Removing parking on Indianola Avenue would penalize businesses, residents

C.R. O’neil and Company has managed storefronts at 3045 to 3049 Indianola for over 35 years.

Leasing them has always been challenging because there is little parking in the area to support on-site retail.

The current city plan to remove 64% of the Indianola parking in a three-block area for a bike lane project is unconscionable.

We and other property managers have worked with these small business clients throughout the pandemic to help them survive. Now that they are open again, to take away their parking is cruel.

This is also a problem for the area neighborhood, where you have apartment and single-family home residents who only have on-street parking. Now they are going to be forced to compete with business customers for spaces, pushing more cars onto already congested side streets.

The current bike lane plan takes away all parking on the east side of Indianola, permanently penalizing taxpaying businesses and devaluing the properties of taxpaying property owners as well. The city can and should consider the plan that creates a shared lane for bikes, and preserves parking for these small businesses.

Gerry O’neil, Columbus