What Houston Needs: Less Parking, More Parks

Houston has completely reimagined its bus network, developed a bike plan, introduced a bike-sharing system, opened two new light rail lines, added miles of bayou greenways — and we still have a long way to go. We’re not San Francisco. We owe our shape, our size, our sprawl, to the car. According to Charles Birnbaum of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, almost 75 percent of Houston was built after World War II, when the seductions of the car as a symbol of class status and tool of personal mobility were strongest.