Marcus Allen Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Well, don't we all. Please, bear with me. I visit Discovery Green at least twice a month, for either ambiance or specific events. I think it is successful. It draws people, and I think it is making DT a more desirable residential address. It is our own little "Central Park". I am wondering if all the business centers around Houston would benefit if they purposely built parks of this magnitude smack dab in the middle, or close proximity. A recent returnee to my native town, I know of Hermann Park and Memorial Park. Would the Woodlands waterway be considered a park? Anyway, I think you all get my drift. Your thoughts? I am thinking of perhaps a reincarnation of gunspoint with a huge park perhaps even where the derelict mall sits, or a huge park in the Memorial City area. Perhaps that would spur more residential and then more commercial development and keep those areas tight knit urban areas. Also, off of 249 around Louetta and Briarcrest near the Sam Houston tollway. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 A city can't ever have too many parks. Herman is our version of Central Park (in terms of size and general location within the city). As CP is not "downtown" in Lower Mannhatten, but Uptown in what was for a long time a mostly residential section of NYC (of course there were businesses but not the major skyscrapers of the 1910s - 1920s found along Wall Street and south). I would like to see the Midtown Super Block become a park - that would be really nice and it would be well used by all the Midtowners. The Bayous can continue to help serve the need for park space too. And I'd like to see a large scale Prairie Park somewhere out west serving as a wide greenbelt and some sort of urban sprawl controls set in place to somewhat limit further westward expansion... I mean do we all really want Katy to be the geographic center of Greater Houston in 2040? I sure a h*ll do not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 A city can't ever have too many parks. Herman is our version of Central Park (in terms of size and general location within the city). As CP is not "downtown" in Lower Mannhatten, but Uptown in what was for a long time a mostly residential section of NYC (of course there were businesses but not the major skyscrapers of the 1910s - 1920s found along Wall Street and south). I would like to see the Midtown Super Block become a park - that would be really nice and it would be well used by all the Midtowners. The Bayous can continue to help serve the need for park space too. And I'd like to see a large scale Prairie Park somewhere out west serving as a wide greenbelt and some sort of urban sprawl controls set in place to somewhat limit further westward expansion... I mean do we all really want Katy to be the geographic center of Greater Houston in 2040? I sure a h*ll do not! I agree completely with you about parks. We talk a lot about various ways that the city can spend money and while I'd love to see numbers against it, I'd bet that the ROI on parks is higher than investment in transit, 380 deals or almost any other city investments. I disagree with you about a western park as an artificial urban boundary though because I think that's counter intuitive. George Bush Park and the rest of the existing parks on the west side are a great example. You could argue that George Bush Park formed a similar barrier to what you proposed, but I'd argue that the existence of those parks spurred development in the Energy Corridor and in Katy because it provided a major amenity to the area. Whether urban sprawl controls are desirable or effective is a whole different conversation for another day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I'm talking about a park from the Brazos River (east) - Highway 36 (west) - I-10 (south) - 290 (north) I'm not talking about a park just out side of Katy, but quite a way outside of Katy. And it doesn't have to be 1 single park, but a series of parks or even green belts a few miles each side of the Brazos (perhaps as an alternative). You can control sprawl to an extent, but I'm not wanting to inflat prices on land to the east or limit it so much that Houston becomes far more expensive. Nor am I wanting to see the agrarian uses of that land (discussed above) just place some of it into the realm of public land. Texas is the largest state in the lower 48 and we have the least amount of public land. It is rather sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I've got no argument at all with creating a large amount of public space around the Brazos River and I'm all in favor of Texas creating more public land. My point is that it potentially doesn't create the intended result. A park such as you describe increases the attraction of communities such as Rosenberg, Sealy, Brookshire, and Hempstead significantly because of their proximity to that kind of an area. I wouldn't be surprised if it caused an increase in growth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 ^That's great! Houston generally lacks the nice smaller towns and cities like those found 50-70 miles away from places like Philly, DC, Boston etc. Yeah, we're not as old as those towns and the settlement isn't as mature, but something like that would be a boon to those smaller towns and I'm all for it. I mean even the smaller towns in the Hill Country would be something to evny at this point.I guess it wouldn't limit sprawl or growth except that today's version of sprawl/growth would change as more small businesses and residential opputunities would open up out from the big city and well off into the far fringes of our region. That to me would be very encouraging. I'd love to see Brenham with 25,000 people and Blinn a full 4-year school along with Bellville, Brookeshire, Hempstead etc gaining some much needed business and growth at the expense of the Cinco Ranch area (no offense) or Katy area or the Sugar Land area. That's fine with me. That makes our region a much richer and more diverse and interesting place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I'm with you. As I've mentioned before on this site, I think that the general trend towards urbanization is going to result in development of an increased number of smaller cores rather than a mass influx of people moving into the loop. I definitely agree that the area gets much richer with the development of those smaller communities. The one thing that I disagree with you on, is that I think that Brookshire/Sealy turning into those kind of communities would drive office development in Katy rather than pull from it. Those would be very viable commutes to the Katy area and would allow them to retain a "small town" feel as well as being a nice getaway from the city. Same is true with Rosenberg/Sugarland. I'm still surprised at how few "quaint" small towns exist in the Houston area in comparison to other cities. Would love to see development in some of those towns to support that kind of feel and to present another lifestyle option in the Houston metro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Ok, well Brookshire may be a bad example... but the others would be great to see them flourish with new growth and businesses. I think the next "wave" of growth for the cities on the fringe of the region will be the addition of businesses that benefit by being near Houston but not inside the actual metropolitan area. At least that is my hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Allen Posted November 8, 2013 Author Share Posted November 8, 2013 Thanks guys. Keep the discussion going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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