New park will eat up parking spaces
Today's Chronicle has a story about Houston's planned Central Park and a potential problem with parking around the George R. Brown Convention Center:
When the city of Houston turns 13 acres of downtown land into an urban green space, two parking lots in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center will disappear.
Those who use the convention center say the loss of parking means a crowded situation will become a nightmare.
"There's just not enough parking downtown," said Bridal Extravaganza producer Linda Miller, who relies on the front-door lots for her exhibitors and patrons. "That's gold to me."
When the park is built, Miller and others like her fear they will lose customers because they will have to park so far away from the event.
"Brides are pushing mothers and grandmothers in wheelchairs," said Miller, who has used the George R. Brown for 15 years. "When you get downtown and see nowhere to park, you want to turn around and run away."
Jennie Crowder, coordinator for the Hunters Extravaganza, said it has become so bad that she has been looking at other facilities to house her annual event.
"I've called Reliant and am waiting to hear back from them," she said. "I've heard they have ample parking."
The city, of course, says there is no problem with parking:
Ullrich said the convention center's supply of parking is ample and that the city has a plan if there's a future shortage of spaces.
Lots flanking both sides of the newly expanded convention center have been earmarked for 1,000-car garages, should the need arise.
Ullrich said the convention center area has undergone huge changes, and it will take some time for attendees to realize their parking options.
"We believe we're well provided for the parking needs in both the short and long term," she said.
That quote about the city having a plan is probably not of great comfort to business owners around the convention center. Who decides when the need has arisen for those garages? How long will it take to build those garages? How will those garages be funded? (We can probably guess the answer to that last one.)
The next part of the story is funny, sort of:
Michael Hassler, a real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis, said the large number of surrounding lots will easily pick up the spaces that are lost to the park.
"There's not a shortage of parking," said Hassler, who specializes in downtown properties. "It's a small price to pay, in my opinion."
Well of course that would be your opinion, Mr. Hassler. Undoubtedly you will benefit from any future downtown development. Geez, what an arrogant thing to say.
Toward the end of the story, perception and reality butt heads:
Richard Lapin, deputy chief of staff for Mayor Bill White, said the city should hope for a day when there are more people downtown than there is space for parking.
"There's a ton of parking around the Brown that frankly we hope might be developed," Lapin said. "There's a quilt show going on right now — one of our biggest conventions — and there's a ton of parking."
But Shelly Chapa, who drove in from Tomball to attend the show, said it took her 20 minutes to find a place to park.
"I'm way over there under the freeway," she said. "My family doesn't want to come since it's so hard to park. But they still come."
That's the problem right there. People coming to downtown don't want to have to search for parking, and they sure don't want to park far from their intended destination. City officials and developers can assure everyone there is plenty of parking, but if it's hard to find, the perception that downtown is uninviting will persist. Also, business owners are skeptical for a reason. How many times have they been promised that if they would just put up with a few years of inconvenience (while they lose money) everything will be so much better in the end? Many of them don't buy it anymore.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/06/04 10:45 AM | Print |
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