The city is wrestling with an ordinance banning parked cars in the front yard of residences. There are decent reasons for the ban such as problems with utility lines and leakage of auto fluids into the topsoil, but, honestly, this has nothing to do with that.
“It looks very ugly and detracts from the beauty of the neighborhood,” said Jim Birney, a Spring Branch homeowner.
“It ruts up the yard. I think these things destroy residential integrity.”
But another Spring Branch resident disagreed.
“I think a lot of families here would have a hard time with that,” Sonia Campos said. “Most of the families who live here have small businesses, so they have more (vehicles) than small cars.”
Campos’ husband sometimes parks a trailer in the front yard for his furniture business.
“People want to be in areas that have a nice street appearance,” countered Minnette Boesel, a Houston real estate broker.
The Chron did a very good job of outlining this issue. The city is proposing an exception if you put pavement or gravel in your front yard, but that isn’t a good option for homeowner associations either. They think it’s ugly.
I don’t like civic organizations in general. I’ve encountered far too many who go completely bonkers with regulations forcing residents to approve fences and paint colors as well as banning basketball goals, swing sets and even cars on driveways at night.
The classic bungalow in the Heights would never pass muster with its detached garage and, God forbid, porches. Mine, in particular, with its feral cats, lawn replaced with beautiful native plants and, SHOCK, white picket fence would cause me to be run out of the suburbs on a rail. In essence, everything that makes the homes in our area interesting are completely undesirable out in the burbs.
The Chron goes even further calling it a have’s vs. have-not’s issue and they are dead on the money.
Sarah Crockett, of Acres Homes, is a community leader for ACORN, an activist group. Crockett said drivers should have the right to park on their lawns to protect their cars, or to avoid street crime at night.
“I’ve had my car scratched up when I used to park in the street,” Crockett said. “It’s easier to steal a car off the street than from a lawn.”
People park on my street all the time and, yes, sometimes windows get broken or mirrors get knocked off. It can be dangerous, but there is little choice when you have an older home with limited parking space. Sure, this isn’t an issue for the Woodlands, but it sure is in the inner city.
I actually think Jose Luiz Jimenez of LULAC makes the best point of all.
“We have a new generation of people moving inside the city,” he said. “They grew up in the suburbs where everyone had a nice green pretty lawn.
“The have-nots have been living in this style for many years. No one ever made an issue of it,” he added.
BINGO! As people move back into the inner city, they try to bring the “values” of the suburbs with them. I see it quite often in the Heights thanks to the lack of zoning or historic preservation laws on the books. The very character people want to buy is destroyed by their decisions.
Houses in the Heights are meant to have porches and small front yards, not a driveway leading to a garage door. Crime rates may be higher in the inner loop, but you don’t need to build 8-foot iron fences with keyed entry gates around your house. Just because you like two-story brick homes or a southwestern style stucco facade doesn’t mean it works well next to the 1930’s wood-frame bungalow.
To me, if you decide to move into a neighborhood that was here before you were born, you probably need to leave it alone. If it could manage for 100 years, maybe you should give it the benefit of the doubt before you move in, plant your St. Augustine and dig the moat.