Apparently the Houston City Council is going to vote tomorrow to extend parking meters from the current 6 pm to midnight. Comment period is already closed. What think you? https://news.google.com/articles/CB...dGlsLTEyLWEtbS5hbXA?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
I think you should get used to it. Parking in Houston is far cheaper than other large cities in my experience.
People in other large cities can arbitrage the parking fees with public transit. I'm wondering how a dishwasher for a downtown restaurant justifies paying 15% of his earnings that day for showing up.
That sucks. Going to Astros games I just pay a meter until 6pm and then I'm good. They going to start metering on Sunday's too?
This will suck if it goes through, but unfortunately it just comes with the territory when you live in a big city. Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken them this long to do away with this. It's come in real handy when I play downtown since I usually don't have to be there until after 6 anyway. And I have a few secret locations that almost always have an empty spot or 2 that are within a few blocks of wherever I need to be. Same goes for Astro/Rocket games. Can't remember the last time I've paid more than $0.90 to park downtown. Oh well....it was nice while it lasted.
Will they be able to collect enough money to properly mark street parking? Perhaps how big each spot should be with some indications on the road? This city is terrible. At everything.
Don't know why 'what other cities do' keeps coming up as a rationalization. We don't compete with other cities for parking. They are irrelevant. ParkHouston is part of municipal government. They don't need to be a profit center. The decision should be made for the best management of parking resources. They list the usual arguments that it will encourage parking churn and help turn tables, but I don't think the daytime dynamic is the same as the night time dynamic. What has not been said but does occur to me, owners of off-street parking probably earn much less parking business after 6 because of free curb parking. This change will make their businesses more valuable.
I wish I would of known, I would of complained. I always have my free spots when I go into TC. Oh well, I guess I can still park in east downtown somewhere and do a further walk (and risk getting jumped by the homeless).
Car dependent cities will be car dependent. You know a transit system is good when the rich people use it. You know a transit system is bad when only poor people use it. Start building places that are predominantly built to accommodate humans on foot/bikes but also can accommodate cars instead of vice versa. The irony is that a surface parking lot generates much less tax revenue for the city than a building with a business on it. Build more density, build less parking, accommodate other forms of transportation other than cars. Wait for it ...eliminate parking meters. On street parking sucks for pedestrians anyway cause cars block all your sight views and are ugly to look at. Anyway, queue up all the sheeple that insist Houstonians would never walk (which is a myth). I've been to the San Antonio riverwalk in the summer and it's teeming with people walking ...because it was built to accommodate not cars. /rant
Stick it to the man! I park where I want, when I want, and I dont pay no meter. Honestly, heres the thing... More paid "on street" parking at $2/hr downtown means less chance I have to pay $20/hr to park in some overpriced downtown parking garage. Paid parking on the street is actually increasing availability and reducing the actual cost of parking downtown. It makes sense to extend to midnight given the shift to doentown nightlife over the last decade or so.
