Businesses along the Kansas City Streetcar route are weighing in on the parking problem.
Last week, Sean Demory with Public Works said, "We have done as much as we can to maintain as much parking as possible at the request of business owners." This is something the owners we spoke to don't deny.
Leonard Dwyer and his wife own Cafe Al Dente in River Market. "We told them we needed parking spaces, yeah, because we lost some because of where they're parking here, but they're not taking full advantage of them now," Dwyer said.
Across from his restaurant, the number of spaces decreased from four to one. Dwyer said they "get a lot of complaints about it. Where am I supposed to park? Et cetera."
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We asked: Why push for parking that may be too small for standard cars to fit into? After attending multiple meetings, Dwyer told us, "I don't know anything about the size of the spaces because I never heard a conversation to that effect. Somebody may have said something, but I never heard it."
Demory stated, "What we were doing above all else is trying to aggressively maintain as much parking as we can."
With time and additional education, the KC Streetcar is confident that the situation will improve. Donna Mandelbaum said, "Parking on the streetcar route has improved dramatically. People are finding alternate places to park, they are parking within the white line. If their vehicle is too large, they are trying to find alternate places to park."
Several business owners along the route tell us they are happy the streetcar is coming, they only want safe parking for their customers.
The streetcar opening is set for May 6.
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Dia Wall can be reached at dia.wall@kshb.com.
