Tour:Smart - Martin Atkins at Avant Garden Tonight.
H-Town Rock
Missed Connections: November 2 - 5
Daily-ist Thursday: River Oaks Theater 70th Anniversary Celebration
Get sticky at Lawndale's Sugar Skull workshop
Last month, we were hopeful that the city would agree to purchase part of the 11th Street Park in northwest Houston took save it from developers. Fortunately for the nearby residents, and Houston as a whole, the city agreed yesterday to secure the park for $9.2 million.
The city is providing a little less than half of the funds for the park; the other money comes from Amegy Bank, the park board, and community fundraisers. One of the largest supporters to save the park is Friends of West 11th Street Park:
Lorraine Cherry, head of the Friends of West 11th Street Park, was relieved to hear the city committed to buying the property. Cherry praised the Park Board for working with neighborhood residents, lenders and local governments to make the deal work..
"There were a whole lot of cards in a row that had to fall just the right way for this to happen," Cherry said. "I couldn't be more grateful. Without them, we would have lost the whole park."
Unfortunately, the full 20-acres were not saved. About a fourth of the park will be available to developers. It’s still good news for those near Timbergrove Manor. Now, if we can only encourage the city to save a couple of other Houston landmarks…
Photo: Flickr user jeffbalke
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Wonderful! My garden club donated towards the cause. They will be thrilled to hear the good news at tonight's meeting! 75% saved is better than no land saved!
There is one significant issue - the part of the park available for development is not determined. It is highly likely, given the fact that park is very small, that development on 25% of the park area will create significant problems for the rest of the park, if not make it uninhabitable for many of the species of birds and insects they had sought to protect.
The folks who have been working to save the park do not want to lose one square foot of the area, mainly because even a small loss to development could ultimately mean the whole park will be destroyed simply through said development.
The only thing small enough to be on a property parcel that small is a convenience store, gas station or some other small strip type store. Those can be particularly destructive to the surrounding environment, which is why the entire park needs to be protected.