Oswaldo "A.B." Cantu Pan-American Recreation Center
Too Much Free Parking!
RECEIVED Mon., July 25, 2011
Dear Editor,
Ubiquitous free parking is the scourge of Austin. People say they want green space, then use half the space to park cars. Cars drive over the Johnson Creek Greenbelt in order to park in the dust bowl next to it. My local community garden devotes half its space to driving and parking cars and none of its space to bicycle racks. On most streets in Austin, there are plenty of parked cars and no pedestrian space. We can never afford sidewalks, but the city spends vast sums of money to park private cars at a loss. Why not leave car parking to the free market? Why does our government subsidize parking cars?
The Chronicle recently ran an article on the plight of blind people who cannot drive cars ["Access Denied," News, July 8]. (The article didn't mention the problems of lack of sidewalks and failure of traffic signals Downtown to make sounds for blind people.) Blind people are just out of luck here, as are people in wheelchairs and even able-bodied pedestrians. But Council Member Kathie Tovo is anxious to help Downtown workers and visitors who own cars. (Those who ride the bus are out of luck.)
Cars do not need to be the dominant feature of every streetscape. Children don't need to be endlessly driven around in cars. Don't we have enough car lanes and parking lots already? What Austin needs is walking space on every street. Walking space is pleasant space: pretty, shady, green. Car space is ugly and smells bad.
We're all paying to keep people driving cars, and to keep treating people in cars as if they're much more important than the rest of us. This is bad for our city in more ways than I have space to name.
Ubiquitous free parking is the scourge of Austin. People say they want green space, then use half the space to park cars. Cars drive over the Johnson Creek Greenbelt in order to park in the dust bowl next to it. My local community garden devotes half its space to driving and parking cars and none of its space to bicycle racks. On most streets in Austin, there are plenty of parked cars and no pedestrian space. We can never afford sidewalks, but the city spends vast sums of money to park private cars at a loss. Why not leave car parking to the free market? Why does our government subsidize parking cars?
The Chronicle recently ran an article on the plight of blind people who cannot drive cars ["Access Denied," News, July 8]. (The article didn't mention the problems of lack of sidewalks and failure of traffic signals Downtown to make sounds for blind people.) Blind people are just out of luck here, as are people in wheelchairs and even able-bodied pedestrians. But Council Member Kathie Tovo is anxious to help Downtown workers and visitors who own cars. (Those who ride the bus are out of luck.)
Cars do not need to be the dominant feature of every streetscape. Children don't need to be endlessly driven around in cars. Don't we have enough car lanes and parking lots already? What Austin needs is walking space on every street. Walking space is pleasant space: pretty, shady, green. Car space is ugly and smells bad.
We're all paying to keep people driving cars, and to keep treating people in cars as if they're much more important than the rest of us. This is bad for our city in more ways than I have space to name.
Yours Truly,
Amy Babich
Amy Babich
