The City Council decided that we need more “Walkable Places,” meaning more accessible places for the average #pedestrian. Really? At the cost of eliminating the parking lots? Not a fan of this idea. Houston already has the worst traffic congestion in Texas, according to a recent report, and this will only make the problem much greater.
There’s no solution to the car addicted streets of Houston, or so we thought. But the city has set off to make its streets more walk-friendly by “eliminating minimum parking requirements in East Downtown and parts of Midtown.”
Houston has always been a car-dominant city, with the streets designed for just that. However, this policy is keen on creating more walkable space by “expanding sidewalks, decreasing the distance between the street and buildings, and making streets friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists.” Well, this is all great for the pedestrians. But what about the car owners who need those parking lots?
This whole idea of reducing the parking lots will fall short for many reasons and will cause a ton of unintended consequences. Reducing the minimum parking requirement is straight-up unfair, costly, and just not the solution to all the issues. Houston already has limited parking, and it can get very expensive. "Fixing it" by removing more parking requirements is akin to killing all the doctors to reduce diseases.
And now they want to shift the parking lots to the sides and rears of the buildings, move building fronts closer to roads, and add on more bike parking measures. That does not even make sense. It means there will be less green areas near sidewalks, and it will just be a bunch of buildings that are basically flush with the street. Moving a building is incredibly costly. Isn’t that just a waste of funds when it does not even serve any real purpose?
The city is also going to lose a LOT of revenue generated by parking lots. People agree to pay an amount if they are designated a spot for their car. Reduction on the parking spaces means reducing the revenue generated from them.
Mobility issues are another thing entirely. What about the disabled population who largely depends on a car to commute? According to a recent report, 74.8% of disabled Americans rely upon cars for transportation. What about people aiming to move or settle in Houston, especially those who are elderly or have limited mobility? People usually perceive a city as a good fit only if it has almost everything they are looking for. A Houston devoid of proper and ample parking space would not be a good choice for the vast majority of people who might otherwise consider moving here.
Public transport and emergency services are being affected as well. When there is any large-scale calamity or a medical emergency, how will emergency vehicles be able to find the space to stop without completely blocking traffic? Emergencies require firefighters, police, and the like. The absence of sufficient parking lots is going to be a big problem.
Making Houston more walkable is going to cause “very negative effects in an already parking-stressed area,” according to Julie Farr, executive director for the Museum Park super neighborhood. As a representative of the popular visitor destination, she said back in 2020 that the increased density allowed by these changes would “increase the traffic beyond public transit’s ability to offset it.”
When you want your city to develop to the best of its capabilities, you have to consider all of its residents. A lot of Houston’s residents are unhappy with residential streets being used for parking all day every day. Our city managers should focus on working together for a lively city, and enhancing transportation. This is not going to happen by erasing parking lots from the city map.
You can't shift “paradigm” by just shifting the storefronts close to the roads. What we really need is a proper plan, for the pedestrians, as well as for the car owners.
