The Week At Mrs. O’Leary’s… #04

I’m at a crossroads and not sure how to move forward at the moment.  If you stopped by the store last Friday you saw a sign on the door that said “Due to the city’s stupidity we are closing” and I locked the door.  Saturday morning I took the sign down.  What the city has done to us with the parking has literally stopped our business during the week.

29 years ago we were told to sign the parking agreement if we wanted to ever open our doors. We were to pay this fee for 11 years.  At that time, they said they needed the fees to continue so they could repair and improve the parking lots. They have continued to open businesses but not added to the parking.  The businesses to our West are not in the parking payment plan as they have their own off street parking.  Many of them park in our spaces with parking passes they are not due.  One employee even told us they like our parking spaces better than theirs because ours are larger.

Last Thursday, as our guest instructor arrived for classes, none of the students could park to attend their class.  Not only are we paying for non-existent parking but the city decided, without notifying us, to close not only 1 but 2 parking lots for repair.  Our instructor parked her vehicle at the bottom of the ramp and put on her flashers, as we have been instructed to do when unloading.  When we finished unloading and she was returning to her vehicle, the parking attendant was issuing a $30 ticket.  We explained to him the situation, but he assured us that is was what he was instructed to do and wouldn’t listen to our explanation.  To make matters worse, a city leader was walking by and brushed us off and told the man he was doing a good job.  Then, as parking space opened, a car pulled in and the driver walked across the street to the West businesses. I tried to contact someone in the city and was told there isn’t a parking department. That my only recourse was to take a day off work, pay court fees, and try to present this to a judge.  Now, someone is paying the parking man so someone is in charge.  And another slap in the face is the city charged us for parking during the time we were in forced shutdown with Covid. I guess in this city it’s who you know that gets the attention.

The Covid situation, on top of the parking, has greatly effected our businesses. We will continue to present Free Facebook Live demonstrations several times a week as well as Zoom classes.  When we offer Zoom classes, if you are local you can make arrangements to come to the classroom and attend in person.  We are also happy to shop for you via phone, text, email etc. and bring your order to the curb so you don’t have to try to park.   In the coming weeks we may adjust our hours during the summer as it remains light later. We may move to more evening hours instead of daytime to allow for better parking.  We will continue to add classes, products and supplies to our website mrsolearysart.com so you can shop more easily from home.  Hopefully one day we can all be kind to each other, Covid will be defeated, and we can spend our time together once again.

Until the first of July, our hours will be Tuesday-Friday 10-4 and Saturday 10-5. The doors will be unlocked on Tuesday and Saturday, but the rest of the week they may be locked as we are working in other parts of the building.  Just call ahead or when you get to the door 316-262-0600 and we will come let you in.

Joni

We are continuing to offer Curbside Service for those who do not want to come into the store, or do not have time to come in and shop. You can call in an order if you know what you want or you can order online and let us know in the notes that you wish to pick up your order.