KIRKLAND, Wash. — To Kirkland locals, Park Lane is about as familiar as the songs you will hear strummed from the front of its cafes.
But the street's many business owners are telling KING 5 that their relationship with city leaders has been strained by their alleged refusal to hit the brakes on a plan in motion to close the street off to traffic.
"Do they want to lose these local businesses?" said Tina Oiness, owner of Ivy Home and Gift.
The City of Kirkland is proposing to close Park Lane so that only pedestrians may access it.
"The people that want to come and stroll are not the people that are going to shop," Oiness said. "I know some of the other businesses feel the same way."
You can see their pleas on these flyers, currently taped up on nearly every storefront on the street.
"You don't have the visibility," Oiness said. "I mean, shoppers come to shop. And we have larger items, we have furniture items."
Oiness said her customers need to load furniture into front parking spots, and those spots would be removed under this proposal. She said she has let the city know that a permanent closure of the street to traffic will hurt her business, which is already vulnerable amid tough times.
"Our peak years were the years prior leading up to COVID, and since COVID, it's not the same," Oiness said.
Customers weighed in.
"But it's also people like us who frequent the businesses," said Chuck Pilcher. "We have to now go find a place to park or find out some other way of getting here."
Another Kirkland resident, Bob McConnell, said he'd support it.
"I see a lot of pedestrian places in Europe and they're the best parts of the cities," McConnell said. "So, I'm much, much in favor of it."
Others questioned why they were inclined to make a change in the first place.
City Manager Kurt Triplett answered this question in the virtual town hall Monday, saying, "I think we aren't trying to solve a problem, we're trying to create even more opportunity in these scenarios."
According to the city's website, they would hope the change would provide more outdoor restaurant seating and room for more social distancing for pedestrians.
Still, Park Lane business owners said they have been vocal about not wanting it, but worry they are not being heard. They expressed concerns about product deliveries, access for customers with disabilities, and sales during cold weather months, which makes up much of the year in Washington.