No Parking

On Saturday nights, parking in Woodlake Square is almost impossible. The only way to get a good space is to get there by 8 p.m. (which is uncool and nearly no one does). By ten there’s nothing but valets and signs saying no parking any time — violators will be towed.

The place is so packed that people park what feels like miles away and walk. On December 17 around 1 a.m. there was no parking in front of Club Phoenix. About 1,000 people crowded inside the upscale haunt. It’s a club where young professionals, predominantly African-Americans, can groove to rap, reggae and hip-hop. It seemed like almost everyone had driven separately — there wasn’t a single spot to be seen, so the driver of a black Bonneville pulled up to another nightspot. (Police won’t say if it was the Woodlake Pub, Tortuga, Hooters or even — less likely — Surfside Sally’s.) He told a valet there he wanted to park and walk to Phoenix.

Sorry, the valet told him. Their lot was full, there weren’t any spaces. The driver started screaming and cursing.

He saw a space and pulled in. An off-duty HPD officer working security told him he couldn’t park there because it was a handicapped space. The guy pulled out a handicap sticker and said, “I’m handicapped, and I’m going to park here.”

The officer didn’t believe it was his handicap sticker, since the guy looked fine. He asked if the guy was taking any medication — he noticed there was a brown paper bag (maybe containing booze) between his legs. Maybe he was borrowing the sticker, which isn’t quite legal.

The driver began yelling and cursing; the manager told him to leave. He said no, he was going to wait for a parking space.

The manager called a tow truck. Three wreckers pulled up, and the guy said, “Hell no, you’re not towing my ride” and drove off.

Police believe that he didn’t head home but steered west back toward Club Phoenix. They believe he pulled up to the valet standing below the great golden bird over the club’s green-awning-covered walkway and asked to park. It was around 1:30 a.m., and the valets weren’t parking anyone.

After last call, the club has a policy of not having valets park cars. The club’s not serving alcohol, so employees don’t want more people coming into the club — they want people to leave. Plus it takes forever for the valets to retrieve people’s cars in the post-closing-time crunch.

“It don’t make no sense to park anybody that late,” said a manager who refused to give his name and told the Houston Press he didn’t have the authority to speak on behalf of Club Phoenix.

The driver of the Bonneville wasn’t a regular customer. If he had been, the valet probably would have parked him. As it was, the valet said no to the stranger.

The driver asked a second valet to park his car. He was again refused.

Frustrated, the passenger extended his arm out the window and fired a shot into one of the valets. The bullet went through the left shoulder of 47-year-old valet Aleddin Pourmahram and into his chest. He was taken to Ben Taub Hospital in critical condition, where he remained in the intensive care unit.

The driver sped off into the night. No one got his license plate number. All police know is that he’s a black guy who is probably anywhere from 25 to 28, slightly overweight, clean-shaven with a short Afro. There’s no description for the passenger, the guy who did the shooting.

“Evidently he got frustrated and took his anger out on the valet attendant. That’s about all we have,” says HPD homicide officer J.C. Bonaby. “We’re just hoping they get out there and start running their mouths about it.”