Why is the Mayor fixated on a new parking bureaucracy? (Updated)
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports on a bad idea from Mayor White that just won't go away:
Variety Fair 5 & 10 store customers are guaranteed to find all sorts of interesting merchandise. But there's no guarantee customers can find a place to park -- and no confidence in a parking commission.
"A bureaucracy. I don't know how that's going to help us a whole lot," said Cathy Irby, store owner.
With so many cars and so many drivers looking for parking spaces, the Rice Village is one of the places city officials point out when they say the city needs a parking commission.
"It's fairly common in urban areas that are bigger and smaller than Houston, to have a group of citizens focusing on parking on the long term, as you do in the Medical Center," said Mayor Bill White.
But as people in the Rice Village have learned, messing around with parking can be like playing with fire.
For example, the City of Houston is buying 2,000 new parking meters. The first 500 will replace old meters downtown. But the rest could go anywhere. When you ask people in Rice Village what they think about parking meters, the reaction's pretty negative.
"I don't think parking meters would generate revenue for anyone but the city -- wouldn't generate money for businesses," said Irby. "It would not create and open up more parking. That's not the answer to the situation."
Ms. Irby sums it up pretty well. It's hard to see how a new parking bureaucracy solves any of our city's real problems. But Mayor White seems determined to create yet another revenue stream whether the citizenry wants it or not.
UPDATE (08-12-2005): KTRH-740 this morning is reporting that the parking authority proposal will soon be moving to a council vote. Councilmember Michael Berry, whose committee is shepherding the proposal, was quoted in favor of the parking authority. Perhaps the councilmember or his staff would like to explain to our readers why he supports the creation of another new bureaucracy/revenue stream, at a time when the city is raking in the revenues.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/11/05 09:59 PM | Print | Comments (7)
Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry
ADVERTISING
DISCLAIMER
All content © 2004-09, blogHOUSTON and the respective authors.
blogHOUSTON.net is powered by Nucleus.
Site design and Nucleus customization are by Kevin Whited.