Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Issues concerning Downtown as described by the Downtown Council. River to 31st Street, I-35 to Bruce R. Watkins.
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Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by AllThingsKC »

Kansas City trying to solve parking problems in growing downtown area
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As Kansas City's downtown continues to grow, city hall is looking for solutions to help its growing pain — parking or the lack thereof.
http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/kan ... ntown-area

There's a lack of downtown parking?
KC is the way to be!
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by hartliss »

AllThingsKC wrote:Kansas City trying to solve parking problems in growing downtown area
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As Kansas City's downtown continues to grow, city hall is looking for solutions to help its growing pain — parking or the lack thereof.
http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/kan ... ntown-area

There's a lack of downtown parking?
SMH....
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by kcjak »

Step 1: install standard signage indicating parking lots/garages and available spaces. Done.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by KCPowercat »

They did the signage years ago.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by kcjak »

Sorry but there is not consistent signage for every lot and garage downtown that offers public parking.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by horizons82 »

Parking signage needs to be large and uniform across privately owned and city owned lots. if it's not both, it's not going to help.

It seems like it'd be easy enough to mimic Chicago with signs like these, across publicly available lots.

Image
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by brewcrew1000 »

And I recommend that you
Stop watching the news
Because the news contrives to frighten you
To make you feel small and alone
To make you feel that your mind isn't your own

Its funny, in the video I saw a bunch of parking spots and I'm assuming this video was during 9-5 hours
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by cityscape »

With Uber, Lyft, soon to be self driving cars, is this really a problem we should be focused on at the moment? We need to think forward not backwards. I suspect there will be an abundance of parking spots within the next 10 years.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by normalthings »

Streetcar, Bus, and other public transit solutions will both reduce the need for parking and open up underused lots farther out from more frequented areas.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by TheLastGentleman »

You're all missing the point. See, there's no longer enough parking 10ft or less from every door, so it may as well be like there's no parking at all.
It's time to level half of downtown again.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by brewcrew1000 »

How or why does this crap even make the news? You get a bunch of people in suburbs watching this and the most likely reaction is gonna be "Well I'm never going downtown again, won't be able to park"
Last edited by brewcrew1000 on Tue Feb 13, 2018 2:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by normalthings »

brewcrew1000 wrote:How or why does this crap even make the news? You get a bunch of people in suburbs watching this and the most likely reaction is gonna be is "Well I'm never going downtown again, won't be able to park"
No one goes downtown anymore anyways because it's too crowded.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by KCPowercat »

kcjak wrote:Sorry but there is not consistent signage for every lot and garage downtown that offers public parking.
Every public garage has a big blue P.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by DaveKCMO »

ldai_phs wrote:Streetcar, Bus, and other public transit solutions will both reduce the need for parking and open up underused lots farther out from more frequented areas.
And, conversely, adding more parking supply will reduce the efficacy of alternatives.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by flyingember »

KCPowercat wrote:
kcjak wrote:Sorry but there is not consistent signage for every lot and garage downtown that offers public parking.
Every public garage has a big blue P.
I see one on the east end of the Kauffman Center garage and the SW corner.

How do I know this is there from the I-35 exit to Broadway so I know it there? How does the big B at 17th and Broadway tell me to go north on Wyandotte to park? What if I turned at 16th where there's no blue P?
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by horizons82 »

flyingember wrote:
KCPowercat wrote:
Every public garage has a big blue P.
I see one on the east end of the Kauffman Center garage and the SW corner.

How do I know this is there from the I-35 exit to Broadway so I know it there? How does the big B at 17th and Broadway tell me to go north on Wyandotte to park? What if I turned at 16th where there's no blue P?
^ This. We shouldn't add to the parking supply; but the city needs to get a hell of a lot smarter about getting cars in spaces. That starts with signage built for easy visibility and directionality when driving.

Something also needs to be done with privately owned garages. Apply uniform digital signage that clearly signals if it's open to the public. Couple that with a carrot & stick approach from city gov. Fees for garages/lots that don't offer public access after hours and on weekends, sun setting credits for those that switch to 24 hr public access.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by FangKC »

brewcrew1000 wrote:How or why does this crap even make the news? You get a bunch of people in suburbs watching this and the most likely reaction is gonna be "Well I'm never going downtown again, won't be able to park"
You make a very good point. Journalism needs feedback. When you see dumb-ass stories like this, it is very useful to contact both the reporter and the news editor at the station or newspaper, and explain to why their story is wrong, stupid, or obviously a ratings teaser, and that it pisses you off that they do such stories enough to stop watching their station, or come to the conclusion that their reporting is lazy.

After the lady interviewed called for more parking structures downtown, the reporter could have followed up with a statement that downtown already has many public parking garages, and lots (40,000 spaces), near the streetcar line, which is free to ride. The news anchors also could have interjected at the end, and mentioned it.

reporter: ariel.rothfield@kshb.com

Newsroom: 816-932-4141

or

https://www.kshb.com/contact-us

The other obvious villain here is public works department spokesperson Beth Breitenstein, who while being interviewed failed to mention this fact. Bad public relations 101 (what not to do).

Beth.Breitenstein@kcmo.org

I'm sure Beth is a lovely person, but in this case, she didn't do her job. Any City spokesman discussing parking problems should have automatically mentioned what I said above--before issuing any other statement. Meaning you begin the interview with that statement (40,000 parking spaces downtown--many near free streetcar), before you discuss other options like meter patrols, etc.

Also no mention of the parking app for downtown spaces, Parkmobile, that allows people without change to pay via phones.

http://kcmo.gov/publicworks/parking/

http://www.parkmobile.com/

Another one to contact would be contact Chris Hernandez, City Communications Director, at 816-513-3474, and mention to him that a City spokesman was interviewed and failed to remind people that downtown does have parking garages and a free streetcar, so that visitors can park in other locations and ride to their destination; that City spokespeople must always remind people of this because it creates a bad perception for downtown that causes people to avoid coming there.

Chris.Hernandez@kcmo.org

https://twitter.com/KCMO

Contact or CC: the mayor. He needs to be aware when City communications staff are failing to correct perceptions about parking, and provide information that promotes downtown visits. The Mayor of any city is the chief marketing officer.

http://kcmayor.org/contact/contact-us

https://twitter.com/MayorSlyJames

The reason to contact the mayor and head communications person at City Hall is that they have staff meetings, and this is an issue that needs to be discussed. Kansas City is a business of sorts in that it has to control its' image and marketing. For example, when people in the suburbs believe there is no parking downtown, they avoid the area. Thus, the City loses commerce. The Power & Light District is under-performing and the City is responsible for covering bond payments because there aren't enough taxes generated in the district. You see our marketing problem here? With this in mind, the City cannot allow their own staff, and the media, to perpetuate any myths about wide-scale parking problems downtown.

Yes, there are parking problems, but there are also solutions if people are educated.
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by KCPowercat »

flyingember wrote:
KCPowercat wrote:
kcjak wrote:Sorry but there is not consistent signage for every lot and garage downtown that offers public parking.
Every public garage has a big blue P.
I see one on the east end of the Kauffman Center garage and the SW corner.

How do I know this is there from the I-35 exit to Broadway so I know it there? How does the big B at 17th and Broadway tell me to go north on Wyandotte to park? What if I turned at 16th where there's no blue P?
You want signs when people leave their joco cul-de-sac?
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by flyingember »

KCPowercat wrote:
flyingember wrote:
KCPowercat wrote:
Every public garage has a big blue P.
I see one on the east end of the Kauffman Center garage and the SW corner.

How do I know this is there from the I-35 exit to Broadway so I know it there? How does the big B at 17th and Broadway tell me to go north on Wyandotte to park? What if I turned at 16th where there's no blue P?
You want signs when people leave their joco cul-de-sac?
How about major intersections?

Don’t need to be everywhere but imagine a sign just before 20th and Main that pointed people to the arts district garage, then a second just before Wyandotte. A digital sign at the most common exits during event nights could say “PL parking, take broadway to 12th” and then have a sign on the garage for the entrance. Help people navigate around the busiest people areas for that even and to stay off Main. For another event like at Bartle, could send people a different route.

A few select signs here and there could do a lot to help people use existing parking better
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Re: Fixing KC's lack of downtown parking?

Post by KCPowercat »

I've been a big advocate of putting digital signs on traffic signals much like Minneapolis has...
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