Downtown paid parking is interrupting volunteer river cleanups, organizer tells Wichita council

Christina Fuerst, who runs the Wichita Riverwalk Cleanup Crew, told the City Council on Feb. 10 that paid parking introduced in downtown Wichita is disrupting volunteer cleanups at a key boat-ramp parking lot south of Kings of Freight under Kellogg. Fuerst said the group has run monthly cleanups since 2017, volunteers have removed 2,791 bags of trash since 2019, and at the referenced site alone they removed 697 bags across 21 cleanups.

Fuerst estimated the volunteer labor saved the city about $20,932 (applying a $15-per-hour rate) and said volunteers now face parking fees of roughly $30 for a two-hour cleanup there, an annual total the group cannot absorb repeatedly. She proposed two potential remedies for volunteer groups citywide: (1) designate four Saturday mornings per year with free parking at that lot from 9 a.m. to noon, or (2) establish a special-event volunteer parking tag that volunteers can request and display for free parking on approved dates. She asked the city to implement a solution so volunteers can resume regular cleanups in that segment of the river.

Council thanked the group and indicated staff would follow up; no formal council action was taken during the meeting.

Quote: "You will also receive approximately $1,200 worth of free labor from our volunteer group... It does not seem fair that the volunteers who are picking up our city parks and rivers should have to pay for parking for the privilege to do so," Fuerst said.

Ending: Councilmember Hoheisel thanked the volunteers and said the city would be in touch; staff follow-up was requested.