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How Houston Regulates Land Use
- TheBiv 10y agoI don't know if it's Stockholm syndrome or not, but every one of my friends that are from Houston prefers the way they do it compared to every other city (like Dallas where I live).
- meddlepal 10y agoI mean it seems like Houston does get a lot right. The off-street parking and mega blocks though are really where it gets it wrong. That said, how much do people actually want to walk around in Texas? It's fucking hot down there most of the year say compared to Boston or NY which are only really unbearable for small portions of the year. I was in Austin a month ago and I was really unhappy walking half a mile in the heat compared to say Boston where I'll walk two or three miles to cross the city and not even think about it.
- larsiusprime 10y ago(Texan here) -- if we had some decent shade and short distances to walk, it'd be a lot better. You get used to the heat after a while; also if walking culture took off people would adapt to a more traditionally Mexican schedule of not being out right smack in the middle of the day.
- whamlastxmas 10y agoTexan here, myself and several people I know never got used to the heat. It will never be acceptable for me to want to walk to lunch, even 10 minutes away, when it means coming back drenched in sweat and smelling terrible.
- Frondo 10y agoIf you smell from the sweat of a lunchtime walk, I would suggest a different deodorant, seriously. I have sensitive skin and can't wear the kind of antiperspirant with aluminum in it. It took me until relatively late in life (early 30s now) to find the combination that works for me: crystal rock deodorant plus one of the "natural" spray kinds. As for the sweat, a good wicking t-shirt will let it evaporate quickly, or if you need to wear a button-up shirt, a good cotton undershirt will keep your outer shirt nice and dry (usually).
- briandear 10y agoAir conditioning solves the problem perfectly well. 10 minutes walk in 98 degrees with high humidity.. every part of your body is soaked in sweat.
- sotojuan 10y agoI'm from Houston and lived there until moving to NY for college... it's one thing to "get used" to the heat, it's another to be able to walk a decent distance every single day in it. Even here in NY some summer days were pretty terrible.
- lightcatcher 10y agoAlso from Houston. Even if you get to the point where the heat doesn't bother you, it doesn't stop the heat from making you sweat and smell. I didn't mind going for a walk (or run) on Houston summer afternoons, but there's no way I could walk >.5 miles or bike to work without a shower at the destination.
- SwellJoe 10y agoBikes are super great in Austin. And, you get used to the heat. I spent many years in Texas; Houston and Austin (about 20 years, in total, across both cities), I really don't mind the heat. I prefer it over cold, anyway. And, there's a certain style of living that is/was pervasive in Austin; do stuff early in the day or late in the day. Hang out inside during the heat of the day. Lots of bars and restaurants have outside patios, which are open nearly year round; many have misters to keep it cool. The only things most people do outside during the heat of the day are swimming or tubing or stuff in the shade (and there's loads of shade along the river and green belts).
- angersock 10y ago(current occupant of Houston here) The thing is that the heat isn't the whole thing, it's also the humidity. We had a few weeks last month or two that had a heat of 90F with heat index of 107F. Humidity is the big difference, and with Texas as large as it is you can't just assume that somebody from say DFW or El Paso or Brownsville or Austin will experience the same weather as somebody from Houston given the same wall temperature.
- skolos 10y agoThat's why Houston has tunnel system: https://www.downtownhouston.org/district/downtown-tunnels/ https://www.downtownhouston.org/district/downtown-tunnels/ Which makes downtown quite walkable any time of the year.
- sswaner 10y agoReally? I just moved away from Houston and in my 2+ years there I never found a single person who thought the land use regulations were effective. Many friends who were life-long Houstonians routinely referred to it as "the worst run city in America." I lived in north-east Houston just outside Beltway 8. Hundreds of new homes were being built along West Lake Houston Parkway, with no apparent plans for upgrading traffic. It was a real mess and will only get worse.
- ryanmarsh 10y agoI have no idea why this was downvoted. It's spot on.
- angersock 10y agoAt the risk of being a jerk, Houston proper is basically just inside 610 with maaaybe a dispensation for inside the Beltway. Outside that it's basically just suburbs and exurbs.
- chao- 10y ago>I lived in north-east Houston just outside Beltway 8. So you lived out near Humble? That's not living in Houston. That's like living in Newark and saying you live in New York City.
- sswaner 10y agoNo, I lived in Houston. It is like living in Queens and saying you live in New York.
- ryanmarsh 10y agoFind out how much they've lived elsewhere. I had Stockholm syndrome (Houston syndrome?) until I lived in a few other good cities. Houston's food tho...
- SwellJoe 10y agoI lived in Houston for several years, and there's a lot of great things happening there. I've always liked the lack of zoning, while also hating how common and strict the private covenants are (I never knew why they were more onerous in Houston, but knew they were). I also think Houston is well-placed to become one of the truly great American cities with only minor shifts in policy. Those huge roads? Shrink the lanes and paint on bike lanes (which is effectively free, since the lines are repainted every few years anyway), and you've got green urban transit options everywhere. It's already relatively safe to bike most places in Houston, certainly in all the neighborhoods, because the roads are big enough to accommodate bikes even without lanes specifically marked. I used to bike to class when I was in college...about 10 miles each way. None of it was particularly hairy or scary, even compared to "bike-friendly" towns like Austin. There's also a surprisingly large amount of green and park space in Houston. The bayous that are concrete-filled could be ripped up (some parts of the Houston bayou system were concreted over in the 70s and 80s, as a failed attempt at flood management), and turned into hike/bike trails (they already get used that way...there's dirt foot paths along the top of every Houston bayou I can remember). The train and bus system needs massive improvement (or, it did when I last lived there or visited), and the car culture needs to be killed, as this author notes. But, there are some very good, very walkable neighborhoods in Houston. I couldn't afford to live in them, but I enjoyed the street festivals and such that happened in them. Again, some minor tweaks to policy could allow more of those neighborhoods to thrive. The lack of zoning means that retail and restaurants often exist right along side neighborhoods; which is the ideal for a walkable neighborhood. Traffic is obviously a huge problem for Houston, but that's true of every major American city. It was particularly pronounced while I was living there, as two of the biggest highways were under construction for several years (also common in growing cities). In short: I'd love to see Houston get more of these things right. It was a good city that treated me well. My first attempt to get a real job turned out great, the cost of living is on the low side given the scale of opportunities available and the benefits of living in such a big city (great art scene, great music scene, great food, etc.). I moved to Austin after a few years in Houston, and while Austin also has a lot going for it (I would even say it's the first and only city I've ever really loved), it has felt like it's been going the wrong direction the whole time I lived there and the years when I didn't. Every once in a while, it'll get something right (like going to a 10-1 district-based city council instead of at-large, or being pretty good about bike lanes and bike safety), but on the whole the things that make Austin great are in decline. Artists and musicians are leaving because they can't afford it, black and brown folks have been pushed out to Round Rock or Georgetown or other surrounding cities again because they can't afford it, and music venues are shutting down left and right because they can't afford it and the new (very wealthy) downtown and surrounding area residents don't like the noise. My desire to live in or visit Austin has dropped to almost nil in recent years.
- whamlastxmas 10y agoI dislike the lack of zoning in Houston. It means you want to buy a home, but it's right next to a strip club, so it ruins the deal. You want to live in a nice and expensive neighborhood, but then a developer comes in and builds a 6 story apartment building right next to your two story house. And the lack of zoning means the traffic on the street of that apartment complex becomes horrific because there's now twice as many people living on that block. You see a lot of mixed-income neighborhoods in Houston - places where people are building $700,000 homes where 80% of the same street are 1000 square foot shacks with people living in them making $20k a year. Luckily for them, their lots are worth half a million dollars. I don't know if this is the result of the lack of zoning, but I don't see this happening in other cities in Texas, so I have to think it's somehow related.
- rayiner 10y agoAll of these things are problems? That sounds ideal! Particularly mixed-income neighborhoods.
- whamlastxmas 10y agoYeah, it's awesome having neighbors that leave garbage everywhere, don't mow their lawns, smoke copious amounts of weed on their porch, are constantly calling the cops, revving their shitty Civics with the exhaust cut off at 4AM on a Sunday, and park 4 rusted out cars on the curb outside their home. You might say "So don't buy a home there" or "So buy a home in an HOA". The point is that there isn't housing available in those areas nearly as much as there is most everywhere else, meaning people start to gentrify crappier blocks because they house the want at the location they want just doesn't exist.
- GunboatDiplomat 10y agoThose seem like things that the author of the article would view positively.
- eudox 10y ago>You see a lot of mixed-income neighborhoods in Houston - places where people are building $700,000 homes where 80% of the same street are 1000 square foot shacks with people living in them making $20k a year. Luckily for them, their lots are worth half a million dollars. I don't know if this is the result of the lack of zoning, but I don't see this happening in other cities in Texas, so I have to think it's somehow related. This is a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of thing. If neighborhoods are income-segregated, there is no end to opinion pieces about this awful late-capitalist crypto-apartheid. If neighborhoods are mixed-income, then the hand-wringing is about rich people living behind walls next to a shanty town.
- andrewtbham 10y agoIt is strange the zoning laws. Here is a sex shop right by the galleria. which is an upsacle mall. you can see the dillard's in the background. there is a neiman marcus across the street. https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7403217,-95.4587679,3a,75y,234.13h,86.55t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svaoxVQ6kmoQzbxg2-AcV7Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7403217,-95.4587679,3a,75y,2...
- Joof 10y agoIt used to be a burger place :)
- Tiktaalik 10y ago> Houston does mandate off-street parking This is a terrible thing that cities badly need to get away from. Going further cities need to get away from mandating parking period. There's a 400+ unit condo building that was approved in my town in 2014 and it's still under construction because of course every unit needs parking and they're building a massive underground parking lot. The fact that this building is on a major bus corridor, less than a 10 minute walk from existing rapid transit and it's adjacent to a future site for rapid transit expansion is ignored. There's honestly no reason to build so much parking here and yet the rules mandate that we must add parking everywhere. This increases the costs of housing as well and people must pay for this regardless of whether they use it or not.
- hmcdona1 10y agoYou are clearly not from Texas. Nothing is 10 minutes away. Public transit is a joke. I realize this is a chicken/egg situation, but it's probably not changing anytime soon here. Honestly, it's not an issue (in Houston) at all. I like driving and the fact that everywhere has parking is perfect. If I'm going out I just pay for the uber and call it a night. It's cheap enough down here anyways.
- CalRobert 10y agoThat's great you like driving, but what's upsetting is you demanding everyone else pay for your free parking. Nobody is saying parking should be illegal, just that people shouldn't be forced to build it if they don't want it. Edit: People more informed than myself have studied how forcing everyone to build parking makes housing less affordable. http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/420062 http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/420062
- skilesare 10y agoFirst, we have some of the cheapest housing in the US. Second, the law will Have to change in the next 10 years. Third, if we do it right, Houston can become the city with the most green space in the country if we require that 1/2 of any replaced parking lot just become semi-public green space.
- nickbauman 10y agoWhat impresses me is how brown the city of Houston is. Everything looks dead or dying like a zombie apocalypse. Seriously, will that city even be viable in 20 years?
- saryant 10y agoWhere in Houston? My experience was that Houston was had lots of green space.
- nickbauman 10y agoI'm talking about the photos in the article.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- foxfaction 10y agoIt's mostly grey because of all the concrete, in my opinion
- jessriedel 10y ago> Outside of complying with space-consuming regulations and certain special urban bonuses related to lot size, Houston doesn’t regulate density. What are "space-consuming regulations"?
- bretthoerner 10y agoLarge minimum lot sizes and mandatory setbacks (the space between the curb and the front of your house).