The West U City Council heard from numerous residents tonight about on-street parking and nearly everyone who spoke was in favor of some kind of change.
The West U City Council wants to hear from residents about their concerns and suggestions for improving or changing on-street parking regulations.
About 160 people filled the Community Building for the first on-street parking town hall meeting.
While nothing is being proposed, the council wants to hear from residents about their concerns and suggestions for improving or changing on-street parking regulations.
Mayor Bob Fry told the residents who came out for the town hall meeting that on-street parking was the number one issue that came up when the council members were block walking for the May 2011 election.
Fry said parking has been discussed by other councils, but this council thought that it needed to be revisited.
“We always respect the feedback we get,” he said. “We’re here to listen.”
City Manager Michael Ross said there are 17 different street widths in West U, ranging from 21 ft. to 35 ft. and 50 ft. on University.
Loading ...Pictures were projected during the meeting of city vehicles driving down narrow streets, trying to pass by legally parked cars. An ambulance, fire truck and garbage truck were shown in the 3400 block of Georgetown, a 24 ft. wide street, and the vehicles could barely pass by the cars parked on the street.
Of the 24 residents who spoke tonight, some said they were in favor of banning parking, looking at parking on a case by case basis, prohibiting overnight parking and a permitting process, while others said the council shouldn’t be regulating how residents use their driveways and that the police should just “do their job” and enforce existing laws.
One resident said he was struck by a car backing out of his driveway on Community, one resident said she was blocked in her driveway and had to drive over her lawn on Byron to get out into the street, while another said she’s had the fire department ring her bell asking to move cars off the street.
“This is not a popularity contest. This is not about convenience. This is about probability,” said Larry Kelly, who lives in the 3300 block of Georgetown.
Kelly said there are several times a year when fire trucks have had to circle the neighborhood to respond to a call, but thankfully they’ve been false alarms. A minute could be the difference between life and death, he said.
Elizabeth Karkowsky, who lives in the 6400 block of Buffalo Speedway, said parking in not only a problem that happens at night; it’s all day long.
“The problem is safety,” she said, adding that cars drive in the same lane on a two way street and there are always potential accidents. “My children are at danger.”
Sally Leonard, who lives in the 3000 block of Tangley, said she would support no parking on the street at any time.
“Inconvenience shouldn’t trump safety,” she said. “After all it’s a family neighborhood.”
After the town hall meetings, the council is expected to review the comments and determine if any changes need to be made.
The council will meet with residents on Thursday, April 12 at 3 p.m. and Thursday, April 12 at 6 p.m.
The meetings will be held at the Community Center, 6104 Auden, and residents are encouraged to attend.
Residents who cannot attend the town hall meetings are asked to send the city their thoughts by e-mail to [email protected].
April 11, 2012 at 5:28 pm
So many responses and arguements for an issue that can be solved by enforcing current laws. Sorta like illegal immigration. The longer the laws are ignored, more cars park on the streets.
April 10, 2012 at 10:30 pm
As a former resident of both Southside and West U, Southside’s ban on overnight parking in the street was at time an inconvenience. You simply had to notify the city, and at worst you received a $10 ticket.
Not that big of a deal.
April 10, 2012 at 5:57 pm
I agree, enforce the laws, including the one that we learned last night at the town hall meeting: The Law- All roads shall have an unobstructed width (not blocked by cars) of not less than 20 feet clearance so that public safety vehicles may pass. Now let’s watch the ones crying for more law enforcement back peddle.
April 10, 2012 at 7:37 pm
No backpedaling here. West U doesn’t enforce parking laws. Period. Residents calling the police to come is not enforcement. Council simply doesn’t care, if they did, they would direct Ross and Police chief to crack down. This is all a bunch of bs to make the populace feel like they are heard. NOTHING will come of any of this BS.
April 10, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Give me a break. Doesn’t the council have more important things to work on?
Typical government B.S. The city is going to tell me where I have to park my car? Two car garage, four cars, how about the front yard?
April 10, 2012 at 4:45 pm
I agree that parking on both sides of the street makes safe passage nearly impossible for sanitation and emergency vehicles.
The choices proposed on this site, would give only one set of neighbors the right to enjoy parking in front of their home (which I believe is a necessity). The only fair solution is alternate side of the street parking. It has been done in NYC for years –successfully. I am sure a small city like West U could manage it too
April 10, 2012 at 2:44 pm
I think we need a public awareness campaign that goes beyond the internet and town meetings. We need mailers, brochures, block parties that deal with safety issues in West U. Lots of people have gotten the word from West U about these meetings. My neighbors know about the meetings, but they have no idea about the issues. In fact, the people that want to attend these meetings have some sort of issue that brings them to the meeting. The people that don’t care and are part of the problem have no incentive to attend a meeting. I’d like to think that if more people knew some of the visibility issues, clearance concerns, and safety issues we all might try a little harder. We need less I, me, mine and a little more we, us, ours.
April 10, 2012 at 11:47 am
Suggest putting the Vote first in daily update now (instead of mid-article).
Add: enforce parking laws already in place.
What is Your Preference?
Outlaw Overnight Parking in Front of Homes
Outlaw Parking on One Side of EVERY Street
Outlaw Parking on One Side of SOME Streets
Outlaw ALL Parking in Front of Homes
Make Streets One-Way, But Allow Parking in Front of Homes
Make No Changes
April 10, 2012 at 11:32 am
Here is an easy first step that I think we can all agree upon. Start having the Police Department enforce the 30′ rule near intersections and stop signs. I didn’t hear anyone last night against that!
I was shocked at the comments of neighbors who are virtually asking the government to legislate how I can use my garage and driveway. I’ll use my garage as I want.
April 10, 2012 at 11:06 am
Consensus is almost impossible to obtain in West U. Too much like herding cats, but according to the survey more than half those responding are not satisfied with leaving things as they are. I happen to agree change is in order. Banning all street parking is probably not reasonable or practical, but a ban on overnight parking with permits for exceptional situations evaluated on a case by case basis probably is. The Zoning Board of Adjustments could hear cases for those who think an exception is in order for their situation.
Council does need to do more to make it easier for people to park on their own property. One thing that could help a lot is to set a standard for minimum driveway width. (There is nothing in West U ordinances that would prevent building a 5ft wide driveway for a home with a garage at the rear.) Some driveways are too narrow for Homeowners to conveniently access their garages.
The Zoning & Planning Commission recognized this problem several years ago and recommended establishing a minimum standard width, but that Council rejected the idea. Perhaps this Council can correct that error.
April 10, 2012 at 11:01 am
Where you even there? The vast majority of people at the meeting last night did not want anything changed about parking. The concessions mentioned were if there is a case by case basis, then certain streets could be regulated …. if there was a clear problem. Come on Man.
April 10, 2012 at 10:58 am
It’s more than an inconvenience to ban parking on a broad basis. Most homes simply do not have the driveway/garage space to support multiple vehicles that occur when parents and children have their own cars, family or friends are visiting or hosting something as simple as a child’s birthday party. Our neighborhood is filled with homes with one to two car garages, most of which are not used for cars and has been this way since the neighborhoods inception. I think anyone that is trying to ban overnight parking or street parking either has not considered this, wants these people to move out of the neighborhood.
If this is truly an issue for the most narrow streets, then limit whatever measures to those streets and enforce current laws elsewhere. That would solve those very rare cases where someone gets blocked in their driveway and limit the contributing factors that led to the extremely rare incident where someone got sideswiped backing out (which I would estimate is no more common in West U than anywhere else). As for the safety of our children, street parking provides as much benefit as it does hazard.
My comments above do not even begin to address the parking problems that would be created by any of the above proposed solutions.
April 10, 2012 at 10:54 am
Safety? Clear the streets and let traffic go 35-40MPH on these little streets and see how many more accidents there are.
Perhaps limit parking to only one side of the street, and definitely enforce the space around intersections, but clearing the roadway entirely would serve only to radically increase motorist speed and decrease pedestrian safety throughout West U.
April 10, 2012 at 10:40 am
I agree that the concensus was not nearly so unified as your headline suggests. The point has been made several times that much of the obstruction is caused by guests, and by vehicles providing service: landscapers, contractors, etc. Unless you have a plan to prohibit those people from parking on the street, I don’t see a clear solution. And I didn’t understand what exactly was meant by “case by case.” But surely a first step would be to see what kinds of parkers are obstructing traffic, and what the neigborhood would be willing to do without: guests, landscapers, contractors, etc.
April 10, 2012 at 10:10 am
Agree with Bacon, that was not the gist of the meeting last night. There were two camps: 1) Ban parking in some fashion 2) Case by Case/Block by block analysis. Also, a number of people noted that visibility is the biggest problem: Driveways, intersections, Children playing. I had some strong feelings walking into the meeting and came out of the meeting with different feelings about parking and traffic. If the Fire dept has an issue with safety, then they need to document the issue (I frankly don’t trust council to do anything as far as I can throw them). The larger issues are visibility along with acknowledgement of Texas law. The 30′ from a stop sign rule is not enforced in the city, I don’t care what the city tells me, it just plain isn’t. Corner lot folks want to complain, fine, but they have at least 150′ of curb space to park, even if you take away 30 feet, that’s still more than twice the linear feet of parking than I have. Clear out the intersections, get rid of the parked cars on all sides of the street, 30′ from the intersection and enforce it. Laws are useless when we aren’t enforcing them. I’m relatively fine with someone speeding down Bissonnet, I’m not fine with getting sideswiped on Marquette because I can’t see traffic coming on West Point. If there are problems on some narrow streets, look at them on a case by case basis.
April 10, 2012 at 9:57 am
We need some street parking. The regulations regarding the building codes do not allow enough parking on the individual residential lots.
Where would guest, repair people, lawn service etc. park. Put no parking signs in front of the peoples homes that are complaining.
The city may consider building circle drives in front of every house where street parking is prohibited, at the city’s expense.
April 10, 2012 at 9:29 am
Wouldn’t it be nice if neighbors were simply considerate of others? This, along with WUPD enforcing current rules, would eliminate most problems. If a street is too narrow, parking regulations could be addresses. On other streets, simple courtesies such as not parking too close to, or directly behind, a neighbor’s drive, parking in front of your own home and parking in a way that allows other cars to be parked politely would make most folks happy. I am continually shocked at neighbors who park blocking the sidewalk, something that is against the rules and causes walking neighbors to have to move into the street. This is not considerate. West U’s parking problem seems to go hand in hand with a society that is fast losing basic manners.
April 10, 2012 at 10:53 am
As another 30+ year resident I agree with your observations. West U is a different community than it was when we moved here. 4ft chain link fences separated most yards, people interacted more with their neighbors and had a greater sense of community than now. Like the song says, something’s lost and something’s gained in living every day.
I am hoping that things begin to swing back in favor of more We and less Me.
April 10, 2012 at 11:08 am
That was my favorite comment from last night. I loved the guy that said, “You can’t legislate common courtesy.” That guy should be mayor!
If my neighbors have a problem with me parking in the street in front of my house, none of them has ever told me about it. If they ever do complain, I’ll see what I can do to ameliorate their concerns.
I also liked the gentleman that he and his across-the-street neighbor park in front of each other’s houses. A gentleman’s agreement, so that if one backs out and hits a car…it will be his own car that gets damaged. Civilized society finds cooperative ways to solve these minor issues.
April 10, 2012 at 8:38 am
The fact is that on street parking creates situations that are not in the best interest of public safety. The choice is really between the convenience of those who want to park in the street in front of their homes and the best interest of the rest of the community. The question is which is more important? Me or We?
I routinely park a vehicle in front of my home overnight and would be directly effected by a ban, but I don’t think there is any question it would be best for the City. My convenience is not worth my neighbor’s safety.
April 10, 2012 at 11:10 am
You are making a great assumption that parking on the street is somehow dangerous to the community. West U has been around some 70 odd years and there hasn’t been an instance of a house burning down because the fire truck couldn’t get to it because of street parking.
Would be nicer, more convenient, etc. Sure. Those aren’t good reasons to create a law for this.
Sure, there are certain streets like Buffalo Speedway, where parking seems out of place and should be considered, but the vast majority of streets have light traffic, and are easily navigated. . . even by the largest of our emergency vehicles.
April 10, 2012 at 8:03 am
The headline is very misleading. Most of the folks that spoke last night either didn’t want anything done, or wanted something done *only* if there was a documented problem (i.e. case-by-case basis). But you’re lumping all the “case by case” people in with the “we have to do something drastic” crowd.