Repeal urged for Wichita's back-in parking ban

The best way to get out of a parking spot fast is to back into it, but since that was banned in downtown Wichita last year, 212 tickets have been issued.

Is it time to stop the ban? Some city leaders think the answer is yes.

Mayor Lily Wu and councilman Mike Hoheisel, specifically, are urging repeal of the ordinance that prohibits backing in.

“It’s a cultural thing here in Wichita. I get it, It’s easier to pull out that way, that’s definitely for sure,” Hoheisel told the Wichita Eagle. “Some would even argue safer, because you can see in front of you. … Honestly, we’re just taking a look at options. How can we work around that?”

And it's not as simple as telling Wichita police to turn a blind to back-in parkers because the tickets aren't coming from the local men and women in blue. They're being written by The Car Park, which is the the vendor hired by the city to enforce parking tickets.

Backing in causes the system not to be able to read the license plate -- and write applicable tickets.

“The efficiency of Car Park’s automatic plate readers (via a mobile process) will be greatly impacted if the ordinance is repealed,” Public Works Director Gary Janzen told the Eagle.

But Mayor Wu had a handy response. “I do know that staff from Car Park have been getting out of their vehicles to check licenses as well,” Wu said. “So this would be just an adjustment.”

And her position has supporters. Christian Kenney and his wife were visiting Wichita from Leavenworth, per KWCH, and they felt the ordinance catches people too off-guard. As long as they're following the rules of the road, let them back in if they want, he said.

“People who don’t know the local ordinances would back into, would not know they’re violating a local ordinance,” Kenney told the outlet.

Back-in parking troubles are a hot topic on Wichita's Reddit feed, where one person wrote, "I got a $50 ticket for reversing into a stall. A week later, my friend didn't pay for parking and got a $35 ticket. I have a court date to appeal, but if I lose it is an additional $82 in fines... This is absurd. I saw a recent article saying the charges will likely be dropped because this rule isn't posted on any signs. These laws are going to kill the downtown economy. My friend had only stopped for lunch, the ticket tripled the cost of his meal."

Whether it will change remains to be seen because even with the mayor's support, the city council would need four votes to repeal the ordinance.