by Ken Robinson

Downtown Seattle parking practices are coming to Burien.

Patrons of businesses in Olde Burien might be surprised to learn they will have to pay to park in what has always been a free lot.

Although many businesses have come and gone on that side of the street over the years, people got used to parking in the dirt lot between 9th and 10th S.W.

Parking during the 9 to 5 business day usually has not been a problem. After 5 p.m. when locals want something to eat and drink, they might now find it problematic.

Five businesses on that short block are owned buy a one man. His son a Renton dentist, manages the property. The lot is behind the corner on 9th where Poggi Bonsi was until 2012. Then some other kind of oddities shop was in there, now gone. And the strip along 152nd looks like a bums mouth with missing teeth--vacant store fronts. 909 and 913 are the only surviving businesses there owned by the same guy. The Thai place and The Tin Room are going strong and their patrons sometimes use that parking lot behind the former Poggi Bonsi space.

The whole point of this story is that Joe Diamond's pay-to-park lot will be the first in Burien and represents a change in culture.

One of the good things about the suburbs is that no one has had to pay to park. While parking is still limited in the older parts of town along 152nd Street, many businesses have survived over the years anyway. One of the attractions to the shopping center is ample free parking, such as is available at Fred Meyer and Safeway and other centers.

Now, it looks like the culture is about the change in Burien.

At that dirt lot, there is a sign that instructs you to call a number and enter a code and a stall number and your credit cards information. That way, the disciples of Joe Diamond  (Joe, a Seattle attorney, died in 2007 at age 99) can still collect from you without even being there with their hand out.

Some local workers (the bartender at 913) have found tickets on their cars since the sign went up about two and a half weeks ago. And the tickets were for $40 for various infractions. Somehow, state law allows these charges.

Joe Diamond built a parking lot empire now numbering more than 1,000 lots around town. The lots were called 'self-serve' lots with a box in which your payment was placed in a slot marked for the stall where you parked.

We have to laugh at the fatuous language on the site declaring "We Care" list the willingness to open you car if you locked your keys inside, change a flat for you, jump start your car or give you enough gas to get to a gas station if you are on empty. How likely are those things to happen?

At the bottom of the sign is the legend, "Make Diamond Parking your first choice".

The property is owned by a Mercer Island man, I-Hsing Yang and is managed by his son, Steve Yang, also of Mercer Island and who is a Renton dentist. The elder Yang bought the property in 2006 according to county records.

Those bent on getting a martini, good Italian food or some Pad Thai will still find parking, at St. Elizabeth Church, north or south on 10th Avenue and sometimes on 152nd when other shops have closed.