Local Politics

[SubGod22]

The City will apparently vote on the parking plan this coming Tuesday.

Of the five plans they're considering, apparently only one projects to make a profit so I'm sure that's the one that will be approved.

Option A:

M-T 8am-6pm
Friday-Saturday 8am-9pm
Sundays are free

15 minute free parking.
$0.75 an hour
$5 daily rates for surface, $10 for covered
$35 monthly for surface, $70 for covered

Expected profit of $500K

Option B:

Same as A except one hour of free parking. (Apparently 35% of visitors are parked for less than an hour)

Expected loss of $725K

Option C:

No meters in Old Town.

Other rates match Option B.

Would also include either a rate hike for existing Old Town businesses on their parking agreements or a CID of 1% which would eliminate parking agreements for retail and increase rates for non-retail.

Expected loss of $1.1M

Option D:

Higher rates for garages and surface lots. On street parking wouldn't be metered until 2026.

Delano would be left out until the HUB is completed, then it would be reevaluated.

Option C Old Town included.

No dollar amount projected, but a loss is expected.

Option E:

Continue with the status quo with the parking fund continuing to operate at a loss.


They project they have between $12M and $18M in deferred maintenance due to lack of funding.

[SubGod22]

Appears the COW is working to get homeless vets off the streets.

[SubGod22]

The saga continues

WBJ - Wichita City Council can't come to consensus on a downtown parking plan

The Wichita City Council listened, debated and compromised on downtown parking plans for four hours Tuesday night — before two votes failed and the matter was delayed three weeks.

A vote to approve the city's original parking plan — which small-business owners feared would destroy their traffic because of irate customers — failed 4-3. Then a vote to implement downtown parking increases but hold off on fees in the Delano District and Old Town entertainment district failed 5-2.

The Council directed city staff to come to the Dec. 10 meeting with additional information about both plans, with possible compromises.

Council members Brandon Johnson, Becky Tuttle and vice mayor Maggie Ballard voted for the original plan, with mayor Lily Wu and members Dalton Glasscock, J.V. Johnston and Mike Hoheisel voting against.

Glasscock, who said he wouldn't vote for an option that didn't include relief for Delano businesses, was joined only by Johnston in support of the option that implemented the downtown part of the plan, but held off on Delano on-street parking until 2026.

Wu seemed to be the only one entertaining the option of not implementing a plan at all, keeping the status quo. But she was critical of the city in failing to patrol paid parking as it is and said the Council is "lacking all the aspects to make an informed decision."

Johnston said small businesses in Delano would be hurt by the original plan and didn't want the district to be included.

[SubGod22]

I noticed the other day that Wichita has approved $500K for two public bathrooms to be constructed downtown near a couple of parks. Does it really cost $250K to build a public bathroom? A lot of people can't even afford homes that cost that much. How big are these bathrooms and who the hell quoted them that much?

[SubGod22]

Parking plan update

WBJ - Wichita City Council approves compromise parking plan

The Wichita City Council has decided on the city's downtown parking plan, a compromise that will lead to metered parking in downtown and the Old Town area but excludes the Delano District west of the Arkansas River.

The approved hybrid plan, approved 5-2 with mayor Lily Wu and Mike Hoheisel voting against, came a month after the Council failed to reach a consensus on the plan and delayed a decision in November. The decision also ended three months of debate within the business community after a city social-media post in August stirred a public that until then had put up little to no fuss about a parking plan originally approved in early January.

City staff and local economic development leaders had said the parking fund is not sustainable for supporting the maintenance needs of garages, surface lots and street parking in the core, as well as security upgrades and modernized infrastructure. It was also pointed out that the city was far behind its peers in a coherent and modern parking approach.

Many business owners, though, have argued paid parking could deter customers from visiting some businesses included in the original plan.

The hybrid plan will provide downtown with metered rates at $1 per hour, and $5 daily rates for surface lots and $10 for covered lots.

For Old Town, assistant city manager Troy Anderson said businesses would have 60 days to maintain the current parking arrangement by establishing a community improvement district with an additional 2% sales tax for consumers and an increase to all non-retail payments for parking agreements to a minimum of $15 per space per month.

Apparently businesses in Old Town have been paying a flat rate since 1996. The rate was supposed to slowly increase over time but hasn't because COW dropped the ball or something. Had it gone as it was supposed to, there would be more than enough money in the fund to take care of things without charging people to go downtown and then apparently even more to spend money downtown on top of it.

[SubGod22]

Old Town fights back.

KWCH - Old Town businesses petitioning to halt paid parking plan

With the Wichita City Council finally making a decision on a paid parking plan, businesses in Old Town are working on a petition to stop paid parking in their area.

The businesses have less than 60 days to get the signatures they need. If the petition succeeds, the city would stop paid parking plans in Old Town and shift to a 2% sales tax instead and charge businesses $15 per parking space each month.

Old Town Association Board Member Brooke Russell said business owners have met about the parking plan several times and decided to start the petition.

“The overwhelming majority of people felt that a sales tax would be the better way to go so that way the customers don’t have to deal with meters,” Russell said.