From a KCMO press release issued yesterday:

“The City of Kansas City, Mo., Public Works Department is alerting motorists that many streets in the Downtown and Crossroads areas will be temporarily closed at various times from Nov. 19 through Nov. 22. These closures are being made to accommodate the National Catholic Youth Conference.”

Why are these closures and parking restrictions taking place?   So that the 300 school buses that will be used to shuttle attendees between their hotels and the conference will have a place to idle.

So, for four days this weekend, a huge swath of downtown will have its on street parking taken away and the businesses in the impacted area will see their revenues these next four days plummet. The map shows red for closed streets and brown for streets where no parking will be allowed.

From the release:

“With approximately 22,000 attendees, the National Catholic Youth Conference has an estimated economic impact of $15.5 million and is Kansas City’s third-largest convention in 2009.”

Yet, how much of that $15.5 million is going to be spent at any of the businesses whose access is being hampered this weekend?    Well, since this is a conference for religious teenagers and most of the businesses at ground zero are bars & taverns, nighlife, and service-oriented companies; they’ll probably see close to zero of that money.    Meanwhile the restaurants at the P&L will likely be flooded with the teens and will also remain accessible due to their taxpayer funded garages.

Why not utilize the huge swaths of underused surface parking lots in the north or east loop or at Crown Center to stage the buses, instead of taking up street parking?

So, to clarify this, if you pay your fair share of taxes, City Hall goes out of their way to make your business as hard to run as possible.   No wonder so many places fail or relocate to Kansas.

UPDATE: The “No Parking” signs are small and placed to blend in with existing parking signs. Parking Control is hiding in alleys and side lots and rushing out to write tickets the second an unsuspecting parker steps into a business. This is definitely doubling as a cash grab!