My catalytic converter was stolen at the Sea-Tac garage, and more letters
FROM CATALYTIC CONVERTER theft to the proper use of the term “tarmac” to memories of taking a date to the top of the Sea-Tac garage, your responses poured in to my May 21 story, “Meet a few of the 23,329 people who keep Sea-Tac Airport humming 24/7.”
Well, to be accurate, a considerable number were about The Backstory, “Sea-Tac’s parking garage is huge, pricey and almost always mostly full.”
Here we go. Most of the responses were from men. I’m not sure why.
Where love takes flight
“The Sea-Tac parking garage has many fond memories for me. I lived in the area of the airport and was in high school when in was built in the early ’70s. The top floor was hardly ever used. It was a nice place to take a date. The parking cost was cheap, and from the top floor, you could watch ‘the airplane races’ with relative seclusion and not be bothered by security, since you had paid for the parking spot.”
— Paul Hansen, Eatonville
Now it’s Your Turn Want to share a thought/photo/poem/compliment/complaint in response to a Pacific NW magazine cover story? Please do! You’ll find our writers’ contact information at the end of their stories. We really do love to hear your feedback — and even publish it from time to time. More
A simpler Sea-Tac
“I first flew into Sea-Tac from Chicago in 1965. Sea-Tac was way smaller and simpler then, of course. I remember particularly driving back to Sea-Tac in December and noticing the cows in a pasture that we passed just after getting off I-5. It was quaint to see after Chicago’s density. Long gone now!”
— Victoria Galanti, Seattle
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Watch out for theft
“Wish you would have mentioned the Sea-Tac garage is a magnet for catalytic converter theft. Mine got stolen off my car back in January, while I was on a weeklong trip. Filed a report with the Port of Seattle Police. I park off-site at MasterPark now.”
— Joe McKinstry, Port Ludlow
That’s a lot of lots
“Some better sourcing is needed regarding Sea-Tac airport’s garage. Every time there’s an article, Sea-Tac tries to claim how big the parking garages are. It doesn’t even come close to the Charlotte airport. It’s obvious to anyone who’s traveled through CLT. Per The Charlotte Observer: ‘The airport has more than 21,000 public parking spaces.’ ”
— Bruce Keever, Kirkland (originally from Charlotte)
Erik note: The story referenced WorldAtlas.com, which ranks the Sea-Tac garage as the world’s second-largest parking lot, with around 13,000 spaces. The site makes no mention of Charlotte Douglas International Airport. WorldAtlas.com, based in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, responded that its listing was about “one continuous parking lot, which Charlotte airport is not … there are 21,000 parking spots, not a parking lot of 21,000 spaces.”
Parking garage lost and (whew) found
“On the morning of March 27, I took my partner to Sea-Tac for an early flight, parked in the big garage and helped her check her bag in the terminal. Then I went back to get my car and leave, which I had left on floor five — or was it floor six? To make a long story short, I spent the next hour and a half wandering through the garage (three times I returned to the elevators and terminal to retrace my steps) in search of my white SUV (there are a lot of them) — searching floor seven, then five, then six. I could sort of remember where we’d parked; wasn’t it down this lane? I became dazed, weak, like lost in a forest. I didn’t know what to do. Then I saw two maintenance-looking fellows walking down a lane on one of the floors. (I had seen them an hour earlier — on a different floor? Too embarrassed to ask.) But this time: ‘Do you guys work here? Yes!? I can’t find my car!’ They asked me a few basic questions about where I might have parked it, then they asked if I knew the license number. I did! They then called a number, told someone the number (and make and model) and about 30 seconds later said, ‘Floor seven, row K, number 62.’ I wanted to hug them but didn’t. A few minutes later (we were on floor five?), I was driving out of that garage, back into a new Seattle morning. But feeling changed … deeply changed.”
— Rick Fordyce, Seattle
Roll up the ‘tarmac,’ folks
“In that you ‘serve’ a very knowledgeable aviation community, I would offer a gentle suggestion to set yourself apart from other journalists and lose the term ‘tarmac.’ At any given airport, aircraft can be found on ramps (or aprons), taxiways and runways. Tarmac is the name of a patented paving product (similar to asphalt) and not a place. While I agree it is a ‘cool’-sounding word, I can assure you it is not one I ever used in the course of my 38-year career in air traffic control … 20 of which were as a supervisor at the Sea-Tac Tower and TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control).”
— Ed Gass, Mill Creek
Source: The Seattle Times
