WICHITA, Kansas, July 18, 2008 -  Friday night in Old Town and the race is on.  Cars are in a steady stream as they search for that all-illusive parking spot.  A search that has many venting their frustrations.

"They obviously need more parking," Helen Wells said.

"There is no parking anywhere," Jennifer Bernard said. "You have to walk a mile just to get to the place you want to go."

It is true that Old Town Square is normally full of cars, making finding a spot a challenge. The Old Town Square parking garage, can fill up too. However, some say Old Town has plenty of parking, but it just might not be a prime space.

"I think there is enough parking on the street, and maybe people will have to get out of there car and walk a little bit, but maybe that won't be so bad for them," Joe Seiwert said.

We put that challenge to the test.  It is 7 o'clock on a Friday night, and parking spaces were non-existent in the square.  However, we found that by just crossing the street we could have our pick of spots in a half-empty parking lot.  A lot that is across the street from a nearly empty parking garage.

"They should live in a big city where they have to walk a long ways or really fight for a parking spot," Seiwert said.

So is that they case? Do Wichitans just not like to walk? The folks we talked say they don't mind, and stand by the claim that parking in Old Town is a hassle. A hassle they say will grow as downtown Wichita continues to expand.

"They're building all this stuff around here, but they are not accommodating everyone for the parking," Bernard said. "You have all the bars down here in Old Town and the movie theater.  There's just not enough space."

The city has opened up some additional street parking near Old Town Square to ease some of the parking concerns.