ORLANDO, Fla. — As the City of Orlando takes over the Pulse Memorial project, residents living nearby hope officials will account for parking in the area. As it stands, the property sits on a small residential street where neighbors say parking has become limited.

What You Need To Know

  • While an interim memorial sits on the property, family members of Pulse shooting victims have been waiting for a permanent memorial for years

  • The project was originally headed up by the onePULSE Foundation, but the nonprofit is dissolving, and the city is taking over

  • With the city's plans still in the early stages, officials did not elaborate on if or how they plan to address parking

Nikolai Rudd has lived across the street from the Pulse interim memorial since 2019. Rudd says the street is typically filled with cars, most of which he believes belong to people working at offices nearby.

“It can be a nightmare,” said Rudd, who said a recent road re-pavement project led to a headache for residents.

He says even an Amazon truck blocking the opposite side of the road can create a burden.

“If there’s a lot of uptick in visitation (at the memorial), I’m not sure if we’ll even have room for friends to park their car,” he said.

Rudd’s father said he hopes the city might change the parking along the street to two-hour parking. He believes it would allow for memorial visitors, but cut down on the office workers using the spaces.

Since the memorial project is in the early stages, a representative with the City of Orlando did not elaborate on whether the city will address the parking situation. It’s a question on top of many neighbor’s minds, as the project’s construction and subsequent increase in visitation could create more parking woes.

However, despite it being a point of concern, Rudd says the city needs to make victims and their families a priority.

“The people whose wishes need to be respected when thinking about it are the families of the victims, first and foremost,” he said.