In the past few decades, Houston has evolved from an indoor city that prided itself on its extensive tunnel system to, if not an outdoor mecca, at least a city that enjoys the outdoors. As a result, many Houstonians today are passionate about our parks.
Throngs of people pound the trails of Memorial Park and Buffalo Bayou Park even during hot summer months. Before a performance at Miller Theater, visitors wander around Hermann Park’s stunning Mary Gibbs and Jesse H. Jones Reflection Pool, formerly known as the Mudhole.
It took a unique combination of political, philanthropic and civic leadership to spearhead this transformation and create a city on the verge of a becoming national model for efficient creation and management of open space.
Joe Turner, director of the Houston Parks and Recreation Department who announced his retirement last week, is among a handful of public officials and private citizens most deserving of credit for the progress made over the past decade in our parks’ system.
The former fast-food executive has operated the parks efficiently under three mayors even as his budget has waned more often than waxed. Not one to be stopped by an insufficient funds notice from City Hall, Turner has wheedled $68 million in grants and donations for parks and related programs during his tenure.
Through political and civic leadership and lots of grass-roots efforts, green space has grown exponentially since Turner joined the city in 2004. During his tenure, the city has acquired 18,286 acres of park land and has added or redeveloped 36 parks including Discovery Green, five fully accessible parks for the handicapped and four dog parks.
Although a funded and maintained, comprehensive open-space plan has become essential infrastructure for competitive 21st century cities, Houston continues to lag in funding for its parks. It provides $36 per person per year for parks versus $281 in Seattle and $76 in Dallas, according to the most recent City Park Facts issued by the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit.
Mayor Sylvester Turner should enact a world-wide search to find a leader who can capture the city’s momentum and be creative in tight fiscal times. The next director doesn’t necessarily need a parks background but should be a person with management and operations skills. That person also needs to be a good collaborator who has a deep interest in community engagement.
The last decade has seen a renaissance in Houston’s major public parks, but there’s a lot more to do. Fewer than 50 percent of Houston’s residents have walkable access to park space, according to the Trust’s report.
Greater access is needed not only for residents’ health and enjoyment but also so that young people of all races and ethnicities will be inspired by the outdoors to grow up and become stewards of our green space. “Parks are one of the last truly democratic places in America where people can be in a public place without feeling obligated to buy a cup of coffee,” Thomas Woltz, whose architecture firm has been engaged to re-design Memorial Park, aptly said.
Improving access isn’t accomplished only by acquiring more parkland. Access also means building and maintaining sidewalks, developing clearly marked bike lanes and working with Metro to develop public transportation options. It can be about providing safe ways to surmount barriers such as railroad tracks and about helping clean up neighborhoods plagued by stray dogs. These functions aren’t park issues, per se. But the mayor should give the new director authority to coordinate projects with the various city departments.
The new director also should be an innovator. In the past decade, there has been a growing recognition that infrastructure can also be park space. Witness the High Line project in New York City where a railroad line was converted to a highly successful park. The Bayou Greenways project — which makes use of public drainage areas and bayous — is a local example of the expanding notion of park infrastructure. The esplanades around the city and the various street and road construction projects underway provide additional opportunities to add green space in unexpected nooks and crannies of Houston.
Thirteen years ago, former Mayor Bill White hired Turner when Turner answered — “Customer service” to the question: “What’s the mission of the parks?”
This remains the mission, and a strong leader can help complete Houston’s transformation into a city renowned for its accessible parks.