Grady Park At 1700 Yorktown Dr.

[pestofan]

Joe Turner, the city's parks and recreation director, acknowledged that it is rare for the city to use its eminent domain authority to acquire land for parks. But in this case, Turner said, the action was justified.

"We have a shortage of parks in that area, and the Uptown District has done a good job of maintaining parks," Turner said.

Well, maybe a shortage if you ignore Memorial Park, one of the largest urban parks in the US, and Grady Park, just a couple blocks to the west on San Felipe (east of Yorktown.) In fact Grady Park is less than a 1/3rd-mile walk from the BLVD Place site, sidewalks all the way, much of it shaded. Grady Park is much larger than this stolen parcel, and any rationalizing that residents would need a closer park to walk their dogs also seems bogus, given all the shaded greenspace frontage and pockets of the high rises next door and across the street.

Edited March 7, 2008 by pestofan