‘It’s diabolical’: Gee praises Tacoma’s new parking plan, rips Seattle’s ‘outrageous’ prices

Downtown Tacoma drivers will soon pay a little more to park at the curb, but a lot less to park in city-owned garages.

The trade-off had KIRO host Gee Scott fired up. He summarized the city’s strategy on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

“Basically what was happening is people were parking on the streets, and the garages were just getting no love,” Gee said.

Starting Oct. 13, Tacoma’s on-street parking rate will rise from $1 to $1.50 per hour. A city study found that roughly one-third of on-street spots were being occupied by cars parked for five hours or longer, clogging up curb space meant for shorter visits. The change is designed to push longer stays off the street and into the lots where the city can control the price.

‘That’s what happens when the city owns the parking’

Gee credited Tacoma’s ownership of its parking infrastructure as the key difference between the two cities. Tacoma controls its own garages. It can set rates that actually make sense for drivers.

He argued that Seattle relies heavily on third-party operators that end up costing you more.

“That’s the difference between Tacoma and Seattle,” Gee said. “Seattle don’t own a lot of these parking lots that are out here, so we got to do third party, and you got to pay the fees and all that stuff. Shout-out to Tacoma.”

He turned his frustration directly on Seattle’s parking landscape.

“It’s outrageous! It’s diabolical, the prices that you have to pay,” Gee said. “If you want to go see somebody real quick in downtown Seattle … I was on Sunday downtown looking at places maybe to live, and I had to pay $12 just for an hour.”

‘$50 now is a deal’

The conversation drifted to game-day parking near Lumen Field, where Gee recalled a time when $50 felt steep for a Seahawks game.

“Oh, you want to park right here and just stay by the stadium? $50? Like, man, that’s expensive. $50 now is a deal!” he said.

KIRO producer Andrew Lanier estimated that game-day spots near the stadium now run $75 to $90. Gee agreed fans typically need to spend at least $75 “to not have your feet fall off” from walking, and $100 or more for a truly close spot.

When asked whether he had any parking tricks left, Gee admitted he used to park farther out and take an Uber to the stadium. Even that workaround had run its course.

“It doesn’t matter, because if you try to get an Uber close to the stadium, you got to go way out to connect it, so it’s just kind of ridiculous,” he said.

‘We got to figure out Seattle’

Gee acknowledged that most listeners outside the city don’t deal with the same parking headaches and only encounter Seattle’s prices when they come in for games. He said the Tacoma model proved that city-controlled parking doesn’t have to mean gouging drivers.

“I was thinking in my head — when is the last time I actually paid to park downtown Tacoma? I don’t even remember,” Gee said. “That’s kind of crazy, right? But that’s what Tacoma is about.”

The difference, he said, comes down to who controls the lots.

“When you have the city that owns it, then it can be cheaper,” Gee added. “We got to figure out Seattle.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.