Steve Stegall says he can't even drive to his own bar during the day anymore without getting a parking ticket. The owner of Blue Line Hockey Bar at 529 Walnut St. in Kansas City's River Market has accrued about $2,500 in fines, and on August 30 he got two $24.50 tickets within a single minute — one for parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk at 12:05 p.m., and another for parking within 30 feet of a crosswalk at 12:06 p.m.
Stegall, who is married to Letty, has decided to stop paying, treating the refusal as an act of civil disobedience. He posted his frustration on social media, and according to The Kansas City Star, his Facebook posts drew more than 1,000 views and 700 comments. City parking authorities eventually placed a yellow Barnacle vehicle immobilizer — a suction device the city uses on scofflaw vehicles with at least three unpaid tickets — on Stegall's windshield.
Stegall isn't alone in his frustration. Frankie Carollo, who works at Carollo's Italian Grocery at 9 E. 3rd St., a shop his family has operated since 1988, says he, his brother and his father have all received parking tickets while simply trying to unload deliveries. Kate Haussman, a 25-year-old restaurant server, has received roughly seven to ten tickets and now owes more than $200. Amy Glattly, a 29-year-old server at Brown & Loe on Walnut Street, says she got ticketed nearly every shift for almost a month after starting the job two months before publication — fines her manager has disputed.
A Nearly 60% Spike in Citations
The numbers back up the merchants' complaints. Park KC issued 6,288 River Market parking tickets in fiscal year 2026, up nearly 60% over the prior year, per the Star's reporting. That marks a dramatic climb from the 723 tickets issued in fiscal year 2024, when Park KC first began ticketing in the district, and the pace hasn't slowed — 3,358 citations were issued in just the first four months of fiscal year 2027. River Market tickets accounted for about 8.5% of the city's 39,729 citywide parking violations, even though the district is a small slice of Kansas City's footprint.
The enforcement ramp-up tracks with a series of policy shifts. Kansas City Police issued River Market parking tickets from 2017 through part of 2024, before Park KC took over citation duty. Paid parking itself only arrived in the district in 2017, and River Market street parking was free until roughly three years before publication. The city then moved to seven-day-a-week paid parking in 2023, and Park KC began ticketing on nights and weekends starting in May 2025 — closing off what had been a loophole for evening and weekend visitors.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC, communicated stepped-up enforcement of loading-zone and double-parking violations in March 2007, with property managers along the targeted areas involved. According to the Federal Highway Administration, NYCDOT implemented several curbside management strategies on Oct 20, 2020, while its Commercial Vehicle Parking Plan recommended providing additional curbside spaces.
City Says It's Not Singling Anyone Out
Ryan McMonigle, a spokesman for Kansas City's Department of Public Works, said Blue Line Hockey Bar and other individual businesses are not being targeted for tickets. Enforcement, he says, is based on observed violations of Chapter 70 of the Kansas City Code of Ordinances — meaning officers cite whatever violations they see, regardless of who owns the storefront nearby.
Arthur LeDuc, who has owned Kansas City Taco Company at 528 Walnut St. for ten years, has taken his complaints further, appealing the parking situation directly to the City Plan Commission and City Council. He says the enforcement has harmed downtown businesses broadly, not just his own. Some merchants have it easier: The Planters Seed & Spice Company at 513 Walnut St. has both a loading zone directly out front and a dedicated lot for employees and customers, according to Jeff Wulff, who has worked there for 15 years.
The Money Behind the Meters
The city's aggressive enforcement is tied to its finances. Kansas City subsidizes public parking by an average of $16.5 million annually from its General Fund while managing roughly 12,000 public parking spaces, nine garages and eight surface lots under the Park KC program, according to the city's Department of Public Works. Official guidelines cap on-street metered parking in River Market at $1 per hour for the first two hours before rates step up, a structure meant to encourage turnover rather than all-day parking storage.
The city has walked back some enforcement before. In October 2024, Kansas City halted surge event pricing in River Market after pushback from local merchants and patrons, even as it kept event rates as high as $30 elsewhere downtown, per KCUR. The broader push toward paid, managed curb space fits with other urban-core changes; the City Council’s rollback of the 1951 parking mandate was dated April 20, 2026.
Alternatives and Appeals
City officials point to alternatives for visitors hoping to avoid the meters. City Market offers free weekend parking at an off-site lot at 7th and Main streets, connected to River Market by a free ride on the KC Streetcar — a two-mile route that also links the district to Downtown, the Crossroads and Union Station without a fare. Drivers can also pay through ParkMobile or PayByPhone in addition to the native Park KC app, though each carries a $0.50 to $1.00 processing fee per transaction.
For merchants and workers who believe they were ticketed unfairly, the clock is tight: residents can appeal incorrect citations within 20 days before late fees and scofflaw measures, including the Barnacle, start to accrue. Park KC requires at least three unpaid tickets before that immobilizer goes on a vehicle — the same threshold that eventually caught up with Stegall's truck outside his own bar.
