New Crossroads Parking Policy

The City Council recently approved an exemption for the Crossroads District that allows restaurants under 2000 square feet and retailers under 4000 square feet to bypass the regulation that requires them to furnish off-street parking. IMHO this is a pretty progressive move for a city government that still seems so enamored with the automobile. The current parking ordinance dates back to the 1950's when GI's (including my dad) were fresh home from WWII and the American dream consisted of a car in every driveway, an attached garage and large suburban lots sprawling out as far as the eye could see. The public was enamored with drive-in restaurants, drive-in movies, drive-in everything! In that spirit Kansas City's ordinance was created to mandate that any business had to provide off-street parking. One parking space for every 75 square feet of restaurant space, every 400 square feet of retail space and every 50 square feet of bar/tavern space. Have you ever wondered why we make drinking and driving illegal yet require taverns to provide the most parking spaces? Hopefully our leadership is beginning to see that 1950's policies might not make sense in 2006. Think about all the cool, hip, walkable urban areas across the country. Haight-Asbury in San Francisco. Greenwich Village in New York. These areas could not exist under Kansas City's parking ordinances. What a shame. I think it should fall to the business owner as to whether they can prosper with, or without a parking lot. Granted there are issues with only so much parking on the street and all businesses must share, but the point is if you want to do business in an urban area you have to think like an urban business. We can't continue to tear down buildings and build multi-level parking structures just to satisfy a half-century old way of thinking. Is that really the legacy we want to leave for future Kansas Citians?