CLEVELAND — When Cleveland announced its plan to modernize city parking, similar to what Columbus did last year, at least one small business owner celebrated.

What You Need To Know

  • Cleveland is implementing a new modernized parking system

  • This change could help Hatfield's Goode Grub, a small business in the Cleveland area 

  • Ken Hatfield, the owner of the business, has been lobbying for this parking change for years 

Ken Hatfield, the owner of Hatfield’s Goode Grub, has been waiting for this change for years. 

Cleveland's plan will replace coin-fed parking meters with smart parking kiosks and implement a new payment platform. 

His current restaurant has been in the same location for the last six years; Hatfield said it has become a part of the community. 

“We’ve become an integral part of this neighborhood,” he said.

Hatfield has been lobbying for this change, which he feels would be better for his business. 

“It’s more of the inconvenience of the old school coin in the meter type thing,” he said.

The meters also made it impossible to expand his outdoor patio as much as he wanted to. 

“They were also impeding the amount of space that I needed for my patio," said Hatfield. "So instead of having a nice six-foot wide patio, I’ve got a four-foot wide patio,” he said.

Hatfield hopes that the new parking system will increase his business and the businesses that surround him. 

“Convenience makes for easier businesses for all the businesses in this strip,” said Hatfield. 

Cleveland plans to implement the new parking system next summer.