City offers alternative to ease Northgate parking woes
By Eric Chapman, Northgate District Supervisor
For many visitors to the popular Northgate district, finding a place to park can be a frustrating ordeal. The surface parking lot is frequently full, and the metered parking spaces on nearby streets are limited.
The solution is the city-owned parking garage at 309 College Main Avenue. It offers 719 affordable spaces in a clean, convenient, and safe environment.
The customer-friendly facility is close to the A&M campus and has no time limits. Park as long as you need. Since the parking spaces are covered, you don’t have to worry about weather conditions damaging your vehicle, either.
Hourly Rates:
Day (3 a.m.-8 p.m.): $1
Night (8 p.m.-3 a.m.): $2
Sundays (6 a.m.-2 p.m.): Free
>> Special event rates may vary
Contract Rates:
Monthly:
Day (6 a.m.-9 p.m.): $50
Night (8 p.m.-5 a.m.): $50
24 Hours (7 days a week): $75
6-Month:
Day (6 a.m.-9 p.m.): $185
Night (8 p.m.-5 a.m.): $185
24 Hours (7 days a week): $300
Annual:
Day (6 a.m.-9 p.m.): $370
Night (8 p.m.-5 a.m.): $370
24 Hours (7 days per week): $600
For more information or to purchase a contract, visit cstx.gov/parking or call 979.764.3778.
Let us help you ease your parking worries!
About the Blogger
Northgate District Supervisor Eric Chapman has been with the city since 2009. He worked for Tarrant County from 2005-08 and was a federal correctional officer in Ontario from 1997-2005. A native of Canada, Eric earned a degree in law and security administration in 1996 from Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario.
Closing Boyett on busiest nights makes Northgate safer
By Gus Roman, Assistant Director of Community Services
If you’ve ever driven through the Northgate Entertainment District on a Friday or Saturday night, you know it’s an immensely popular place for college students to get revved up for Aggie football or just unwind after a long week of classes.
You also know it can be an extraordinarily dangerous place for unwary pedestrians. With more than 60,000 students walking, driving and bicycling around campus, safety has to be the top priority for local authorities.
The city has worked closely with Texas A&M and The Texas Department of Transportation to devise and implement various safety improvements along University Drive. In 2012, Old College Main was closed at University Drive, and we added a bicycle and pedestrian crossing.
Still, with one of the nation’s most populous universities across the street, pedestrian safety remains a dominant issue – especially at the intersection of University and Boyett Street.
Despite the presence of a signalized crosswalk, many pedestrians blatantly ignore the signal and haphazardly move through the bustling traffic. Meanwhile, ride-booking services and taxis often stop in traffic lanes to serve their customers.
We may not be able to stop that reckless behavior, but we can try to reduce the risk.
That’s why starting this week, Boyett Street will be closed between University Drive and Patricia Street from 9 p.m.-3 a.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The intersection will also be closed Wednesday, Aug. 29, the night before the Aggie football opener against Northwestern State. No parking will be allowed on the sealed portion of Boyett.
The closure includes the area in front of Shiner Park, O’Bannon’s Tap House and a few other bars, along with two entrances to the corner convenience store.
Whenever Boyett is closed, the southern row of the Northgate parking lot will serve as a designated loading area for ride-booking customers. To help traffic flow, we renumbered and restriped the lot to accommodate angled spaces. Plenty of additional parking is available in the city’s Northgate Parking Garage, which has more than 700 affordable spaces.
These adjustments may be inconvenient for some, but in the end, we’ll have a safer, more pedestrian-friendly environment in Northgate.
About the Blogger
Gus Roman has been with the City of College Station since 2015 and has served as assistant director of community services since 2016. He’s also worked for the City of San Marcos and the City of Bryan. Gus previously served the City of College Station from 1995-2003. He has two degrees from Texas A&M – a bachelor’s in building construction (1989) and a master’s in agriculture, land economics and real estate (2006).
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Home repair program could help you beat the heat
By David Brower, Community Development Analyst
As heat ripples dance across the street, neighborhood kids fry an egg on the sidewalk. You dread climbing into your car because you know it will feel like an oven, and the seatbelt will be scorching.
It’s blazing hot this week with no end in sight. The extended forecast shows one triple-digit day after another.
Just when you think it can’t get worse, you realize your air conditioner has trouble keeping up, especially during the hottest hours. You raise your hand to the nearest ceiling vent, but your heart sinks when you feel warm air.
Your AC has gone out, and you can’t bear staying a minute more in your stifling home.
Then, the HVAC technician says your system must be replaced. You call another company, and they tell you the same thing. As the owner of an older home, you’ve faced a lot of expensive repairs in recent years, and you certainly can’t afford a new HVAC system.
Mopping sweat from your brow, you fret about what to do next.
The City of College Station’s Minor Home Repair Program may be able to help. Income-qualified homeowners in the city limits may be eligible for a grant of up to $7,500 to address an emergency health or safety issue.
The income limits are higher than you might expect and are based on household size. A family of two can earn up to $43,050 a year and still qualify. A family of four can make up to $53,800.
For more information, call Community Services at 979-764-3778 or visit cstx.gov/housingassistance.
About the Blogger
David Brower has been a community development analyst for the City of College Station since 2008. He is a 2008 graduate of Texas A&M.
Photo Copyright: cylonphoto / 123RF Stock Photo
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Volunteer to help spruce-up McCulloch on April 14
By Raney Whitwell, Code Enforcement Officer
We hear a lot about neighborhood integrity these days, but that vague term means different things to different people. For a code enforcement officer such as me, it means making a neighborhood the best it can be for its residents.
That’s why we came up with the idea of neighborhood integrity days, where we organize volunteers from local churches and non-profits to spruce up our community’s older neighborhoods with improved landscaping and routine maintenance. We invite you or your organization to participate in our inaugural Neighborhood Integrity Day for the McCulloch subdivision from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on April 14.
Located across from the Lincoln Recreation Center on Holleman Drive, McCulloch is College Station’s oldest neighborhood — and one of our most historically significant.
This volunteer day is the perfect opportunity for individuals, youth groups, faith-based organizations, and other non-profit service groups and agencies to serve their community in a positive, substantial way. Our ultimate goal is to build meaningful relationships while enhancing neighborhood pride.
You can help by volunteering, recruiting others to participate, or donating money or supplies. Your group has the option of adopting a home in the neighborhood and supplying the labor and some of the materials needed for cleaning siding, painting, repairing fences, planting flowers or shrubs, removing brush, and a host of other activities.
The possibilities are virtually endless.
We’ll also provide free mosquito dunks to residents and have booths set up on Nevada Street to distribute useful information about city programs and services, including homeowner assistance, crime prevention, pet care, recycling, parks and recreation, and much more.
You can donate money through Bryan/College Station Habitat for Humanity and can contribute materials such as mulch, soil, plants and other supplies by contacting me at 979-764-3829 or rwhitwell@cstx.gov. I can let you know what items we still need and make convenient pick-up or drop-off arrangements.
The McCulloch spruce-up day is the first of its kind in College Station. We hope its success leads lead to similar events in our other historic neighborhoods in the future. Help us make our neighborhoods the best they can be!
About the Blogger
Raney Whitwell is in her third year with the City of College Station and has been a code enforcement officer since 2016.
Photo Copyright: wavebreakmediamicro/123RF Stock Photo
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Beware opportunists taking advantage of hail damage
By Brian Binford, Planning & Development Services Building Official
Weather-rated calamities seem to bring out the best in most folks. We saw that up close when Hurricane Harvey devastated the Texas coast last summer.
Unfortunately, these situations can bring out the worst in a few people, too.
While Sunday’s hailstorm certainly wasn’t a large-scale disaster, it did enough damage to set opportunists and scammers in motion. An elderly College Station resident received a suspicious call this morning from a roofing company that offered to evaluate her home for damage.
If you get such a call, check with the Better Business Bureau to make sure the company is legitimate and has a good reputation.
Roofing contractors must be registered with the City of College Station and are required to obtain a building permit to roof or replace shingles and decking on residences. Homeowners who do the work themselves don’t need to register as a contractor, but they must apply for a permit before construction.
To obtain a permit, click here or contact Planning & Development Services at 979-764-3570.
About the Blogger
Brian Binford is a certified building official and has been with the City of College Station since 2008. He’s a graduate of Sam Houston State.
Photo Copyright: studiodin/123RF Stock Photo
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How to avoid the aggravation of parking tickets
By Eric Chapman, Community Services District Supervisor
Getting a parking ticket is never fun, and it’s always frustrating. It can also cost you a ton of cash – as much as $520 for violations related to handicap parking.
Most parking tickets are issued for violations of local parking ordinances, which are civil offenses. In some cases, you can also be cited for breaking state laws, which are criminal violations under the Texas Transportation Code.
A parking ticket won’t affect your driving record unless you ignore it, throw it away or put it in your glove compartment and forget about it. Failing to deal with a ticket promptly can have serious consequences — including expensive fines – and can result in your vehicle being booted, towed, and impounded. In some cases, you can even lose your driving privileges.
Parking problems always exist in growing communities, especially college towns expanding as quickly as College Station. Most of the time, avoiding the headache of a parking violation is as simple as reading and obeying parking signs.
Our goal is to keep our residential streets safe and accessible for everyone – especially emergency vehicles – while making your parking experience as hassle-free as possible.
The photo montage below illustrates the most common parking mistakes we see in College Station.
For additional information or to check on local parking ordinances, call 979-764-6313.
About the Blogger
Eric Chapman is in his ninth year with the city’s Community Service’s Department and has been a district supervisor since 2013. He worked for Tarrant County from 2005-08 and was a federal correctional officer in Warkworth, Ontario, from 1997-2005. He graduated with honors from Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, in 1996.
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