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John “Jack” Helin
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TAB 5
The Chieftain (Bonner Springs, KS)
July 27, 2009
Street Closing Opens up Controversy
Author: Melissa Treolo
Closing the 100 block of Cedar / Kansas Highway 32 may benefit the Tiblow Days event, but it
will most certainly prove detrimental to business at Kobi’s Bar and Grill.
This was council member George Cooper’s argument during tonight’s City Council meeting
regarding an item he had taken out of the consent agenda for more discussion. Being on the
consent agenda the item, a request from the Bonner Springs-Edwardsville Chamber of
Commerce to close Cedar Street / K-32 from Front to Second streets for the duration of Tiblow
Days, would normally have been voted on with one motion as a package deal with several other
agenda items. Cooper, however, felt the issue warranted more attention.
“If you close this street down, where are her customers going to park?” Cooper said of Kobi’s
owner Vicki Kobialka. “We know all her business is motorcycle riders … These people spend
money, their wives come and they’re gonna walk around. I think we should at least give Kobi’s
room for some motorcycle parking. And I just think it’s wrong, cause we’re cutting into Vicki’s
money, guys. It’s nothing against the chamber, but there’s another customer here, and she’s a
vital part of the community.”
Marcia Ashford, chamber president, was on hand to address Cooper’s concerns. “I thought that
might be a concern of some of the council members, and the Chamber of Commerce has talked
about that,” Ashford said. “We are aware that the motorcyclists will be arriving, so we will
accommodate their parking if need be on the street.”
Ashford added that the amount of parking the chamber would make available to motorcyclists
during Tiblow Days would be determined by how much room was available after all the booths
had been set up.
This wasn’t, however, the end of the discussion for city manager John “Jack” Helin.
“The parking will be open to all public, right?” Helin said, playing devil’s advocate to the issue
by purposefully getting up to sit in the audience portion of the council chambers so as to act as a
member of the public raising a complaint. “I had an issue last year with the motorcycle-only
parking signs.”
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