At a recent city council meeting, Mayor John Whitmire decried ever-expanding fees and costs to the public to go to public parks, and called out Memorial Park by name.
Because the City was blowing that tax money for decades on OTHER hand outs... like growing the City bureaucracy... and NOT maintaining or improving the parks with ANY of that tax money... so a 3rd party / non-profit / NGO had to step in to take over its operation.
I have been a resident of Houston for a long time. In the last three years, the city absolutely ruined Memorial Park. Parking lots, more roads, and parking meters everywhere.
Turner did all that to line their pockets. Turner needs to be investigated because he was doing a lot of crooked stuff, and giving his friends jobs and contracts is just the beginning.
Well, yes they can, if you are a Hollywood production company monopolizing the park to make a profit on a movie, or even just a wedding photographer who won't let people walk past a certain spot.
I agree and all the town centers garages use to be free and midtown. It’s ridiculous how much Houston has changed asking for money to park for 2+ hours
Parking in downtown Houston, free on Sundays. Parking at Buffalo Bayou, fees on Sundays. That's what I want to do, pay taxes so I can pay more for parking. 🤔
I wonder if the previous Mayor Turner got his 10% out of those fees? Bet he did, and all his family and cousins and friends on the public parks board...like the water department.
Oh sure, we should subsidize public storage of private vehicles? We should have NO free parking and have free bus fare instead. Close Memorial park to car traffic completely. Replace with trams. Design our public spaces for people not cars.
They added a surcharge on our dmv registrations so everyone could have free parking at all state parks and beaches. Only problem now is unless u get there really really early, there is no longer any parking available
I agree with the Mayor. He also needs to do something about the zoo fees which have sky rocketted as well as Tolls that people have to pay for to get to the city.
The parking is so cheap I doubt it covers the cost of enforcement and operating the meters. They might as well get rid of them. Would also reduce parking spillover into nearby neighborhoods.
I occasionally run at Memorial park and I pay the $2 fee to park for up to 4 or 5 hours and I don't have much of an issue with the fee because I am not there that often but for people who use the park regularly, it will put a dent in their wallet. We live in an economy where the prices for everything is rising and we are being nickel and dimed from every angle. If they alleviate this fee it would be nice but it may also mean that people will just take up space at the park doing nothing. At least if you are paying to park you are there with a purpose and people who don't have a purpose may not willing to pay just to lolly gag.
Great job by the mayor on this. He needs to bust up and dissolve all of the non profits that are running what once was both owned and operated by the city. The Houston Zoo is the first one he needs to target. It was city owned/operated and free for all until the 1980s. Now they not only charge admission but they take in millions from sponsors who get to put their names on exhibits. Too much bureaucracy and too over staffed is the name of the game. The mayor also needs to rip out all of the bike lanes that are rarely used in downtown and covert them back to additional lanes for motor vehicles on busy streets. City government lost its mind accommodating 0.0001% of bike users at the expense of the 99.9999% of drivers. On top of it the bike riders refuse to follow the law and stop for red lights or yield when required to do so.
@@wandagordon3888 yeah when I was new to Houston I didn't even know what a toll road was my first time hearing of it and I still haven't paid them damn tolls that was 7+ years ago 😅
Okay. Remove the fees and the homeless will be living in their cars there. Those fees keep parking spaces available for people who come to walk/run. I once lived in my car for 8 months, so I understand what it's like to not have a place to stay. But making the parking free will ruin Memorial Park. METRO buses don't require you to pay anymore, so the homeless have started taking over the buses. Deal with the housing crisis first!
Yes, the parking fee are a joke but please ensure that the photographers are not blocking the paths with photo shoots. They had one guy with a whole love seat on the path shooting photos giving everyone the side eye in effort to keep them out of his photos.
