She learned recently finding a parking lot is easy, but finding the one nearest her destination proved difficult.
"For someone who isn't down here every day, it can be confusing," said Kane, 28, who lives in Katy.
Parking is also a conundrum for people downtown and in Midtown where development is turning some lots into lofts and shops, which in turn draw even more drivers looking for parking spaces.
To help, city officials are considering two test projects, one that would help direct people to available parking downtown and the other would try to encourage car-sharing to limit the demand for parking in Midtown. Both projects would need a green light from City Council. Pending approvals, neither project likely would get started until sometime in 2017.
Excluding private garages, there are about 73,000 parking spots in downtown, said Angie Bertinot, director of marketing and communications with the Houston Downtown Management District.
At least four lots near Minute Maid Park and the George R. Brown Convention Center are being converted to hotels or mixed-use developments. A portion of the parking in the largest lot adjacent to Market Square Park is tied to a residential development under construction. Some of those developments, including a 1,900-vehicle garage near the convention center, leave the number of total spaces "flat," Bertinot said, while adding to the number of cars likely coming downtown on evenings and weekends.
Meanwhile, downtown venues are trying to attract more visitors and be prepared for those who come for major events such as baseball games and concerts, many of whom stay for dinner or drinks.
City officials manage roughly 9,200 on-street paid parking spaces, mostly in downtown, Midtown and along Washington Avenue, said Maria Irshad, deputy director of the city's administration and regulatory affairs department in charge of ParkHouston.
"Building more on-street parking is not feasible," Irshad said. "We have to manage better the parking that we have."
In the case of popular downtown destinations, that means directing drivers to the best place to park. A $4.1 million test would provide information of how well the city can leverage private spaces by steering visitors where parking is available. Seven parking garages in downtown are being considered to participate. The city would oversee a company that tracks the number of spaces available, then distributes that information via online, mobile apps and message signs located around the downtown area.
Someone could drive into downtown knowing they are headed to the theater district, for example, and by looking at a sign know there are a certain number of parking spaces available currently in a garage, rather than circling the block or heading from block-to-block looking for an on-street spot. Irshad compared the signs to those on local freeways which alert people of vehicle wrecks and traffic delays, or those common at airport parking lots that show how many spaces are available on each parking level.
"We want to take the thinking out of parking," she said. Lessening the loops around the block helps more people than that one desperate driver, officials said.
"In other cities where this has been studied, 30 percent of congestion in a downtown is determined to be folks driving around," Irshad said. "It helps curb cruising."
Fewer cars helps traffic flow and reduces vehicle emissions, which in some cities such as Houston is of critical importance. A federal grant of air quality money would pay for $3.2 million of the pilot program's cost. If approved by council, a vendor would be chosen and the system installed by the end of next year.
If successful, city officials said they would like to add more garages, but stressed the garages have to be places where the city wants to steer visitors to downtown.
"It don't want a private operator being really mean-spirited with our citizens," At-Large Councilman Jack Christie said, noting reports of price gouging and aggressive parking attendants.
Christie also questioned whether the city should consider its own off-street municipal garage.
"It is bound to be profitable, or we would not be building the (convention center) parking," he said.
Meanwhile in Midtown, ParkHouston wants to try another tactic to reduce parking demand by expanding car-sharing to on-street spots. Currently, companies such as ZipCar offer vehicles that someone can reserve on an hourly or daily basis and then pick up and return from specific locations. In Houston, those spots now are in private lots and on university campuses.
An 18-month test would start by dedicating four spots in Midtown - two along Bagby near Gray and two on McGowen near Main - as car-share only. People can then check out the vehicles as opposed to driving their own cars and then return them when they complete their trip.
The company offering the shared cars has not been chosen yet, Irshad said, and would compensate the city for use of the four spaces. The benefit, city officials hope, would be fewer residents and visitors needing to bring a car back and forth into Midtown, if they have an alternative.
The idea was popular with some City Council members, who encouraged ParkHouston to track the progress and see if the car-sharing could be expanded. Larry Green, chairman of council's transportation, technology and infrastructure committee that discussed the matter Monday, said libraries would be another beneficial location in some spots where people who don't own a car can access one.
The city's involvement, though, would be gradual. Provided the program shows progress, officials said they would expand it to include 14 car-share parking spaces around Midtown. Irshad said it is a pilot program that costs the city nothing.
Along with the best methods to solve traffic congestion in the city, parking is a touchy subject in Houston, and the council committee's discussion was no exception. Though some challengers are outside the city's control - including regulating prices for parking outside their own on-street spaces - the issues are common refrains as Houston drivers try to find a parking space downtown and in Midtown.
Christie voiced concerns regarding high parking prices and the trend of restaurants to convert many of their spaces to valet-only.
And councilman Michael Kubosh lashed out at what he considers the overly zealous use of boot devices that immobilize a vehicle until the owner settles unpaid or egregious parking violations.
"We are taking possession of their vehicle without due process of law," Kubosh said, noting the accused drivers are often poor or elderly. "I am opposed to it. I have always been opposed to it."
©2016 the Houston Chronicle Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
