NO MORE PARKING for the arena. what does need to be done is work more closely with the skyscraper owners and the garages underneath to make them available for afterhours use by everybody. Right now, many "close their doors" after 6pm and nobody can use them.
There is PLENTY of parking down there.....please DO NOT build any more. I'm glad to see the current plans call for no more parking.
that tool calling for "multiple parking garages for the arena" is a complete moron. if anyone should know about the overwhelming abundance of parking downtown, it's him.
there is ALWAYS space to park downtown. people just think there isn't, because they are so used to seeing huge big-box style parking lots. once people get the Sports Complex and Town Center out of their minds and think about the Plaza and Westport parking situation as a better analogy, they'll come around.
but i totally agree that there should be ample signage directing these people to parking, and then signs directing them where they want to go. the wayfinding system rules. let's incorporate all the parking options into those signs.
Signage and education is all the parking situation really needs. I would hate to see people drive to the arena, park in a garage, walk right into the arena, then turn around and leave.
Like the guy in the article says, Get people out of their cars!
Yes, we don't want parking overtaking the south loop, but it DOES need to be easy for the first few months until people start realizing where the parking is on their own. Just get some signs/traffic directors sending people to the parking lots. This IS Kansas City, and if people think parking is a hassle they're going to bitch.
Plenty of parking garages in P&L which will be great. Get people walking through. Same w/ the crossroads sfc lots.
I picked up a paper copy and there was a full page illustration showing the Sports Complex transfixed over downtown-- it is literally the size of the entire loop! If anyone could scan the illustrations...that'd be cool.
Good for Collison for doing this story. Anyone who's ever even been downtown will realize there is ample parking. In addition the Crossroads area has tons of surface lots as well as streetside parking. Debunk the parking myth.
There is more parking downtown than any city of comparable size per sq. foot of office space. The problem is, suburbanites insist on parking directly in front of their destination. The arena people need to promote that with MAX, anyone can park from City Market to the Plaza, almost entirely free and then take MAX to the arena for a buck. Beats the hell out of the cost of arena parking today.
yea, no more parking is needed. The signage issue is a biggie though. We've got a few years till the arena is built. That is plenty of time to address the issue to access to parking, and to make sure good signs and directions are in place. The city would do well to put out promotional/educational literature when all this construction is winding down, to show people where to park, and how to use the Max and those parking lots along that route. If planned carefully, then folks will be educated and know what to do. Maybe even a parking space website.
Are you sure we're talking about the same God here, because yours sounds kind of like a dick.
How about taking this a step further. You know how the new airport parking lots tell you how many spaces are available in each lot? How about a site that is easily accessed through a phone/pda that dynamically updates showing what spaces are available and where.
I recently spent a couple frustrating hours in downtown Kansas City. It had been a couple years since we visited the area. Now I remember why.
We were going to a hotel for a luncheon. Aside from costly parking at the hotel, parking was hard to find. The wife left me off, as I have problems walking. She had to park three blocks away. The walk was all uphill. Even though she gets around better than I do, it was a chore.
And our mayor and City Council want to put an arena in the downtown area.
I hope these types of people are the types who only like to piss and moan, but not actually get out and do something about it (vote against the arena).
my dad has this same mentality. he has this idea that doing ANYTHING in the city is a "pain the ass." thus, when me and mom manage to get him out of raytown/lees summit to go to the city, he points out what a pain in the ass it is to do anything.
case in point: we were at St. Luke's on the Plaza, and wanted to have dinner on our way home. i suggested we eat on the Plaza. dad said it was too big of a pain in the ass to park and walk, etc., but agreed. lo and behold, we had to drive a whole THREE LEVELS up in the garage to park, which was a "pain in the ass." THEN we had to walk down steps to the sidewalk, which was a pain in the ass. THEN we had to walk 2 blocks to PF Chang, which again was a "pain in the ass."
of course, this is the same man who intentionally parks in the FARTHEST PARKING SPACE POSSIBLE at big box centers like SummitWoods, so as to avoid anyone hitting his car with their car doors. he cheerfully walks 200 yards to Lowe's or whatever because he can smoke a cigarette on the way.
when i point out this absurd hypocrisy and contradiction, he tells me to shut up, then retorts with "hey, if you want to go live in the river market or the plaza, you just go and do it. if you get stabbed or shot, that's just fine. you're cool mr. urban man!" he is totally serious and mad when he says it, too.
recently spent a couple frustrating hours in downtown Kansas City. It had been a couple years since we visited the area. Now I remember why.
We were going to a hotel for a luncheon. Aside from costly parking at the hotel, parking was hard to find. The wife left me off, as I have problems walking. She had to park three blocks away. The walk was all uphill. Even though she gets around better than I do, it was a chore.
And our mayor and City Council want to put an arena in the downtown area.
You have to remember that if his wife had let him out and walked, she would have had to walk three blocks by herself, which would have resulted in her being robbed, raped, and stabbed or shot- we all know how often that happens downtown! It is too bad, though, that our city fathers had not planned better and placed everything downhill from where you are walking. It would have been much easier that way.
