Recently, a group of friends got together to discuss a book (OK, I didn’t read it), when someone suggested we meet in Kirkland. Among six people, five vetoed the location for the same reason: Parking in Kirkland is terrible.

In an effort to fix the situation, the city is making two changes to parking.

The first involves the Downtown Employee Parking program that will now stop cheaters. The city’s program provides free parking to employees who work for businesses in downtown Kirkland. The problem is that the car decals have no expiration date, so former employees have been occupying the spaces for social reasons. The city will now collect vehicle license plate information for each of the employees who will be registered, and the employees will be provided with a new parking decal that is to be displayed on the registered vehicle.

The second change is that paid public parking will only be available during evenings and on weekends in the Park Lane and Main Street parking lot. The lot is designated as permit-only parking from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. during weekdays.

With these new parking changes maybe next time a Kirkland venue won’t get vetoed… and I’ll read the book.