Sidewalk Talk

By Mark Forsythe The Kansas City Post Willie's opened at 15th and Grand last September. A sports bar with panoramic views of downtown and the Sprint Center, it's one of my favorite places to watch the Royals games. It's fun to pretend I'm watching a major league team, at least for one inning. (Ba dump bump) Recently I was chatting with the owners of Willie's asking about their plans for the future. I asked about the potential of a roof top deck and if they had any plans for sidewalk seating to get a little activity out on the street. They were excited about the prospect of creating sidewalk cafe seating on the generously wide sidewalks. I'm no stranger to the sidewalk cafe license issue so I offered my opinions and told them what I thought they could expect. Boy was I dead wrong. I had forgotten that Grand is a boulevard which in Kansas City means abutting property falls under the jurisdiction of the Parks Department. Willie's was told that sidewalk repairs are their financial responsibility. This is true, unless you're a really big developer with a wad of TIF. Parks said they could fix the sidewalks and bill Willie's, or the business could hire their own contractor and have them fixed to City specifications. Willie's figured going with a private contractor was probably more cost-effective and had the sidewalks fronting Grand re-done. Willie's ownership thought it would be a great idea to fence off part of the sidewalk for outdoor seating, leaving the required 5 ft for pedestrian traffic. They proceeded to apply for the proper permits for a sidewalk café permit which costs $250/yr. This they were willing to pay, even though I personally feel the amount is a bit punitive for a business trying to bring some vibrancy to the urban core. Unfortunately for Willie's they were told that if they want to seat people on their sidewalk abutting Grand Boulevard, they will have to pay a $10/sq ft fee per year to Parks and Recreation. Their desired seating area is 210 sq ft so Willie's is looking at $2100/yr. Willie's isn't looking for a handout, they just want a fair shake like the Cordish's and AEG's of the world are getting. Says co-owner Steve Bessenbacher "What we don't understand is that when we were asking about the sidewalks, they were "ours" and our responsibility to fix. However, now we want to seat people on "our" sidewalk we have to pay a $10/sq ft fee to the Parks and Rec division. We knew there would be a cafe license fee for this space, but we find it hard to believe we need to pay an (additional) fee to use our sidewalks." This is exactly the kind of situation I expect our new mayor and council to address. It's not big and glamorous like a new arena, or lucrative like tax incentives for Briarcliff, but it's one of the little things that can make our city more vibrant. We have to make our processes and policies more friendly to small business. We're willing to spend millions of dollars a year on the gamble that paying local businesses to stay downtown will create a vibrant core. Shouldn't we be willing to enact policies so a small business can thrive?