Hometown glory

Mayor Parker disses San Antonio as Buffalo Bayou Park named to list of 10 GreatPublic Spaces in U.S.

Buffalo Bayou Park made the grade on this year's 10 Great Public Spaces list,compiled by the American Planning Association.
Photo by Jim Olive/Greater Houston and Visitors Bureau
Mayor Anise Parker accepted the national recognition during a special afternoonpresentation on the steps of City Hall.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
From left: Buffalo Bayou Park project manager Guy Hagstette, Houston planningdepartment director Marlene Gafrick, mayor Annise Parker, Buffalo BayouPartnership chair Bob Phillips and Houston parks and rec director Joe Turner.
Photo by Tyler Rudick

Buffalo Bayou Park officially joined the ranks of New Orleans' Jackson Square and the Chicago Botanic Garden this week with its placement on the 2012 10 Great Public Spaces list, compiled by the American Planning Association (APA).

Since 2007, the APA has been highlighting the nation's most successful public parks and buildings based not only on their unique designs, but also on the ability to reflect local culture and promote community involvement.

The American Planning Association singled-out Buffalo Bayou Park for its distinctive design, amenities and integration of public art.

For this year's list, the organization singled-out a particular nine-mile stretch of Buffalo Bayou Park — from Shepherd Drive to the Port of Houston Turning Basin on the east side — for its distinctive design, amenities and integration of public art. The APA also gave a nod for the park's continued focus on ecological restoration as well as its high level of both public and private support.

"Buffalo Bayou is, in one sense, our Central Park," Annise Parker said during a Wednesday speech on the steps of City Hall. "After 176 years, it's great that not just Houstonians are acquainting themselves with Buffalo Bayou, but we're getting national attention as well."

Starting in 2011, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) has been leading a city-wide effort to reimagine Houston's central waterway as a green space on par with Memorial Park. Just west of downtown, Buffalo Bayou Park is getting a major renovation thanks to a $20 million public-private initiative sponsored by the BBP and a generous $30 million gift from the Kinder Foundation.

"As I travel, I am often asked by people why we don't turn Buffalo Bayou into a River Walk," Parker laughed. "The answer is that the River Walk is a cement ditch. There's no other nice way to put it."

By 2015, the Buffalo Bayou Park from Shepherd to downtown will become the spine of a network of urban greenways stretching across the city. Additional trails, lakes, bridges, outdoor sculpture and dog parks will dot the park. Where the bayou meets downtown Houston at Allen's Landing, the former International Coffee Building — once home of a hippy-era music club — will get a new life as a cultural center with the help of Texas architects Lake|Flato.

During the Q&A session after the presentation, Parker showed her hometown pride with some light-hearted fighting words for San Antonio.

"As I travel, I am often asked by people why we don't turn Buffalo Bayou into a River Walk," she laughed. "The answer is that the River Walk is a cement ditch. There's no other nice way to put it."

Parker explained herself, noting the manner in which Houston's central bayou serves as a "living, active water course" that mitigates flood waters and supports regional wildlife. She added that recent work by Harris County Flood Control to maintain the bayou's naturally curving banks will not only provide more heavy rain support, but it could even help to clear the water of its trademark murkiness.

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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.”