“The center is everyone’s neighborhood.”
That’s the oft-repeated mantra used by Wichita’s government to justify hundreds of millions of public dollars spent to subsidize the vision and profits of an exclusive downtown development club.
It will not be possible for anyone to ever say that with a straight face again.
Starting in January, the city of Wichita will begin charging parking fees at almost all public parking lots and garages downtown.
They might as well put up signs that say “Welcome to Downtown Wichita.” Go away.”
If there’s one constant in this city government, it’s this: No matter who’s in charge, they have the uncanny ability to seek expert advice, appoint steering committees, hold focus groups, and still end up making the worst possible decision for the greatest number of Wichitans.
The paid parking plan is the umpteenth in a long series of missteps in the city center.
High-tech parking meters that can accept cash, debit cards and payment apps will be installed along the streets. And you, the average citizen, get the privilege of paying for the equipment so you can pay for what you now get for free.
The new mandate will be enforced by an army of mercenaries working for a private company called The Car Park. They will be given the city’s government authority to enforce the law and equipped with the latest technology to read license plates and spit out tickets faster than ever before. And you’ll pay for it, too.
Oh, and by the way, the City Council increased fines for expired meter violations from $10 to $35 earlier this year.
It’s a plan that has been years in the making.
I covered a meeting of the Parking and Multimodal Plans Steering Committee seven years ago and watched as a Denver consultant solemnly explained to the assembled city and private sector powerhouses that Wichita’s problem is that the land doesn’t have enough charges for parking.
I remember thinking at the time, “Who hired this guy?”
The only advantage downtown Wichita has over larger and (let’s face it) more attractive cities like Denver is that it’s easy to get to and there’s plenty of parking when you do.
But everything our city government does seems designed to undo these benefits.
The ongoing program to strip streets again from four to two lanes was a start. Paid parking only makes things worse.
About the only people I’ve seen supporting these changes are revenue-grabbing city officials and their hired consultants, a small group of militant cyclists who think the traffic world should revolve around them, and people who make enough money not to really care. to make. costs for parking.
I’m sure the average Wichitan won’t like this.
What the city doesn’t seem to realize is that we have choices. There are plenty of bars, restaurants and shops east, west, north and south of downtown that we can patronize without having to deal with the city council and the privatized parking police.
The plan goes against everything we were ever promised from Downtown Wichita.
Millions of dollars in tax breaks, $1 an acre plot of land and direct government subsidies to developers should create a “village atmosphere” where residents can come, spend time and wander around, and try restaurants, pubs and trendy shops.
People don’t do that very often when the parking meter is ticking away.
Now we are told that paid parking will increase the ‘turnover’ among the best parking spaces for the businesses.
But if people get into the habit of going downtown to go to a specific store or restaurant, and then immediately leave, that’s the economy of a shopping center, not a village.
The city also says it needs to charge more for parking to offset the cost of maintaining the parking lots.
Aside from the fact that we pay taxes to support such municipal infrastructure, the financial benefits of paid parking appear to be years away.
The city currently makes about $1 million to $1.5 million a year from parking. That is expected to rise to $3.3 million with the expansion of paid parking.
Over a five-year start-up period, City Hall will pay The Car Park between $2.1 million and $2.32 million per year to operate the public parking lots, including $460,000 to reimburse the company for the purchase of the new meters and enforcement equipment.
So for the first five years it actually seems like a wash.
In year six, The Car Park’s management fee will drop to the low price of just $958,000.
How can you afford to pay with such prices not to exploit your citizens?
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