Hometown Shame

Yearning for green space: Houston ranks a woeful 39th out of 50 major cities in parks

Despite all of Houston's recent efforts to promote and foster green space, the city just can't quite keep up in terms of providing sufficient park space for its residents.

A new ParkScore index from The Trust for Public Land ranks the 50 largest cities in the United States according to how well each is meeting the need for parks, and Houston tied with Nashville for No. 38 on the list, scoring 39 on a scale of 100.

The report considered park acreage, city services and investment (according to playgrounds per resident and spending per resident) and access (or percentage of residents living within a 10-minute walk of a public park).

An interactive map of Houston's parks shows interesting correlations between park access and childhood obesity and income distribution, and demonstrates that, while much of the city's Inner Loop has good access (with several notable exceptions), areas outside of I-610 are plagued with "high" and "very high" need.

How do we measure up in terms of government investment? Whereas No. 1 ranked Minneapolis spends around $210.33 per resident on its parks and New York, at No. 2, spends approximately $160.33, Houston tallies a paltry $43.33 per resident.

Dallas and Austin tied with Detroit for No. 26 on the list, each earning two-and-a-half park benches (or a ParkScore of 48.5), and even El Paso beat Houston by two spots at No. 36. San Antonio took No. 44 with a ParkScore of 33.5.

An interactive map shows how park access correlates with obesity, income and more.

map of Houston parks highlighted parks in Houston

Park Score

An interactive map shows how park access correlates with obesity, income and more.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”