LYNNWOOD, Wash. — The chaotic parking situation at and near the Lynnwood City Center Link Station reached a breaking point during the Seattle Mariners’ postseason run.
On Wednesday night, Mary’s Towing said they towed 46 cars at the request of the company that owns the property of a strip mall right across 200th St. SW from the Lynnwood Sound Transit parking garage.
While the entire parking lot is private property, several people who work in some management capacity say there has been some leniency towards people parking in private, but legitimate parking spots.
Wednesday night, however, dozens of cars were parked on the foundation of an old strip mall to take the light rail to the Mariners game.
The towing company and security managers say fences and barriers were moved or driven over that were meant to block off the concrete slabs that have debris, exposed rebar, and drop-offs of several feet, which they say are safety issues for parking.
Paul Aboa works at one of the businesses in the strip mall and says parking really became an issue at the start of the Mariners’ postseason.
“People have started taking our spots to the point where we only have four parking spots for our clients. We had people complain about that,” Aboa said, who points out he’s been happy to follow the Mariners’ success this year.
Kathy Larsen was surprised it took so long for someone to address the cars that she sees whenever she shops near the area.
“There were like two to three hundred cars here, and nobody was doing anything about it. You can’t get in the lot.” Larsen said.
On Friday, security guards were approaching people parking in the lot to remind them of the rules that are posted on signs throughout the lot.
Guards were even putting those rules on flyers on people’s cars to act as a warning.
A representative on site told KIRO that this week’s focus on the foundation is likely to evolve into a full crackdown on parking for light rail users in the next week.
“I don’t know why they didn’t make the garage bigger." Larsen wondered, as she had also had issues parking at the Lynwood and other Sound Transit garages.
Community transit employees were handing out fliers at other park-n-ride locations.
Sound Transit has frequently referred people to use transit to get to the Lynwood garage.
KIRO 7 has reported on the capacity issues at the garage since it opened in 2024. When asked for an update on Friday, Sound Transit representatives said they are still thinking of ways to address it, like paid parking or carpool benefits, though there is no estimated time for those to be implemented.
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