Downtown Houston Parking

The last time I ran downtown, other than the hp Houston Marathon, Park to Park Run and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run, was back in November for the Oshman's 25K. I had no recollection of a parking issue then or when I volunteered for the Koala's/Luke's Locker 20K; however, both of those dates were on a Sunday.

As I arrived in downtown on Saturday for the Bayou City Classic 10K, I was surprised that all of the spots either had a time limit and/or required "change only" to be put into the meters. I think I drove around for 30 minutes trying to find a safe place to park.

After reading today's Traffic column by Lucas Wall in the Chronicle, I wrote the following letter to the traffic@chron.com e-mail address:

Excellent article in this morning's Metropolitan section.

I'm an area runner, like Mayor White, and was downtown on Saturday for the Bayou City Classic 10K. For the first time since early November, when I ran in the 25K, I noticed that there were signs about metered parking for Saturday.

Imagine the surprise and the 30 minutes that I spent driving around finding a spot to park that I thought I might not get towed. (Guess what: I didn't have change.) And many garages weren't open and those that were were at least $5 or more: on a Saturday?

I parked all the way out at Caroline and Prairie and hustled over to Tranquility Park, the site of the start of Saturday's race.

I agree with the recommendation of no weekend enforcement, as I thought it used to be.

How much revenue are they really generating on Saturday?

My first thought was: No more downtown races for me and once I decide that, this letter goes to Mayor White's office (even though I'm not a resident, but somebody who does business in the city).

In response, he pointed to his November 1, 2004 column with the heading, "Downtown street parking no longer free on Saturdays":

If you're planning to head downtown on a Saturday, don't forget to bring a pile of change.
A city ordinance requiring payment of parking meters from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays took effect last weekend. Previously, the meters were only in operation on weekdays.
Enforcement of downtown parking regulations picked up over the summer, when the Parking Management Division for the first time assigned its officers to write tickets on Saturdays for cars parked in violation of signs. Policing meter payment is now part of those officers' Saturday duties.
Red stickers have been added to meters to remind motorists of the new Saturday rule.

Little good that article did me driving into downtown without any change and only one (1) $1 bill. However, Lucas kindly responded to my e-mail as follows:

I’ll share your letter with the Mayor’s Office of Mobility. I do hope the city repeals the experiment with Saturday meter collection. I never quite understood the rationale behind that given the limited traffic in the downtown area on weekends and the need to encourage folks to come downtown on a Saturday when they are not lured in by work. As you point out, it’s not easy to park downtown now on a Saturday if you aren’t carrying a dozen quarters with you.

I don’t think the city can measure how much it collects on Saturdays since I don’t believe the meters are emptied daily.

Just your friendly runner here doing whatever I can!