u/ryanmetcalf

“Downtown Shawnee is no longer a pass-through area. It’s a destination. But although how people are coming to downtown has evolved, Johnson Drive has not fully kept up with that pace,” he said.

While the city deserves credit for adding more parking over the years — with 560 public parking spaces now available downtown, according to the city — more needs to be done, Shackelford said.

“One of the easiest, low-cost things to do is to add on-street parking through the downtown corridor, primarily on Johnson Drive … I think it’s time to revisit that as an opportunity to help the downtown area become a destination,” he said.