Fort Worth's Growing Parking Problem

[Nathan Lewis]

http://www.star-telegram.com/living/article172092357.html

 

The city of Fort Worth is running into the same problem that all growing cities do in this modern age. A thriving downtown life and emerging art district have begun to lay unprecedented burdens on the city’s parking capabilities. The article notes how parking in Fort Worth used to be easily found and often free too. However, the growth of the city has outpaced parking expansions, leading to difficult parking options for a citizenry not used to such issues.

            However, not all people see it this way. As one college president states, “we don’t have a parking problem, we have a walking problem.” His point is that there is enough parking spaces. They just require longer walks than previously necessary to reach the desired destination. This requires more of a shift in people’s mentalities.

            The city has been trying to ease this burden for citizens over the past few years. But this is not easy to do while maintaining free options. There has been a rise in metered parking, although many of the metered options remain unused due to people’s preference for the free spots they have grown accustomed to. This may solve itself over time as people begin to accept the metered option. However, this will likely happen with some understandable complaints.

            Finally, part of Fort Worth’s zoning laws come into play here. Unlike most areas, Fort Worth does not require dedicated parking for new businesses. Because of this, more businesses get built than parking structures simply due to the increased revenue a business generates. Yet again, in the past, where parking was not as needed for a less populated city, this was not a major issue. However, it is now starting to catch up to the downtown area businesses. Fort Worth will need to invest in more parking options in the future or else their citizens will need to become accustomed to metered spots and more walking. 

[Jasmyn Rios]

I completely agree with you, Nathan. I do think that Fort Worth will need to invest into more parking options in the future. However, at the same time, I enjoy the fact that people have to perhaps change their perspective a bit and get accustomed to walking around town. I believe in San Antonio there is a lot of walking around that goes on in the riverwalk. I have seen over the past years that the San Antonio people have gotten accustomed to walking mostly the whole time. I believe this can be the case for Fort Worth as well. Yes, it will be quite different than what they are used to, but they will eventually forget about the walking and marvel over the beautiful work that has been done across town. Fort Worth used to have absolutely nothing to tour around town. Fort Worth had only consist of the stock yards. However, now it is great to see that Fort Worth is adding on to itself. I believe they plan to have their very own riverwalk be made in the next few years.

[Lindsay Kathleen McManus]

Fort Worth has certainly achieved new levels of growth, attraction, and expansion as of late. It will be important for the city to discover a balance between creating more parking availability and increased enchantment with usage of both parking meters and visitors walking a longer distance in order to get to the location of interest. Recently having walked around Fort Worth, I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent walking the streets whose buildings emulate the City Beautiful movement. I definitely would not have minded parking further away from the restaurant my family and I had a meal at, but I found that valeting my car was the most efficient and simple option, especially due to knowing that I would probably be spending close to the valet price if I had to pay to park, or would have dealt with the hassle of having to continually feed a meter in order to avoid obtaining a parking ticket. All in all, developing cities will continually face parking issues, but I personally side with the president you cited in your blog, "We have a walking problem." It will be interesting to see what initiative local government takes on as well as businesses in the Fort Worth area in order to continue to increase revenue in these areas.

[Asher Paul Ang]

I can absolutely concur that Forth Worth has a parking problem. I remember try to find a parking for my car and ended up valeting it at a restaurant in order to safe time. I think the city needs to build parking garages downtown and have more available metered parking spaces. Downtown Forth Worth is certainly very well laid out, and if they could sort out their parking issue, then perhaps the city would attract more investment and businesses 

[Jacob Ryan Shaw]

This is super interesting. I like this post a lot Nathan, and I think that you have the right take on the issue. I think Dallas has a similar issue. Tons of parking even though some of it may not be the most convenient. Perhaps the city could find a bike program successful, perhaps parking still is the issue. While they may have 'enough parking" it definitely seems to be poorly concentrated. It will be interesting to see what steps fort worth will take to solve the issue. 

[Michelle Garcia Zarate]

As the economic growth of a city reaches new levels, there are many issues that arise along with it, like the parking problem. Yes, every city that has a high-density population faces this kind of problem and the key to solve it is how local governments approach it and the methods they use to achieve their goal. It is not a secret that Fort Worth and Downtown Dallas need to build more parking garages/buildings or parking areas. In cities like Buenos Aires, New York, London etc. there are many buildings that were designated specifically as parking spaces in order to reduce the public space used for this work and to satisfy the citizen's needs. No one wants to spend more than 10 minutes walking to go from a parking lot to their final destination, especially if they are workers with busy schedules.