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Sunday Streets for Houston


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just heard this on NPR. This is great, I was just in SF biking and they close off Golden Gate park to vehicles (at least most of it, including the major thoroughfares) on Sundays. I was wishing Houston would do more then the Picnic Loop.

 

Not sure about Westheimer... but as a cycler I'm going to take advantage! though too short for any real exercise, but if it gets people on their feet. 

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Oh...Sunday's on Westheimer could be great.  Especially if the bars/restaurants make it an event!  Not unlike the old street festival...but maybe with out people peeing on private property.  It think it will really bring people out.  

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Part of Washington, White Oak and Westheimer streets will be closed to vehicle traffic this Sunday. I remember in the early '80's they wanted to close lower Westheimer permanently and have restaurants and bars on both sides. I think this is a cool idea and I hope it works.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9455639

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Part of Washington, White Oak and Westheimer streets will be closed to vehicle traffic this Sunday. I remember in the early '80's they wanted to close lower Westheimer permanently and have restaurants and bars on both sides. I think this is a cool idea and I hope it works.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9455639

 

I believe it doesn't start until April and even then, it will not be at all three locations on the same day. 

 

Disclaimer:  I may have missed something somewhere stating otherwise.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Grumpy old man here.  It's fine if they close streets in parks as in SF Golden Gate, but somehow I'm not quite sure I see the point of periodically closing streets to traffic.  If the goal is to encourage pedestrians I would suggest things like mandating wider sidewalks and supporting planting trees.  This just strikes me as a kind of painless feel-good initiative that doesn't change any fundamentals, like the annual "lights out" campaign.  Grumble grumble..

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Closing White Oak can be an issue for the folks whose garages are on the alley that only opens onto White Oak.

I could imagine that either the barricades are placed so that someone could worm their way in or have someone there to open it up for them.

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I could imagine that either the barricades are placed so that someone could worm their way in or have someone there to open it up for them.

 

We have friends on one of the streets South of White Oak who were unable to get their cars out on one occasion when White Oak was closed. They are more careful now about moving them in front of the house before events. Police told them "too bad, so sad" when they asked about getting their car out the one time.

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We have friends on one of the streets South of White Oak who were unable to get their cars out on one occasion when White Oak was closed. They are more careful now about moving them in front of the house before events. Police told them "too bad, so sad" when they asked about getting their car out the one time.

 

That problem seemed to be addressed last month.  The police set up a row of cones in the far south lane so that residents could come and go.

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We have friends on one of the streets South of White Oak who were unable to get their cars out on one occasion when White Oak was closed. They are more careful now about moving them in front of the house before events. Police told them "too bad, so sad" when they asked about getting their car out the one time.

Deal with it, it's a few hours in a month.

Where do people park?

Side streets

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I think it helps show that there is a demand for more pedestrian facilities.

 

I for one would love to see Westheimer rebuilt as a more pedestrian friendly street with wider sidewalks and fewer traffic lanes.

 

Sounds great, but Montrose traffic is bad now with two lanes in each direction.

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Your friends also had plenty of warning, I assume. If I'm told that my street is to be closed. Or that it's being resurfaced, or whatever. I deal with it, by parking my car around the corner. Or plan to use a cab or public transportation. Shouldn't be a big problem.

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Grumpy old man here.  It's fine if they close streets in parks as in SF Golden Gate, but somehow I'm not quite sure I see the point of periodically closing streets to traffic.  If the goal is to encourage pedestrians I would suggest things like mandating wider sidewalks and supporting planting trees.  This just strikes me as a kind of painless feel-good initiative that doesn't change any fundamentals, like the annual "lights out" campaign.  Grumble grumble..

 

You're seeing things from such a limited perspective. Why not look at it as a great opportunity to encourage Houstonians to move around and get out. It encourages more pedestrians to abandon their car for just a little bit and enjoy the day. I mean you seriously can't find an alternate route? And like someone already said, the businesses seem to love it. Isn't that ideally what you want? A more fun city?

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You're seeing things from such a limited perspective. Why not look at it as a great opportunity to encourage Houstonians to move around and get out. It encourages more pedestrians to abandon their car for just a little bit and enjoy the day. I mean you seriously can't find an alternate route? And like someone already said, the businesses seem to love it. Isn't that ideally what you want? A more fun city?

 

Well I said I was grumpy old man.  That kind of rules out wanting a more fun city. 

Anyway, it's not that I particularly object to wanting Houstonians to move around outside of their cars, far from it, but there are existing spaces for that, viz. parks and sidewalks.  The thing is, that encouragement should be on an ongoing basis.  Special occasions, like this or Lights Out Houston, are great feel-good gimmicks but aren't changing underlying behavior, and they just leave me cold. 

 

 

 

...Hey!  You kids get off my lawn!

 

 

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Oh my gosh can't use the car one Sunday out of the entire year what to do?

 

Given they had something planned for that day, it was sort of a big deal. Where do you live? Can I come and block in your driveway for an entire day, on the day you planned to drive somewhere for a big event? Do your real life friends think you are an arrogant jerk too?

 

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