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Editorial
July 12, 1936
Mcallen Daily Monitor
Mcallen, Brownsville, Harlingen, Hidalgo County, Cameron County, Texas
What is this article about?
Editorial highlights persistent downtown parking shortages in McAllen, Texas, blaming business owners for occupying spaces and frustrating customers. Recalls failed parking meter proposal and urges city to address this growth-related issue through effective measures.
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OUR PARKING RIDDLES
McAllen's is outgrowing the small plants that once served its municipal boyishness so well. Many indications verify that statement, but none more accurately than the fact that downtown parking problems continue to bob up in the face of city officials, civic leaders and auto drivers.
The past week saw the old menace rear its head again. A merchant walked up and down South Main street between Highway avenue and Chicago avenue. In that three-blocks distance every parking space on both sides of the street was taken.
So he appealed, as a merchant, to the chamber of commerce. And the chamber of commerce, as the city's No. 1 civic agency, appealed to the newspapers and therein was granted space to sound its new woes.
It all comes back to the same old story.
Business people themselves are robbing their cash tills by taking up a majority of downtown parking spaces while their customers drive away in disgust when they find they are unable to park their machines within a reasonable distance of the store to which they are bending their steps.
On many occasions these business people have kept their cars off the principal downtown streets, but they always go back to the same old habit.
Not long ago city officials considered the installation of parking meters. Business men were polled regarding their favor or disapproval of the devices. Then the matter was put up to the public in the form of a newspaper ballot. Right there the parking meter matter died a quiet death.
The Monitor does not declare the meters to be the only effective weapon to be used here against the lack-of-parking-spaces evil. But it is one that might be given additional consideration.
It is evident that painted over-parking signs on the streets do not do the trick.
And it would take a whole regiment of police officers to enforce a two-hour parking law. Such rules usually do not prove very effective.
All of it is a problem the city must solve for itself; a sort of growing-pains discomfort that must be remedied even among municipalities.
McAllen's is outgrowing the small plants that once served its municipal boyishness so well. Many indications verify that statement, but none more accurately than the fact that downtown parking problems continue to bob up in the face of city officials, civic leaders and auto drivers.
The past week saw the old menace rear its head again. A merchant walked up and down South Main street between Highway avenue and Chicago avenue. In that three-blocks distance every parking space on both sides of the street was taken.
So he appealed, as a merchant, to the chamber of commerce. And the chamber of commerce, as the city's No. 1 civic agency, appealed to the newspapers and therein was granted space to sound its new woes.
It all comes back to the same old story.
Business people themselves are robbing their cash tills by taking up a majority of downtown parking spaces while their customers drive away in disgust when they find they are unable to park their machines within a reasonable distance of the store to which they are bending their steps.
On many occasions these business people have kept their cars off the principal downtown streets, but they always go back to the same old habit.
Not long ago city officials considered the installation of parking meters. Business men were polled regarding their favor or disapproval of the devices. Then the matter was put up to the public in the form of a newspaper ballot. Right there the parking meter matter died a quiet death.
The Monitor does not declare the meters to be the only effective weapon to be used here against the lack-of-parking-spaces evil. But it is one that might be given additional consideration.
It is evident that painted over-parking signs on the streets do not do the trick.
And it would take a whole regiment of police officers to enforce a two-hour parking law. Such rules usually do not prove very effective.
All of it is a problem the city must solve for itself; a sort of growing-pains discomfort that must be remedied even among municipalities.
What sub-type of article is it?
Infrastructure
What keywords are associated?
Parking Problems
Mcallen
Downtown
Business Parking
Parking Meters
City Growth
What entities or persons were involved?
Chamber Of Commerce
City Officials
Merchants
The Monitor
Editorial Details
Primary Topic
Downtown Parking Problems In Mcallen
Stance / Tone
Critical Of Business Parking Habits, Suggestive Of Parking Meters
Key Figures
Chamber Of Commerce
City Officials
Merchants
The Monitor
Key Arguments
Downtown Parking Spaces Are Fully Occupied, Especially On South Main Street.
Business People Take Up Most Parking Spaces, Driving Away Customers.
Past Attempts To Restrict Business Parking Fail As Habits Return.
Parking Meters Were Considered But Rejected Via Public Ballot.
Painted Signs And Two Hour Limits Are Ineffective Without Enforcement.
City Must Solve Parking Issues As Part Of Growth.