• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    Houston's New Park

    Houston's newest neighborhood park looks like a million dollars, but it was a long time coming

    Clifford Pugh
    Aug 22, 2014 | 11:45 am

    It's been a long time coming, but neighborhood persistence and the help of some Houstonians with deep pockets has resulted in the creation of the city's newest park.

    Mayor Annise Parker and other city leaders gathered under the broiling sun on Thursday to dedicate Mandell Park and marvel at how it came about. "This is little park that could," chief fundraiser Marianne Jones said, referring to the children's book, The Little Engine That Could. "(We thought) 'I think I can, I think I can.' But we never imagined it would be like this."

    "This is little park that could," Marianne Jones said, referring to the children's book, The Little Engine That Could. "(We thought) 'I think I can, I think I can.' But we never imagined it would be like this."

    More than 30 years ago, the city bought the 1.2-acre property at the corner of Mandell Street and Richmond Avenue in the Montrose area for a library and leveled a strip shopping center and homes to clear the land for construction. But when plans changed to locate the library in a church building on nearby Montrose Boulevard, no one knew quite what to do with the old property. It soon became a dumping ground for trash, tires and old furniture until neighbors cleared it and started a community garden.

    Over the years, they convinced city officials that it deserved to be a park and embarked on a $1.2 million campaign to build and maintain it. The result is a multi-use space that features a circular garden with plants in raised beds of limestone, a grassy hill designed for play, park benches for quieter reflection and cinder paths for walking.

    The campaign got a boost when Katherine McGovern authorized a substantial $300,000 donation from her family's John P. McGovern Foundation. The Brown, Elkins and Wortham Foundations also contributed, along with individuals and corporations. The city parks department chipped in around $300,000 through an open space fund and Trees for Houston donated trees on the property.

    The Friends of Mandell Park, a non-profit organization, developed a master plan through a collaborative design session known as a charrette where architeture students from the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College students were paired with local architects. They chose a design by Asakura Robinson that includes the various components, including an organic community garden emphasizing native herbs and plants, named Meredith's Garden in honor of former neighbor Meredith Burke, and a storage shed with a roof of grass, named "Skip's Shed" for Stanley "Skip" Almoney, a neighbor who has championed the project for years.

    At the dedication, Houston Parks and Recreation Department director Joe Turner noted that the park looks bigger because there are no overhead power lines on the property. "When you bury utilities, what a difference it makes," he said.

    The new Mandell Park features native plants.

    New Mandell Park
      
    Photo by dabfoto creative for Asakura Robinson
    The new Mandell Park features native plants.
    unspecified
    news/city-life

    most read posts

    Innovative Houston chef is the city's newest James Beard Award winner

    Houston company ranks No. 13 worldwide on new Forbes Global 2000 list

    Casual River Oaks restaurant closure leads our top stories this week

    children don't come cheap

    This is how much the cost to raise a child in Houston increased in one year

    Amber Heckler
    Jun 23, 2025 | 11:38 am
    Family, raising a child
    Photo by Jimmy Dean on Unsplash
    It costs more than $24,000 to raise a child in the Austin area in 2025.

    A new national study has revealed it now costs $472 more to raise a child in the Houston area than it did last year.

    SmartAsset's report "Cost of Raising a Child in Major U.S. Metros – 2025 Study" compared data from MIT's Living Wage Calculator to determine the annual costs for raising a child in 2024 and 2025 across the 48 biggest metropolitan areas in the U.S. Factors that contributed to each metro's total included the cost for childcare, additional housing costs, food, transportation, medical costs, and "other necessities."

    In 2025, it will cost $21,868 annually to raise a child in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlandsregion, the report found. That amount has risen 2.21 percent since 2024, when childrearing in the Houston area cost $21,396 a year.

    Houston only has the third-highest costs for raising a child out of the four biggest Texas metros, and even though that cost has increased slightly in the last year, it's still on the low end nationally. SmartAsset said Houston is the 8th most affordable U.S. city, ranking 41st (out of 48) in the overall ranking of metros where the cost of raising a child is the highest.

    "The cost of raising a child can change quickly, making it important for budding families to keep an eye on trends in their locale," the report said. "Between 2024 and 2025 alone, the average projected annual cost of raising a small child changed by a range of -15 percent to +22 percent, depending on the metro area."

    Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts led the nation with the highest annual cost for raising a child, totaling more than $39,000, up from $37,758 in 2024.

    Costs for raising a child in other Texas metros
    Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is – unsurprisingly – the most expensive Texas metro for raising a child, with costs surging nearly eight percent from 2024. It now costs $24,188 to raise a child in the Austin area, compared to $22,406 the year before.

    There's better news for families in San Antonio. The San Antonio-New Braunfels area clocks in as the fifth most affordable U.S. metro in the study. In 2024, it cost $21,014 to raise a child in the Alamo City, but in 2025, it costs 0.33 percent less, at $20,945.

    This is how much it costs to raise a child in San Antonio, according to SmartAsset:

    • Cost of childcare: $9,123
    • Housing costs: $3,232
    • Food costs: $1,644
    • Medical costs: $2,590
    • Transportation costs: $3,090
    • Civic costs: $474
    • Other costs: $791

    Raising a child in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington now costs $22,337 per year, which is only $411 more than it did in 2024.

    childcare costsreportssmartassetfamilieshoustonthe woodlandspasadena
    news/city-life
    Loading...