We will go to the polls Saturday, and vote against charging for parking on the seawall. A hairbrain scheme designed to make local government a little bit bigger. When will the city learn, the cure is almost always less government not more. Charging for parking is likely to cause onl;y more problems for businesses near the seawall. How will they keep people from parking in business parking lots and walking across the street?
Meanwhile seaweed has taken over the beach, and bureaucracy, not a lack of parking fees, has prevented cleaning it up.
“It’s the most seaweed we’ve had in recent years,” said Mario Rabago, interim executive director of the Galveston Park Board of Trustees.
Seaweed usually washes ashore at peak levels from April to September. Cleaning the sargassum has been delayed by new enforcement of a permitting requirement.
The city has granted a variance to allow for cleaning along the seawall, and Apffel Park should be cleaned by the end of the week.
A topographic study of Stewart Beach is needed before a permit can be approved.
Meters will not cut the red tape, but may make it harder for some to go to the beach.
Don’t ya just love the way they call parking meters “Seawall Enhancements”? hahaha!