WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - Nico Leitner-Goddard is a brewer at Norton's in Old Town.
He's been leading the charge to get the city's attention, planning to hold an event at the brewery to discuss the controversial downtown parking plan, set to go into effect in January.
"We're concerned with the employees who work downtown and contribute to the whole scene," Leitner-Goddard said. "We're also concerned about residents downtown because we have many people living in this sector that is being considered for the parking plan."
The city held another meeting at the KMUW studios in Old Town.
Wichita residents came armed with criticism for the city. Many of them do not want to see paid downtown parking at all.
"If you're talking about we shouldn't charge for parking at all, right? I mean, I don't know how to answer that question, because the plan and the decisions of city council have already given us some guidance and direction on kind of how to move forward with that," says Wichita's Assistant City Manager Troy Anderson.
Anderson made the case that other cities, like Kansas City and Lawrence, have implemented paid parking programs.
Leitner-Goddard says, however, that the tourism influx just is not here yet.
"Where that issue lies is that Wichita doesn't quite have that scene developed yet, and we're working very hard to cultivate a scene downtown where it does bring in more tourism and it brings more out-of-town dollars."Â
Norton's has dealt with the issue of paid parking before. There are still signs in front of the building from when the brewery first opened, and the city charged parking to renovate the lot.
Leitner-Goddard said that it hurt their business.
"When we opened up, we were open for lunches, but we had to close for lunches because of the parking issue. People were coming in and eating and then walking out to their cars and having $25 or $30 tickets."
The Wichita City Council has delayed any further action on paid parking until their September 10th meeting.