Kenton County’s decision to locate NKU’s Chase Law School and UK’s Medical School on the Butler lot next to the county parking garage in downtown Covington may solve the parking issue for the law school and medical school – but it creates a ticking time bomb for the Northern Kentucky Convention Center that officials need to recognize and address.
I’m writing not as the former mayor of Covington but as the longtime state Senator who led the very difficult fight to secure state funding for the Northern Kentucky Convention Center during the Brereton Jones administration.
Northern Kentucky rallied around that successful fight, deeming the Convention Center’s funding as the region’s No. 1 priority. And it worked: The Convention Center gave the region an attractive asset that improved its visibility and marketability to businesses and visitors.
The Kenton County parking garage at 220 Madison Ave. was built as a condition of the funding of the Northern Kentucky Convention Center. It was a simple decision: no parking, no convention center.
Conventions fill the county garage several times each year. This decision to divert hundreds of parking places in the garage to support the Law School and Medical school will mean inadequate parking for conventioneers. That gap will be exacerbated by the loss of 184 spots on the surface parking lot.
So how will these new parking issues for the convention center be resolved?
Where will the additional parking facilities be located?
Who will pay for the additional parking?
The Convention Center plans to upgrade its facilities and eventually expand yet again. Will the parking conundrum undermine those plans?
I strongly support the location of the medical center and Chase Law near the river in downtown Covington and advocated for the latter during my time as mayor.
But these are fair, reasonable and foreseeable questions. It is not enough to leave them unanswered before finalizing the Law/Medical schools’ relocation.
The Convention Center has undeniably been a huge success and asset to this region. It’s too important for the region’s economic well-being to be undermined by poorly considered collateral decisions.
Joseph Meyer is former major of Covington and also a long-term state senator. He lives in Covington.