Here it is, the camera would have been pointing from the top-right or NW and facing towards the bottom left or SW.
You can see Discovery Green u/c. The long building is the George R Brown convention center, and at the top of the park would be the construction for One Park Place(now completed residential tower). The odd-shaped empty parking lot bordering the park and kitty-corner to the NW from One Park Place is now the Hess Tower, almost completed. Then the similar shaped lot directly across the park is now the construction site for a 22 store Embassy Suites. And of course by toyota center you see the newish large hotel.
So that's 4 large new buildings in addition to the convention center and two sports arenas. Then, also seen but missing in that old picture is the Houston center buildings(one of them is complete in the old photo, the big black box behind the "k" in parking), mostly built in the 1980s-1990's which are in the lots just above the One Park Place lot, or towards the top left.
Yeah, so while a lot of those vacant spots are still there a significant amount of construction has occurred in the like 30 years since that photo must have been taken. No different from any other major US city.
Anyways, Maybe I should be thankful that I can park in front of my own house, I guess.
I know it's not a popular opinion here, but think about all the people who need vehicles. Perhaps they work late, far away, or have children or commute to areas that are poorly served by mass transit? Ever think about the people employed in industrial areas which you can't get to easily except by car? The situation in SF sounds like a dilemma in a few DC neighborhoods I read about on either Greater Greater Washington or BeyondDC where they have decided to enforce no parking in residential driveways. This leaves some people between a rock and a hard place. Do you sell your vehicle or rent a u-store space? Will the city have the gall to suddenly begin ticketing, or tow away cars at night? What do you do?
Sure it's a Mercedes SUV parked there so we can make some assumptions, but I can imagine situations where it would be a real hardship on some working individuals to just start arbitrarily enforcing these rules, even if they are technically in violation now. Especially since transit agencies everywhere are cutting service and routes, and a few streetcars to enhance a city's image won't make up for what is done to the real backbone for the majority of riders, then I am even more concerned here.