office is no longer involved once this issue enters the legal system.
Thank you for contacting the Customer Service Bureau.

Sincerely,
Wayne Lennon

City of Seattle
Customer Service Bureau
(206) 684-CITY(2489)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wayne Lennon,

We received a reply from SPD which was utterly imbecilic, pretending (?) to not even grasp the basic issue or the purpose of our complaint. That was as expected, and we have posted that letter along with all other documentation, at http://www.truth-or-consequences.com/bad_government/more_seattle_corruption/seattle_corrupt.html.

The issue remains the same:

We now have documented proof that it is illegal within the city to park on the curb. I was cited for that; I paid the fine; end of story --- EXCEPT that numerous other vehicles adjacent to mine do regularly, and are at this very moment, park(ed) within a car length of mine, yet none have been cited but mine (see website). A Seattle city employee’s vehicle was parked on the curb one car length from mine at the moment mine was cited, for instance, and it had been there, unmoved, for roughly 16 months without being cited, and it remains illegally parked at this very moment without being cited, despite SPD having now been informed of this via registered mail many times over the past several months. Any reasonable individual will be inclined to label this CORRUPTION. It’s clearly favoritism, and favoritism in law enforcement is corruption. SPD is famous for it, and we see more of it here than in any of the three countries and 16 states that we’ve lived and worked in with the exception of an ugly little burg near the Rio Grande. We believe, and we believe we can prove corruption in this instance given subpoena authority, that my vehicle was specifically and explicitly targeted for a citation in retaliation for a previous website I posted which is critical of Seattle’s parking enforcement.

Since your office has been of no material help, and since SPD responded only with ignorance and its usual stock-in-trade stupidity, we feel we have no recourse left but to file a corruption complaint with KCSO (and ultimately with the FBI because we all know KCSO will drop the ball – it’s a foregone conclusion). We are now simply amassing as much documentation as possible with which to file that complaint.

We expected no help from your office. We received none. But we have documented that we attempted to use logical, reasonable processes to resolve this.

[signature]
11-19-08

CC: Internet post
BCC:

 

And the problem continues, unabated:

 

And the problem continues (taken week of 11-23 - 29-08);
Documented proof that Seattle's Parking Enforcement
will NOT cite any vehicles except ours:

 

On 12-15-08 we received Seattle Police Dept's reply to our Public Disclosure demand, as follows:

6-10-08, one private vehicle was cited for "Parking on Planting Strip" in this area. Less than 20 feet away, a Seattle City employee's vehicle was also parked illegally, yet was not cited.

6-17-08, the same private vehicle was cited in the exact same spot for "Parking on Planting Strip". Less than 20 feet away, a Seattle City employee's vehicle was also parked illegally, yet was not cited.

7-28-08, the same private vehicle was cited in the exact same spot for "Parking on Planting Strip". Less than 20 feet away, a Seattle City employee's vehicle was also parked illegally, yet was not cited.

8-26-08, a different private vehicle was cited in the exact same spot for "Parking on Planting Strip". Less than 20 feet away, a Seattle City employee's vehicle was also parked illegally, yet was not cited.

NO OTHER vehicles have been cited in this area since 8-26-08, despite numerous, repeated letters to Seattle PD via registered mail, including pictures of the offending vehicles. It is now our opinion, based on this documentation, that it has been a long-standing unwritten policy by Seattle's Parking Enforcement department to intentionally, consciously and deliberately overlook illegally parked vehicles owned by other Seattle City employees. Note that Seattle's Parking enforcement has a history of patrolling this area and for issuing parking cites to private citizens, but not to vehicles owned by their own people. Additionally, note that the Parking Enforcement detail has been conspicuously absent here for four full months, since being informed of the offending vehicle owned by a Seattle City employee. This is clearly yet another case of Seattle's petty corruption, which leads only to destroy the private citizen's trust in and respect for all things government in Seattle, King County, and the state of Washington. It's at epidemic levels.

Our documentation is now completed. We believe this proves corruption in the form of selective enforcement. This page will now be printed and forwarded to the King County Sheriff's office as a formal corruption complaint against the Seattle Parking Enforcement department. Once the KCSO has been given ample opportunity to whitewash and ignore the problem, we'll file with the Seattle office of the FBI against the KCSO. That office will predictably ignore the matter as well; that will, however, give us enough documentation to take the matter to the media, to our Congressmen, Governor, and state Senator(s). We're sick and tired of corruption.

UPDATE 2-2-09:

During the last week of January, 2009, and before we got around to filing with the King County Sheriff's office (an exercise in futility but we wanted to document the problem anyway) a Seattle City POE (Parking Enforcement Officer) cruised through the block in question here but issued no citations, even though four cars were parked on the curb and the planting strip, including that owned by the Seattle City employee (a SPD cop, by the way), which had been parked on the curb for some 23 months.

Two days later, that Seattle City cop mysteriously moved his vehicle off the curb.

Clearly, he was given a "heads up" by someone on the force who had read this website. We're betting that Seattle City Parking Enforcement will wait a few weeks to make sure the cop has moved his vehicle and isn't prosecutable, and will then cruise the block again, and issue new citations to those private citizens still parked on the curb or planting strips.

This is how the City of Seattle (and the state of Washington in general) operates.

This is how the City of Seattle (and the state of Washington in general) has ALWAYS operated.

This is how the City of Seattle (and the state of Washington in general) WILL always operate.

It's called C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N. It's the one thing Seattle does best.

Washington: America's own Third World Country.

 

UPDATE 2-22-09:

We now consider this fiasco to be completely beyond the pale. We believe we have PROVEN beyond any POSSIBLE doubt that the Seattle Parking Enforcement division of the Seattle Police Department is enforcing, or not enforcing, the parking laws in this area utterly and completely at its whim. That is a fact. It's documented on this page again and again. We believe that what has transpired here is THIS: We believe there has been a long-standing unspoken agreement within Seattle Parking Enforcement to NOT cite the vehicle owned by the Seattle City employee (a police officer) in this neighborhood and others. Seattle Parking enforcement has routinely issued citations to vehicles adjacent to the vehicle owned by the cop, while steadfastly refusing to cite the cop. This is not opinion, it's a documented fact. Seattle PD, Seattle Parking Enforcement, and the Seattle Mayor's office have all been advised of this, repeatedly, by registered mail, for over six months. We've received only nonsense and gibberish from those agencies if we received anything at all, none of which even attempted to address the actual problem, yet the problem continues. We believe that in January, 2009, the cop was finally advised, privately, to move his vehicle off the curb where it resided, unmoved, for nearly two years. He has done so. We believe that Seattle Parking Enforcement then decided not to cite any other vehicles in the area for some period of time, so as to make it look as though they were not citing ANYONE in the area. In that way they could not be accused of only citing private citizens. We have family in Seattle PD. Some of us have worked in law enforcement at levels far higher than a city PD. We know exactly how most metropolitan departments work -- they work on the "Good Ol' Boy" system. Seattle is one of the worst and most flagrant offenders in the country, second only to places like Tacoma and Kent, Washington, then Chicago, then areas along the Mexican border.

The Seattle Parking Enforcement minions patrolled and issued citations in this area roughly every two weeks for years. We've documented that. Since this website was brought to their attention, nearly half a year ago, we believe there have been NO citations issued here.

The job of the Seattle parking Enforcement and Seattle PD is to administer the law EVENLY, FAIRLY, without prejudice or favoritism. These concepts are utterly beyond the comprehension of either of these agencies and, indeed, the King County Sheriff's office as well. We have proven that beyond all doubt, online, in other cases. These people simply do what they want. No more, no less. No amount of public embarassment or humiliation can seem to entice them to even ATTEMPT to do what they were hired to do. Indeed, it seems to spur them onward to even more scullduggerous depths. We're sick of it. We know beyond all doubt that the formal complaint to the King County Sheriff, below, will fall on deaf ears. We expect that. We know it. We've watched it play out in virtually every single case we've ever brought before them, all of which have been far more serious than this. But they are the next agency in line to approach. We file this complaint merely as a formality, to document that we have taken all appropriate legal steps before escalating the matter to the FBI, and finally on to our state Senators and Fox News. As always, we submit that it would have been far simpler and more cost-effective for Seattle PD to have simply done its job, than for it to have continued on as it has over the past six months. Were "I" police chief in this city, I'd have welcomed our very first complaint; I would have grasped the opportunity to clean up the Seattle Parking Enforcement division, which has needed a thorough house-cleaning for many, many years. The problem would have stopped, we'd have a city better for it, and this website would have no reason to exist. Instead, Seattle PD has done what it always does. It tries to hide the problem with even more corruption and stupidity. Two of the three vehicles shown below have been parked on the planting strip continuously, without moving, since December 1, 2009. We have personally witnessed a Seattle Parking Enforcement vehicle drive past these vehicles, yet not stop or cite them. This is how Seattle works, folks. Don't like it? Change it. Don't know how to change it? Then at least work to throw out the bums who now run this city.

. .       

 

 

King County Courthouse
516 Third Ave
Room W-150
Seattle, WA 98104
                                                                Registered receipt: 420 98104 9121 8052 1390 -----------
Sheriff Rahr:

We are enclosing a printout of a website which can be found at the following URL:
http://www.truth-or-consequences.com/bad_government/more_seattle_corruption/seattle_corrupt.html

It is self-explanatory. It details and documents CORRUPTION in the Seattle Parking Enforcement division of Seattle PD.
We do not want a reply from you people – we place you, honestly, about one-half grade above the rapists, druggies, pedophiles and assorted and nefarious other vermin in this city. We have documented (documented) the corruption in your office on previous occasions.

We will continue to monitor this situation. If the problem has not been resolved in 30 days from the date you sign for this registered letter, we will move the issue up to the FBI, and thence to the Washington State Senate. We KNOW you will do little or nothing to remedy this. We KNOW the FBI will refuse to act when you refuse to do your duty. We’re betting there are a few Senators who are sick of this nonsense as well, but we could be wrong. Let’s all find out together.

In disgust,

[signature]
2-23-09

 

 

UPDATE 3-31-09:

Vehicles have remained parked on the curb and planting strips continuously since our letter to KCSO on 2-23-09 (see above). The picture below could depict any and every day since. Clearly KCSO blew this off as we predicted. We'll now file with the FBI.

:
3-31-09: Same ol', same ol'