Parks bond could yield land, updates
Commissioners promise new green spaces, improvements if ballot measure passes
Commissioner Jack Morman thinks of the East Aldine residents waiting outside Crowley Park before dawn for workers to unlock the gates. Commissioner Steve Radack cites Easter weekend crowds of roughly 75,000 at Bear Creek Park. Commissioner El Franco Lee pictures the opening day parade of Little Leaguers at his eponymous park. Commissioner Jack Cagle riffs on the joy of encountering turtles, egrets, herons and bald eagles along his greenways, mere miles from neighborhoods.
Harris County officials said they are in locked in a steady struggle to keep pace providing plentiful green space amenities as the population of unincorporated Harris County continues to grow unabated. They’re asking voters to approve millions in improvements in four upcoming ballot measures that total $848 million.
The $60 million park bond will help fund land acquisition, as well as updates and improvements in the county’s 170 parks. If the voters approve it, the money will be split four ways and each commissioner has discretion to spend his pot on park projects of his choosing, pending approval of Commissioners Court. They don’t need to pin the money to any specific undertaking. Each commissioner takes a unique approach to doling out the funds.
Commissioners said they almost never request all of the money up front. It’s usually spent to supplement projects that are underway as the costs come up. Bill Jackson, the county budget director, said there isn’t a final deadline for cashing in on bond money. In some cases, if the need never materializes, the bond debt is not issued, as was the case of the bond for a family law center that never got built.
Constituent needs vary throughout the county and within each precinct: “What matters to somebody in the northeast might not matter to somebody in the southeast,” Morman said.
In his precinct, he said, “We err on the side of doing something the community would love. My personal tastes don’t come into it.”
Morman’s plan for the bond money is fairly fleshed out. He wants to put $4 million toward acquiring parkland and constructing hike and bike trails in Atascocita, a dense residential area where constituents currently have to drive nine miles to get to the closest ball field or dog park. He foresees infrastructure improvements at Armand Bayou Nature Center, a canoe launch at Crowley, a football field at Riley Chambers and an upgraded lodge and playground area at Clear Lake Park. He wants to add a baseball field and parking at Dad’s Club Sports Complex and lighting upgrades at Partnership Park.
At Juan Seguin Park, he said, he aims to spent $ 1 million to build a fishing pier, a boardwalk pavilion, a parking area and restrooms.
“We can do a lot with $1 million to make that a destination people will want to go to,” he said. He estimated he would use another $2.5 to 3 million from his general fund parks budget to fix up Seguin.
On the western side of the county, Radack has more of a big picture view on spending bond money. He had 10 parks in his precinct when he took office in 1989. He now oversees 62 parks.
Radack views spending as dynamic because “you never finish a park.”
“You’re always going to be over there planting new trees, mowing, digging out something that
died. You have to fence something. It’s an ongoing, perpetual deal,” he said.
He would spend his fourth of the park bond money looking for good deals on property in unincorporated areas with good access from the city of Houston and building trails along flood control channels.
Radack specializes in dog parks and pocket parks. Whenever he puts in a park, he said, “I like to build a hill. There are kids in Houston, Texas, that have nev-
er been on a hill.”
Getting residents to visit parks once you open them is a non-issue, he said: “When you build parks, people will find them. You don’t have to advertise them. People are park hungry. They want to be outdoors.”
Cagle, whose precinct is in the northwest portion of the county, has gotten to know his parks on yearly expeditions traversing the precinct end to end by trails and waterways — wielding a machete to hack through the wilds when necessary.
Cagle’s focus for the bond money is connecting the segments of the Cypress and Spring Creek greenways through property acquisition and refurbishing of some of his older parks. He wants to fix the parking area at Bane Park and put in a covered playground at Collins park.
Lee, who has been in office the longest of the four commissioners, said park spending “is still the cheapest way to provide safe, clean, quality family outings and recreation” for constituents. He tries to find land that’s reasonably priced and design parks “as destinations for inner city people to have a natural experience,” whether it’s hiking, bird watching or having a picnic.
He would spend the bond money on three splash parks in different areas of his precinct and updating trails. He would put some toward the improving Blue Ridge Park, the 7,000-squarefoot community center at Barbara Jordan Park, the Challenger Seven learning center and the discovery camp at Alexander Duessen Park.