I just got off the phone with the Police Chief in Galveston. They will soon begin charging $1 per hour to park on the Seawall. They will offer an annual parking pass for $25 per year. They are showing their disrespect for fishermen who spend a lot of money in Galveston.

Go to http://cityofgalveston.org/
Click Contact Us in the upper right hand corner. Then click email City Representatives. Choose Mayor Rosen, enter your name, email address and your comments about the new parking fee. I have an annual pass at the pier but I won't be extorted for a $25 fee by City of Galveston.

I want to see this thread alive with upset posters so that I can refer Rosen to the thread to see the backlash this will cause.


Robert

"I am messaging you in reference to the upcoming parking fee for parking on seawall. As an avid fisherman along with several of my buddies I believe that this is a poor decision on part of the city of Galveston. We enjoy fishing off the rocks and the piers and the Seawall offers great parking so we do not have to lug our equipment. However, we also frequent places such as San Luis pass and Rollover Pass. If a parking fee were to be implemented I can guarantee we would park there far less if ever at all. This would also mean we would buy bait elsewhere, and eat lunch/dinner elsewhere. I believe the loss of business far outweighs the couple of dollars you will receive on parking and that this is overall a poor idea that will drive away fishermen(and women). Please reconsider the idea to charge for parking as it will do nothing but upset many people and cause them to relocate away from the city."



This is pretty stupid. The little money they will make from this will not compare to the loss of money from people who buy bait and pay for the pier and buy lunch etc. I will absolutely relocate permanently if they implement this, I have other places I can fish

I'm not thrilled with it either, seems that the angler is getting the dirty end of the stick when it comes to fishing in Texas in general, more and more "Free" places are disappearing.

I seriously believe that the angler wasn't even thought about in this decision, compared to the tourist traffic on the beaches, we are a small percentage, if we went somewhere else, Galveston wouldn't go broke, probably wouldn't even notice, but they would if the beach goers did, and we know that isn't happening.

But on the same token, it costs the City of Galveston big money to keep the beaches and sea wall intact, they have to come up with some way to generate revenue to continue.

Parking for some of the venues around Houston cost $25 for one night, so $25 for a year isn't really that bad.

I'm not happy about it, and am now reviewing my options.

They will make more money off the parking tickets than they will from the parking meters. It will drive the cheapskates off the sea wall and clog the nearby residential streets looking for free parking.

There was a news story on KHOU TV about the fee for parking. The Police Chief said they would ticket and TOW cars. Residents in nearby areas are complaining it will jam their streets.

Fishermen keep Galveston going in the slow season. We don't just hit the water when the kids are out of school. A parking fee during slack season will drive some of the bait camps out of business.

This will also impact tourists who rent motel/hotel/condos that are not located right on the Seawall. Those tourists will be paying room fees and $8 per day parking fees.

Tough call, it is awful for the fishermen that use those spots, but Pferox is right, 25 a year to go towards some upkeep isnt bad. I can totally understand why they are doing it, and I am quite sure it will accumulate to much much more than a few dollars. Are the rates all the time as well? Maybe they wont be on during off hours.

I'm totally for it. I live in houston but my family has a 2nd house in the historical district in galveston that I was practically raised in. Every summer tons of tourists come down, pack their own food, park on the seawall and trash up the beaches before going home. A lot of them don't contribute any money to the Galveston economy. They put a drain on the economy by having to be cleaned up after.

25$ a year is nothing. Even for tourists coming down for a week its still nothing. Its a far stretch to believe that bait shops and peirs would loose too much business for 25$ a year. That would be like if I quit fishing because the price of shrimp went up 1$ a quart (if i fish 25 times a year that is 25$ increase for me)

As for people parking in the nearby neighborhoods. I'm sure Galveston has already thought about that. In the area by the strand you need to have a residential permit to park at certain times. I'm sure they will implement something like that. Summer will be a good time to be a tow truck driver in galveston!

I live 6 blocks from the beach and still i had to call the tow truck to remove cars FROM MY DRIVEWAY, let alone the lack of enforcement for residential parking on the street.

parking needs to be improved, but for fishing validated parking at the piers might make more sense.

When I spoke to the Galveston police chief on the phone he sounded very determined to ticket and tow cars violating Seawall parking. He didn't mention how he would handle parking overflow into residential areas.

I agree, that paying to fish at a pier should entitle the fisherman to free parking. Fishing at a pier means we are spending money in the Galveston economy, not being a free burden on the city.

They are only doing this to generate more money. But now dont fool yourself into thinking the money will actually clean up the beaches or do anything positive for the surrounding community. Its only deepen the "mans" pockets. Only thing that will come out of this is.

1) more money for government.
2) more money for courts.
3) more money for tow trucks.
4) more money for lawyers.
5) more money to enforce stupid parking tickets.(that taxpayers pay)

This will not help any.

1) citizens of Galveston
2) businesses in Galveston (except towing)
3) beaches in Galveston

So then ask yourself why would they just start doing this? Um need more money. lol.

They need to spend money were it needs to be spent, and paying enforcement for parking tickets is not it. Lets just try and concentrate on drugs, theft, robbery. You know the important things we need. Hell we all know you dont apply enough effort to any of those things so lets not go trying to diversify your time when you cant even figure out how to do your big jobs that they are paid for.

I wonder why Galveston does not use those serving "community service" as a high priority to keep the beaches clean. I would have them out in force in orange vests cleaning the beaches and the rocks along the base of the Seawall. Let them sweat the booze and drugs out of their system in the hot sun.

I received an email from the City of Galveston today.

"There are also areas between 69th and 81st Street that are free of charge".

That is the only area on the Seawall where you can park free but it will be a long walk to 61st or 91st piers.