Thursday, October 1, 2026
LEAVENWORTH — The conversation around parking in Leavenworth is easy to find online. It’s harder to sit through in person.
During a recent meeting of the city’s Parking Advisory Committee, the debate that has been building across social media played out in real time — with business owners, residents and city officials working through the same tensions face to face.
They didn’t all see the problem the same way.
Desiree Stein, owner of The Blind Tigress, focused on how the system functions day to day for businesses. She questioned whether monthly parking options could better reflect how employees actually work, with multiple people sharing shifts.
She also raised concerns about safety, particularly for late-night staff walking from more distant parking areas.
“It’s not about space,” she said. “It’s about how far it is to walk.”
Becky Driscoll, owner of Leavenworth Rocks, described a broader frustration among business owners, pointing to repeated discussions online and within the business community.
“We have resoundingly come together as a business community saying the parking is not working,” she said.
Driscoll advocated for changes, including free or reduced-cost parking for employees and adjustments during slower seasons, arguing that reduced traffic is already affecting businesses.
Ben Herreid, co-owner of Larch, Prusik and Carta, raised similar concerns during the meeting and in a follow-up email to Ward Media.
He said Leavenworth depends not only on tourism, but also on local residents from across Chelan County, particularly during shoulder seasons.
“Since paid parking expanded, that local traffic has clearly dropped off,” Herreid wrote, adding that the system can feel difficult to navigate, especially for regular visitors and older residents.
He also pointed to the impact on workers, saying fewer customers can mean fewer hours, while employees may also be paying to park during their shifts.
Michael Walker, a Leavenworth resident, suggested expanding park-and-ride options paired with shuttle service as a way to reduce pressure downtown.
Committee members noted that similar systems already exist, including a park-and-ride lot with very low usage and a free shuttle running into town.
Then the tone shifted.
Kirstie Miethe, co-owner of Jubilee in downtown Leavenworth, offered a contrasting perspective — one shaped, she said, by becoming more involved in city discussions.
“I’m going to give the opposite,” she said.
Miethe described parking as part of a larger system tied to tourism, infrastructure and long-term planning. She encouraged business owners to engage directly with the city rather than relying on social media conversations.
“There’s a lot of people in this town that want to complain about what’s happening and don’t want to get into the middle of it,” she said.
That divide carried through the rest of the meeting.
For some, the focus remained on immediate impacts. Business owners described slower days, fewer customers and concerns about how parking costs influence whether people choose to visit.
For others, the discussion centered on the structure behind the system.
Parking in Leavenworth is not just about convenience. It is also a key source of revenue used to maintain streets, support infrastructure and help fund future projects, including a planned parking structure.
That creates a balancing act.
Reducing parking costs may ease pressure on businesses and encourage local visits. Maintaining those costs helps support long-term investments intended to increase capacity.
The difference is time.
Several speakers questioned how long businesses are expected to wait for those larger solutions, noting that impacts are being felt now.
Later in the meeting, Parking Program Manager Shannon Lemons introduced a presentation from a parking technology company, HONK, offering a potential short-term tool.
The system would allow drivers to scan a QR code when they park, then validate their time inside participating businesses without downloading an app. Businesses could choose to cover some or all of the parking cost.
For Stein, who stayed through the full meeting and later joined the committee at the table to ask questions, the idea offered a possible way forward.
“This offers another layer of solution that I freaking love,” she said.
She added that she would consider using the system to help bring customers into her business, as did Herreid via phone, after he was informed of the presentation that he missed when he had to leave the meeting.
Others in the room began to view the proposal as a way to address part of the problem, particularly during slower periods when attracting local customers becomes more critical.
One commenter said that in other cities with paid parking downtown, even a simple sign in the window of a business that says “We validate parking” had often informed where he shopped or had a meal.
The discussion reflected not just differing opinions, but the people responsible for navigating them.
Anne Hessburg, who chairs the Parking Advisory Committee and also serves on the Leavenworth City Council and the Link Transit board, guided the meeting as comments moved between speakers.
City Administrator Selby was present throughout, along with Lemons, who answered many of the technical questions. Committee member Erika Hernandez participated in the discussion, and City Council member Travis McMaster was also in attendance, asking plenty of clarifying questions throughout.
Together, they worked through both the concerns raised during public comment and the realities of how the system is designed to function.
Near the end of the meeting, the conversation returned to something less technical.
Communication.
Business owners said they feel unheard. Committee members noted that attendance at meetings has historically been low. Online discussions continue to shape perception, often without the context of ongoing planning or existing programs.
One attendee said she had stopped coming to meetings after feeling dismissed in the past; city officials who recognized her said they did not remember her having attended any parking advisory meetings.
Others encouraged more direct participation moving forward.
For now, the city is continuing work on several fronts, including testing new parking tools, refining employee parking options and advancing long-term planning for additional capacity.
The broader question remains unsettled.
In a town where parking supports both the visitor experience and the systems behind it, the challenge is not just where people park.
It’s how Leavenworth balances access, affordability and sustainability without losing the people who rely on it most.
Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media
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