City and KCPD work toward master plan for downtown parking

The good news: Downtown Kansas City is growing and thriving. More and more people are choosing to live, work and play in our city center. This has led to an influx of residential units, businesses, entertainment options and more. But as more people come downtown, most bring their cars with them. More people equal more cars, and we’re working with City government to accommodate increased parking needs.

We’ve heard from several downtown business owners recently that their customers can’t park at their businesses because downtown residents have overstayed their time in parking spots. We’ve heard from downtown residents that people attending special events have taken up their parking spots. And we’ve heard from people attending downtown events that they can’t find a place to park. We’re working with the City on a master plan for downtown parking. One of the recommendations is the hiring of 10 additional KCPD parking control officers to increase enforcement.

At present, we have just four parking control officers and two supervisors for the entire city. They have worked their tails off to keep up with complaints, special events and more, but there just weren’t enough of them to keep up with growing downtown parking needs. These 10 new parking control officers will concentrate on downtown, only. We still are hiring for these positions, and we encourage Kansas City residents interested in serving their city in this capacity to apply.

To keep parking spaces turning over for everyone who needs them downtown, we will be stepping enforcement up considerably with the help of the new parking control officers. We’re not going to start handing out thousands more parking tickets overnight, though. We’ll begin a period of public education this month, which will include issuing a lot of warnings in lieu of tickets. This will allow people to develop a downtown parking plan that will be fair to everyone and allow businesses to be successful.

One notable change: effective March 1, off-street public parking lots in the City Market turned into paid lots at a rate of $1 an hour. The City Market Square lot will continue to be free and available for short-term parking, but the time limit has been reduced from three hours to two hours.

The renewed vibrancy of our downtown is exciting, but it comes with some growing pains. We look forward to working with everyone to make parking accessible to as many people as possible in the heart of KC.

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Beyond a video snippet: Why KCPD used pepper spray outside Saturday's Trump rally

I was supposed to go on vacation Friday and be gone all next week. But when I heard Donald Trump was having a campaign event in Kansas City, I thought it more important that I stay here. Given the unrest his rallies have sparked in other cities, I was concerned for the safety of those who would attend this event, both in support and protest. 

An estimated 500 people gathered in downtown Kansas City last night at the Donald Trump rally. Of those, a small number showed up intent on antagonizing and breaking the law. A video has been circulating showing police using pepper spray against those people. The video is a small moment in time and does not depict what led up to the incident. This is the full story:




Police were dealing with a bomb threat reported inside the Midland Theater as the rally started. At about the same time, I heard officers on the radio saying they were starting to get surrounded by the people outside. The Trump protesters were on both sides of Main Street. They started encroaching onto the street. The opposing sides periodically tried to come together, and officers found themselves breaking up more and more disturbances. The officers called in our Mounted Patrol for back up to break the two groups apart and get them out of the street. In the course of that, a police horse was assaulted. More officers were called in to help maintain safety and order. Some of the people gathered outside began to put on personal protective equipment (gas masks). Several of them tried to rush the front doors of the theater, blocking Main Street in the process. 

Police issued repeated commands to stay out of the street. They warned that pepper spray would be used if those gathered didn’t follow the commands. People had ample opportunity to back up or disperse. Police tried to get them out of the street for three minutes. Those three minutes were just when they were in the street itself. Tensions had been building before that on the sidewalk. They blocked traffic and compromised safety. Some cars caught in the back-up were surrounded. When the crowd refused to obey police commands, officers had to deploy pepper spray on two occasions throughout the evening.   

A total of four people were arrested. Given the circumstances, our officers exercised great restraint. And this morning, no windows are boarded up downtown. No one suffered any injuries beyond the temporary discomfort of pepper spray. The National Guard is not in Kansas City today to restore order.

People in the United States certainly have the right to peaceably assemble and express their views. And police were there to ensure that last night. Citizens do not, however, have the right to put others' safety at risk, destroy property or violate the law. The officers acted to facilitate an environment where law-abiding people could exercise their freedoms safely. And keep in mind that downtown was buzzing last night with people who had nothing to do with the Trump rally, and we had to ensure their safety, as well. There were tens of thousands of people gathered there for the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament and the Mecum Auto Auction, among other events. If events had spiraled out of control, they could have been endangered, too. Our officers acted appropriately to keep a volatile situation under control, and they kept people and property safe. I’m proud of them.

A video that’s a few seconds long does not capture the mood or actions that had culminated over time. This video, or any video, of law enforcement having to use force to protect people will rarely be pretty.  The volatile situation and the harm some people’s actions could have caused were stopped by our officers. Police made wise decisions last night and took action as needed. Thank you to those who continually support our first responders and our community. (And I'll be starting my vacation tomorrow.)

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.