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The greatest, most well-thought out plans to improve a big city will always be stained somehow by the lesser members of the population. Littering is a behavior that is hard to police and the damage seems temporary; give it a little time and it will be blown or washed away so no one feels its damage, and so it persists. The picture below is ironic because the litter ended up in a pond designed to purify runoff. All the pointy-heads who designed this project surely had to have accounted for this scenario? The good thing is that this won't go unnoticed and will likely be dealt with. When I went to the park this weekend to take some shots of the Project Brays freshwater tidal basin work at Mason Park, I intended to post the progress here to show the non-East Enders something positive that is taking place in town. This project is a combination of flood control, habitat restoration, water purification and recreation. Really a textbook, inner-city, all around winner. However, here is what one of the water purification ponds looked like after the minor rain we had. This was disturbing to me. Prior to this rain, this pond in particular had started to have large water birds in them just about every time I've went. Now, I'm guessing they'll stay away. Here are some other shots of the project; Looking from the Forest Hill bridge, which will be replaced as the bayou is widened, northwest towards Downtown (skyline visible in the background) The only way I can imagine this can be solved is by, perhaps, to tether a giant net off of the storm drainpipe upstream and empty it after each rain. If nothing is done, this wetland habitat will become the beginnings of a landfill in a matter of months. I think the mayor should see this and get HPD to crack down on litterers and, if they ever catch one, assign them to that pond with waders, gloves and a bag. Then, get one of the local channels to do a piece on it to help teach people to behave.

Does anyone think Braes Bayou will be developed anymore between TMC and Almeda? The Spires tower seems lonely and it would be cool to see some more residential towers go up along it without interfering with the trail system.

Today Mayor White will announce plans for "The Animal Campus at Gragg Park" in the Gulfgate area. Gragg Park is on South Wayside at Brays Bayou. Fundraising will begin to find $10 million for the project, designed by English Associates Architects and Connolly Architects. I poked around the intarwebs and found this web site. I think this is the project: Construction begins in 2011.

Nice article about the section of Almeda between Alabama and Brays Bayou and how it's been undergoing a transformation. Of course, they did get some things wrong, such as all of Almeda being part of FM 521. The only portions of Almeda that are part of FM 521 are south of OST. They also call 288 "U.S. 288". They also could have mentioned that Almeda was 288 before the freeway was built. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/6693500.html