News

Actions

Metered parking to solve parking problem

Posted at 10:54 PM, May 24, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-25 12:53:55-04

24th street, the heart of South Omaha brings in a lot of foot traffic for business, but all that traffic makes parking hard to find. 

Councilman Garry Gernandt says the city did a local study a few years ago that determined the majority of the people in the area were in favor of metered parking on 24th street. 

One of those people, is Ignacio Chavez, owner of the Mexican restaurant, Los Alamos. 

"People who work around the area, - they stay here all day long. From eight or nine in the morning, all the way to five or six o'clock in the evening. So it's mostly all day long they're blocking parking for customers," says Chavez. 

He also says people who live in the apartments above businesses park there for hours, even days at a time making it inconvenient for the clientele to park near the shops.

City council has taken action and approved a large shipment of parking meters for the entire city - a portion of them will be set aside for South Omaha's 24th street between L and Q streets.

"I think that's the overall sense that we've got, that people want orderly parking - metered parking, otherwise the city would not make such a large investment," says Gernandt. 

Gernandt says the meters are scheduled to be installed this Fall if all goes according to plan. Gernandt also says there will be no cost for tax payers for the installation or the upkeep of the meters.