Each week, the Chron’s Whine & Dine section is a marvelous source of complaining and carping by Houstonians who simply hate to waddle more than a few steps from their car to the feeding trough. I used to mock them in the Chron.com comments section, but I think it will be more fun to share the mockery here.
Whine & Dine: Super Burger (Mary Vuong, Houston Chronicle)
This wouldn
8 comments On Walking is Hard (for Houstonians) – 02/18/09 edition
Since "most" valet parking is at night during dinner they usually set up shop AFTER the other stores have closed for the evening. That’s what I’ve seen.
In strip center cases its not uncommon for the Valet parking to be handled by the landlord who’s looking to cash in.
There was a recent study done on the health effects of NOT walking to your car etc. Demonstrated that people who DON’T do simple things such as walk down one flight of stairs or park away from the office building and walk in suffer for it. It was pretty dramatic.
I don’t mind walking at all or paying for valet parking at a nice restaurant. And I agree with you that too many Houstonians are stupidly sedentary when it comes to virtually everything – except malls (wtf is up with that?)
What bugs me is when a valet takes up precious spaces in a small lot where there are other businesses open at that time.
If your restaurant is in a strip center with 3, 4 or 5 other places open for business, you don’t get to take up half the spaces for valet parking. If you fill up a lot and I end up having to park three blocks down, that’s not ok.
Yeah, I can see being aggravated by that last.
I wonder how typical strip-center leases work. Do businesses typically "get" a set number of spaces? In the case of taking over a parking lot, would a restaurant owner have to barter with fellow biz owners in the strip over taking over the parking?
Valet parking is unarmed robbery. I walk
and run at least five miles a day, sometimes ten . But I don’t care to walk
any no further than I have to for a meal.
It’s a mugging.
Walking is not hard. (It IS a bit scary over around the Sands Point area, but that’s another story!)
DRY SWIMMING is hard,
but SUDDENLINK is Easy As Counting To One.
I’m in my 50s; I almost never use valet.
Its beem amazing to me how those who NEED to walk won’t. A wee biy of exercize in and out of any retail establishment is good for the body.
Suck lazy slobs we Americans have become.
Sad.
VERY rare that I use valet. If they want to use the spaces that the establishment owns, that’s fine. My problem is when they set up cones in public areas, or public areas that the city has said is OK for valet. City should not sell (or allocate) public spaces for private enterprises, especially in Houston…the town where it’s OK to put your car up on blocks in your front yard.
I’ve never seen any of this "waddle" you yammer on about. Maybe it just because it’s such a minor thing. But again, maybe it’s because I’m jogging too fast down the Greenbelt to notice…especially when the city and county cover about 700 square miles.
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