Pathway to Hermann Park

Hermann Park Conservancy founder Bill Coats remembered at groundbreaking forbike bridge

Photo by Nic Phillips
Mayor Annise Parker speaks at the groundbreaking of the Bill Coats Bike Bridge.
Photo by Nicholas Phillips
A model of the $3.6 million bridge
Photo by Nicholas Phillips
The late Bill Coats in March 2010 at the Herman Park Luncheon
Photo by Jenny Antill
Mayor Parker, center, breaks ground along with Houston City Council Member WandaAdams and Bill's daughter, Anne Coats, right.
Photo by Nicholas Phillips
As a founder of the Hermann Park Conservancy and Trees for Houston, Bill Coatshad been a long-time advocate of improving Houston's green spaces.
Photo by Nicholas Phillips
The arched bridge will connect bayou bike trails to the heart of Hermann Park.
Photo by Nicholas Phillips

A crowd too well-dressed for the outdoor setting gathered along the banks of Brays Bayou Wednesday morning to break ground on the Bill Coats Memorial Bike Bridge.

Coats, who died in May after a long battle with brain cancer, founded Trees for Houston as well as the Hermann Park Conservancy, and had long been an advocate for improving Houston's green spaces.

The bike bridge, which was conceptualized by MC²Architects and completed by Barnhart Engineering, with construction by SpawGlass, will connect cyclists on bayou trails to the heart of Hermann Park.

Ever a stickler for quality, Coats wouldn't have settled for any dinky footbridge. The modern, arched $3.6 million bridge will span more than 290 feet across Brays Bayou. Significant funding was provided by federal programs, along with 20 percent of necessary funds coming from the city of Houston.

Hermann Park Conservancy executive director Doreen Stoller remembers the moment the project began in earnest. "Bill busts in on a public works conference meeting and basically demands a suitable bridge in Hermann Park," Stoller told CultureMap. "And he said, 'I'll help you rewrite the contract to include an architect.'"

Mayor Annise Parker and others at the groundbreaking delivered emotional praise to the former lawyer and long-time civic leader and remembered his hard-headed determination and disdain for bureaucratic hold-ups. Council member Wanda Adams, director of Parks and Recreation Joe Turner and several members of the Coats family were also on hand for the ceremonies.

The Bill Coats Bike Bridge should be complete in around seven months.

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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.”

Pathway to Hermann Park

Hermann Park Conservancy founder Bill Coats remembered at groundbreaking forbike bridge

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Thanks, Queen Bey

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

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