Northwest Dive Club

I have not seen parking enforcement weekdays but they were certainly out this weekend. Granted, I was parked there from 6:30 am until 3:30 pm so I deserved it. Just know that they're back.

Is this in the parking lot, or in the street?

Parking lot. The street is still free (and the place I'll be using more often).

They are there on a fairly routine basis, not every 2 hours but several times a day. The Whole area is constantly parked out now so they pay attention to it. I've seen a number of vehicles ticketed and I don't spend much time there. You have to be efficient to get an entire dive in 2 hours there.
Originally the planning was for 4 hour street parking to discourage Water Taxi commuters. The Taxi commuters ARE from West Seattle, AND the people that live in the condos across the street all wanted extended parking. They created enough of a political force to change the original plans.

Historical note: I'm part of the group that was instrumental in preserving the Coves for diving when the Water Taxi shut it down (Marker Buoy Dive Club and Boeing Seahorse almost entirely, and only a handful of those).
Years later when they had a community meeting for input on the switch to King County control and rebuilding the dock, one of my first posts in this forum was to encourage divers (ALL divers) to show up and have input. Yes, it was one of my first postings. No I did not otherwise introduce myself. OTOH, I go back to the days when this forum was created in it's original mode (now long dead), so I didn't think I needed jump through that hoop-wrong apparently. I got a ration of crap from a 'newbie' diver (you know, 6-12 months of diving and think they know everything) that was offended that I had barged in on THEIR forum proceedings. FWIW, this person no longer dives, and quit years ago
The meeting was very poorly represented by divers, and well represented by West Seattle residents. We only have our selves to blame when our lack of interest and action loses us our dive sites. It's happening folks....pay attention.

I wish I could "Like" that post, Fritz. I was at that meeting you're talking about, and disappointed at the weak turnout from the diving community. We had very little voice in what went on at the Coves because the diving community decided not to participate in the public hearings, while the residents turned out in force.

A lot of people in here gave me shit about my involvement in the octopus capture at Cove 2 three years ago too ... but at least it mobilized enough of the dive community to get something positive accomplished.

If we want a voice in the decisions being made about our public resources, we have to involve ourselves and stand up for what we believe in ... because for sure those who compete for those same resources are doing so.

And on that note, Cove 3 is getting almost too dangerous to dive in anymore on week-ends, thanks to the kayak rental place. I've been hit twice by kayaks in the past months ... once while TOWING A DIVE FLAG! The idiots were paddling right toward me, screaming at me to get out of their way. I was surface swimming out to set the dive flag ... which was prominently displayed about 4 feet from my body at the time. I chose not to say anything, for fear that doing so would only result in getting the cove closed to divers ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Grateful Diver wrote:And on that note, Cove 3 is getting almost too dangerous to dive in anymore on week-ends, thanks to the kayak rental place. I've been hit twice by kayaks in the past months ... once while TOWING A DIVE FLAG! The idiots were paddling right toward me, screaming at me to get out of their way. I was surface swimming out to set the dive flag ... which was prominently displayed about 4 feet from my body at the time. I chose not to say anything, for fear that doing so would only result in getting the cove closed to divers ...

I have seen those kayakers. I don't believe they know how to stop or turn.

Getting hit by a kayak? Really, that's a problem? LOL, I get hit by kayaks for fun every time I visit Seattle. Actually I am trying to get a game of kayak polo started here in Albuquerque. I hope to get hit a dozen times tomorrow.

Anyone who wants to play kayak water polo for no charge can show up at Marsh park in Kirkland every Wednesday evening at 6pm. No experience or equipment needed. They have it all for you to borrow. Its a great game!

Yeah, great fun ... getting bonked in the head with a kayak can potentially knock you unconscious. And while if it happens on shore it's no big deal, in the water it can cause you to drown. Not my idea of a good time ... but if it floats your boat go for it.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

So if these guys at Cove 2 are playing kayak polo what does that make Bob's head?

target practice?

We were out today (Tuesday) doing an open water class and parking at C2. Due to the nasty traffic snarl today, we got a late start in the water. Traffic enforcement came through about 1030 and chalked tires, but they had not returned by the time I left at 1:00. Just for info... it would be interesting if we start seeing some trends here. For mid-week, there's just no where to park due to the street congestion with commuters, so that only leaves the Marniation lot. I'm open to suggestions though.

Go to the pipeline or the junkyard instead?

CaptnJack wrote:Go to the pipeline or the junkyard instead?

Well, yeah, but lot of this is classes (the ticket incidence), where easy access to the water and facilities is important. Or people want to see some specific critters Cove 2 has to offer. Junkyard and Pipeline are entirely different dives, worthy but different.

Note - Going to see Paula Hoff (Superintendent of Parks) and Kathy Whitman (Aquatics Manager for Parks and our main contact for Seacrest) along with Mike Racine (Washington Scuba Alliance) to talk about maintenance, development, and issues with Seacrest. Mike is working on some long term improvements to the area. I'm working (as a representative of the Marker Buoys) with Kathy on maintaining the buoys and boundary line in Cove 2. Both of these plans impact one another so we are making sure we communicate and are coherent with our message going forward.

RVbldr wrote:................... I'm open to suggestions though.

Wash the chalk off your tires?

Actually musical car swap has been used before with success - chalk just smudges a little.

With the 2 hour limit, doing classes is risking it, but I'd be all for a paid system there if we can get a number of hours like Redondo or Muk.

RVbldr wrote:but I'd be all for a paid system there if we can get a number of hours like Redondo or Muk.

It will fill up with commuters even worse if they can just pay for more time.

Back when they held the public hearing there was talk about expanding the parking lot ... they were talking specifically about turning the section in front of the bathrooms into parking spaces. I guess that went by the wayside.

Parking was the most discussed issue at that meeting. Everybody saw this coming. Since Marination went in it's only gotten worse ... especially since the folks who work there commonly use the lot. I watched one of the gals who works there come out last Saturday, move her car back about a foot, and go back to work.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I learned some key things today from the meeting with Parks about long term improvements to the Seacrest area.

First, most critical, and most politically difficult to work with......it's all about parking!!!

The only viable option we have right now to mitigate that is a large and persistent push on the part of the recreational community to do away with the unlimited street parking and change it to 4 hours. Then.....maybe, we can get somewhere. But, there will be a huge push back from the community living there. Apparently condo parking is not free, you have to pay. So, people don't pay and park on the street. That group is very invested in keeping the current situation, along with small business moving in to the area. Seattle is committed to 'densification' vs urban sprawl (worse urban sprawl, bad enough already).

No chance changing the dock to 4 hours with the restaurant there.

Extremely unlikely of changing "green to gray", taking out any grass and replacing it with parking.
Possible but difficult to work out some kind of sharing issue with the boat lot. They have a primary claim to the space. That only makes sense if there is easy access to the water and something to see down there anyway, which is part of the plan but it hinges around.....guess what, parking.

Last issue of interest, parking is done on a random 2 hour inspection cycle. Each parking enforcement has several [2 hour] areas to police. When they show up is random so you never know for sure what the cycle will be. They may only see each area once a day about 2 hours apart, so by playing parking roulette you might get away with much longer. But you don't know for sure. They might change up the timing on the weekends vs weekdays.
Apparently for enforcement logistics they like 2 hour cycles, not 4 hours cycles and prefer not to mix them up. Another logistic to overcome.

Can we just close the damn city? There should be some kind of precedent for doing that.

Bring more people in your vehicle to split up the $44 parking fee!