One day after the KC Streetcar's collision with a parked car, some businesses and drivers on the route are calling for changes in parking.
READ: Drivers must adapt to new parking rules as KC Streetcar testing continues
"What they should do is put a parking lot, you know whatever they call it that goes up? [A] structure for people to park their car," said Mary Harmon of Cascone's Grill near 5th and Main in River Market.
Harmon says business has been suffering for two years during the construction of the KC Streetcar route.
"Almost nine out of ten customers come in and complain about it," said Harmon. "They're just disgusted with it. They come in and say, 'When is all this stuff going to be done?'"
READ: When and how the KC Streetcar will operate
KC Streetcar Authority spokesperson Donna Mandelbaum says officials are looking into Tuesday's incident to see why the operator didn't stop.
"Yesterday's event was a definite learning experience for us. We never want that to happen," said Mandelbaum. "We're looking at our procedures and seeing how things can be improved moving forward."
As Streetcar moves toward its launch in two months, Mandelbaum says despite Tuesday's collision, Streetcar is not concerned with more accidents halting progress.
"Parking is just one thing that we are working on as far as getting the message out and building some educational awareness around it. We've seen over the course of a couple of months that we started testing that parking on the streetcar route has improved drastically."
What if streetcar didn't have route parking?
The KC Streetcar Authority says having parking along the route is not unique to Kansas City, referencing the recently launched DC Streetcar.
Mandelbaum says discussions on parking came down to listening to business and property owners.
"It's been well vetted, saying, 'Is this the right format for you?' And the answer was 'Yes, we want to preserve parking,'" said Mandelbaum.
Although Harmon says business is struggling because of customer's apprehension about parking downtown,
she acknowledges it would be worse without any parking along the route.
"It would make it much worse because you employees have to park somewhere also," said Harmon. "Hopefully it works out for the best because it's been a rough two years for everybody."
