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Re: Your Sunday opinion piece on downtown parking. I work in a building on the northeast corner of Main and Beard. There is one retail business on the block, which averages two to three customers per day. The remainder are service businesses with light come and go traffic.
There are 18 striped parking spaces in the block. The retail business owners have asked that our employees not park in front of their business, so we do not. Three spaces in front of their store are rarely occupied. When filled, they usually vacate within minutes, well within the two hour parking permitted. The two hour parking sign on our side of the street was removed years ago (the empty pole remains). We were told that parking would not be regulated there since we were the only business in that part of the block. The retail business abuts the alley. Shawnee’s municipal code, Section 19-448, gives permission for loading and unloading merchandise from the alley.
The closest parking lot to our business is one block to the south behind Bowlan’s Carpet Warehouse. We have female employees who sometimes arrive in the dark and leave in the dark. Safety is a concern. Aside from the possibility of personal harm, we have had gas stolen from a vehicle, scratches on vehicles, red koolaid dumped on a white car, damage from paint splashed on a car, and hit and run damage. Street parking is safer, more convenient, and not detrimental to business in our block.
Donna Morris,
Shawnee
Re: Your Sunday opinion piece on downtown parking. I work in a building on the northeast corner of Main and Beard. There is one retail business on the block, which averages two to three customers per day. The remainder are service businesses with light come and go traffic.
There are 18 striped parking spaces in the block. The retail business owners have asked that our employees not park in front of their business, so we do not. Three spaces in front of their store are rarely occupied. When filled, they usually vacate within minutes, well within the two hour parking permitted. The two hour parking sign on our side of the street was removed years ago (the empty pole remains). We were told that parking would not be regulated there since we were the only business in that part of the block. The retail business abuts the alley. Shawnee’s municipal code, Section 19-448, gives permission for loading and unloading merchandise from the alley.
The closest parking lot to our business is one block to the south behind Bowlan’s Carpet Warehouse. We have female employees who sometimes arrive in the dark and leave in the dark. Safety is a concern. Aside from the possibility of personal harm, we have had gas stolen from a vehicle, scratches on vehicles, red koolaid dumped on a white car, damage from paint splashed on a car, and hit and run damage. Street parking is safer, more convenient, and not detrimental to business in our block.
Donna Morris,
Shawnee
