Memorial Park At 6501 Memorial Dr.

[ToryGattis]

Give them a couple of years.   Remember,  it's basically a giant construction zone right now.    Being worked on my mainly non-profits.      Won't have the same expediency as if say Hines was in there directing construction and waiting on the payoff at the finish.

 

It WILL look a lot diffent than the old overgrown jungle of invasive species that it was.   It will be much more open  (and usable - nice bonus) and healthy and in five years barring more droughts of a lifetime - it should look pretty good.      It will have a mix of the surviving old large trees and a lot of new young trees that will mature over time.

 

The Mayor mentioned that it hadn't been quite managed right over the last few decades, and not only had invasive species, but also had way too many trees planted at the same time and the same age, so they were all vulnerable simultaneously.  Evidently they have a much smarter management plan in place now and it should do much better over the next few years.

[M0J0]

Parts of it are worst than others.  North of memorial drive it is really bad.  I walked some of the mountain bike trailers a few weeks ago.  It is pretty healthy there.  Probably due to how close it is to the bayou.  It looks very bad in some parts.  Especially, when driving down memorial.  We are having a drought right now.  It has not rained in weeks. 

Parts of it are worst than others.  North of memorial drive it is really bad.  I walked some of the mountain bike trailers a few weeks ago.  It is pretty healthy there.  Probably due to how close it is to the bayou.  It looks very bad in some parts.  Especially, when driving down memorial.  We are having a drought right now.  It has not rained in weeks. 

[NenaE]

I was shocked at Memorial Park's appearance. Maybe more than some people due to the fact that I hardly ever pass by the Galleria. I couldn't believe it. My heart sunk. A drought after the last hurricane took it's toll. I feel the same way when traveling down the Gulf Freeway. Winter time makes everything look desolate, as well. Hopefully, we wll see a lot of rain this Spring.

[lockmat]

Mayor to announce plan to reforest the park

http://www.houstongovnewsroom.org/go/doc/2155/1744979/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[swtsig]

Could be good getting out there and putting in a few volunteer hours with some of the organizations around town.

Trees For Houston is a great organization and worth joining if one wants to become active:

http://www.treesforhouston.org/

[lockmat]

Does anyone know what kind of trees they planted along I-10 between downtown and 610?

I'm really glad they put in irrigation

[livincinco]

Hopefully, they're going to re-look at the trail network before they plant new trees. This would be a perfect time to extend the jogging trails.

[Reefmonkey]

I have heard rumors that the Uptown area is going to create a TIRZ (tax increment reinvestment zone) that includes Memorial Park, for the purposes of rehabilitiating it. If you are unfamilar with how a TIRZ works, basically once a TIRZ is established, instead of all the property tax revenues from the properties just going into the general coffers at the county tax office, a portion is earmarked for reinvestment within the TIRZ, for infrastructure improvement, beautification, etc. If this rumor is true, it is a very, very promising development.

[ToryGattis]

I have heard rumors that the Uptown area is going to create a TIRZ (tax increment reinvestment zone) that includes Memorial Park, for the purposes of rehabilitiating it. If you are unfamilar with how a TIRZ works, basically once a TIRZ is established, instead of all the property tax revenues from the properties just going into the general coffers at the county tax office, a portion is earmarked for reinvestment within the TIRZ, for infrastructure improvement, beautification, etc. If this rumor is true, it is a very, very promising development.

 

Technically, they are annexing Memorial Park into the existing Uptown TIRZ.

[lockmat]

I read somewhere last week that people in charge of the park are concerned about this happening. I guess they don't want people who know nothing about parks making decisions without community/their input.

[august948]

I read somewhere last week that people in charge of the park are concerned about this happening. I guess they don't want people who know nothing about parks making decisions without community/their input.

I guess that leads to the question of who controls the uptown tirz.

[Reefmonkey]

I read somewhere last week that people in charge of the park are concerned about this happening. I guess they don't want people who know nothing about parks making decisions without community/their input.

 

I don't know, maybe I am wrong, and there is something to that concern, but it seems unlikely. It's not like the uptown park shopping center owners, et al will suddenly own or control the park and do whatever they want with it. The plan the TIRZ board proposes will have to go through public comment period and city council approval, and it will still be the city using the money and doing the work. The Parks department has to answer to the city now, it will have to answer to the city then, it will just be following a plan that it gave plenty of input on and the public and city approved.

[lockmat]

I found the article www.google.com/m?q=+Houston+memoril+parrlkvtirz+concerns

It's the fourth from the top. Chron April 26

Edited May 8, 2013 by lockmat

[Reefmonkey]

Their concerns seem pretty vague, and I don't see them really making a case for how the public has any more say in how the park is managed now than it would be under the TIRZ. I also see them not coming up with an alternative - the city doesn't have the money under the status quo. Forgive my cynism, but as an environmental scientist who has worked in the environmental field for going on 15 years now, too often have I seen how "environmentalist's" poor understanding of environmental issues, heavy on emotion, light on facts and understanding of environmental science, regulations, and risk, can really foul up projects to the detriment of the environment. So, I am pretty skeptical when environmentalists oppose plans with nebulous concerns like the ones I see here.

[Mab]

http://www.chron.com/life/article/Memorial-Park-proposal-bridges-history-and-ecology-5763029.php?cmpid=bna

 

 

 

emorial Park could dramatically change if a long-range master plan being proposed is adopted byHouston City Council.

The long-range plan was commissioned by theHouston Parks and Recreation Department, the Uptown Park tax increment reinvestment zone and the privately-funded Memorial Park Conservancy. The internationally-renowned landscape architecture firmNelson Byrd Woltz is nearly three months into a 10-month design process, and should have the master plan complete by April, when it would go before the council for a vote.

The city's premiere park stretches across 1,500 acres, almost twice as large as New York's Central Park. But to Thomas Woltz, Nelson Byrd Woltz principal, it feels much smaller. Over time the land has been divided into 24 tracts by roads, railroads and recreational amenities.

At a public meeting Wednesday, Woltz presented his firm's initial design strategies and the reasoning behind them - which were driven by previous public input and a year's research by a team of about 70 local experts in fields like soil science, ecology, history and archaeology.

He used maps, drawings and aerial views to explain the park's ecological and cultural histories, also unveiling a dramatic solution to one of the landscape's biggest problems. Woltz is proposing a grass- and tree-covered land bridge, 800 feet long, that would rise gently across Memorial Drive, over a tunnel, to reconnect the park's north and south sides.

While it's not realistic to remove the street, which is crucial to Houston's traffic circulation, the land bridge is "a kind of triumph ... the park wins," Woltz said.The current pedestrian bridge on the park's western side, completed in 2009, was an important first gesture toward stitching the park's landscape back together, Woltz said. "This land bridge builds on that beginning at a much larger scale."

That's just the most visible aspect of a plan that would also restore the damaged ecology, enhance recreational amenities and optimize the park's potential to be what he calls a "performative" landscape. A natural pond system, for example, could be used to irrigate the golf course, saving 68 million gallons of water a year.

Woltz envisions a mixed landscape of savannah, wetlands and prairie, more like what the Karankawas experienced when they lived in the area centuries ago. And he would add a tribute to the soldiers of Camp Logan, the World War I training camp that was there from 1917 to 1919. Those plans will be revealed at the next public meeting on Nov. 10.

The park's recreational amenities also would be improved. High-activity areas currently on the park's south side could be relocated within the park to protect the least-disturbed, fragile ecologies along the bayou - an area Woltz sees as a preserve for people on foot or on bikes.

The Uptown Park TIRZ is committed to spending $100 to $150 million on the restoration projects and infrastructure, project director Sarah Newbery said. Memorial Park Conservancy is studying how much it can raise in the next 10 or 20 years toward the effort.

"But we think of this in terms of a 100-year or 75-year plan. We'll execute large parts of it in the next three to 15 years; but there can be a road map for the next generation as well," conservancy executive director Shellye Alford said.

 

 

[democide]

I think it's a great idea.

[cloud713]

Awesome.. I was wondering how these plans were going.

[august948]

One of the slides in the chron article looks like it shows at least six of these bridges.  Hope they can get this done sooner rather than later.

[Urbannizer]

One of the slides in the chron article looks like it shows at least six of these bridges.  Hope they can get this done sooner rather than later.

 

I've counted nine, including one over the west loop.

 

[UtterlyUrban]

This is really something special. I will wait to see the final details but, I am already impressed.

[arche_757]

This is pretty much what I was trying to convey in a previous thread about Memorial Park.  I'm glad someone else thinks like me about this park.

[Montrose1100]

Awesome plan! These bridges exist in Europe to help maintain safe crossings for wildlife, and now it's bridging humans to be able to enjoy the huge space that is Memorial Park. Really spectacular. I'm interested to see the plans for the bridge over 610 as it seems to be a bit smaller.

[arche_757]

Canada has wildlife crossings too - they're either overpasses or underpasses for roadways.  Personally I think its a good idea.  It'll bring the park together better.  Makes sense to me - I've long wondered why this wasn't thought of previously.

 

Besides, it'll give us a few more hills in Houston for our kids to roll down, sit on watching fireworks and concerts and just gaze upon.  I'm all for it.

[Dakota79]

I like how the Uptown Tirz has committed $100-150M. That gives this a real chance. It's nice to have such a vision for this important park as our city becomes more dense.

[SkylineView]

I'm out there 4+ times a week.  #sold.

[mollusk]

I like how the design is meant to be accessible to the general public, as demonstrated by the presence of VWs in the rendering, rather than Audis. 

[Sparrow]

Sure would be great if they plan on putting as much of the rail in a tunnel under a land bridge as they can as well. Those high voltage power lines too.

[cloud713]

Sure would be great if they plan on putting as much of the rail in a tunnel under a land bridge as they can as well. Those high voltage power lines too.

Yeah, if only they could trench that whole line inside the loop.

[Mab]

http://paulbaut.com/?/current-projects/h-town-pool/

 

Cool proposal 

 

 

 

[arche_757]

^Interesting.  However, shouldn't there also be an area where people can just float around and swim casually with their kids and friends?  Still, good to see ideas like this taking root in this town!