A tale of two city parks
Recently I made my annual trip to Houston to watch the Astro play. It’s become a yearly road trip I do with a good friend of mine. We all do them and we all have fun. Our ritual is to drive up on Friday during the day, check into the Hilton of the Americas and hit Astros games on Friday and Saturday night. Saturday we check out local things in Houston and just chill out. To get to Minutemaid Park from the hotel we walk the four blocks beside the George R Brown Convention Center alongside Discovery Green, a public park that now occupies what used to be parking lots and open spaces. This year I decided to take a more in depth look at the park to see what it has to offer. What I found was a gem in the middle of Houston. But it led me to ask the question why not have this in San Antonio? Why doesn’t Hemisfair Park resemble something like this?
To give you some context Discovery Green emerged from areas of land across from the Convention Center that were pretty much just used for parking and some open areas. I remember attending the Texas Democratic Convention in Houston and participating in a rally in one of the open spaces. It was pretty dismal looking during the times I remember it. Then came Mayor Bill White and the Discovery Green Conservancy with a vision to transform the area into something really cool. Five years later and the area is an oasis and active space for people to visit, enjoy and relax. It’s probably one of the best looking parks I’ve seen in a lot of cities. The park is more than a green space. It’s an activity center for adults, kids and dogs. It’s so attractive it serves as a backdrop for engagement photos, a true test of asthetic quality.
Now let’s take a look at Hemisfar Park, the site of the 1968 Worlds Fair and San Antonio’s major downtown park. Aside from being a hodge podge collection of buildings remaining from the Worlds Fair and some historic structures moved into the park, it’s anything but a park. The closest thing in Hemisfair Park that resembles a park is a children’s playground tucked away behind some buildings and a fountain and water garden that are now concrete eyesores due to water restrictions. What is even more disturbing is that the park serves as the backyard for our newly remodeled and extended Convention Center. For a city that prides itself in being a tourist destination Hemisfair Park has gone neglected far too long. But that can change if San Antonio has the right vision for the park.
Today city council will votes to approve creation of the Hemisfair Area Redevelopment Corporation and its supporting board of directors. After reading the resolution it appears San Antonio has lost any vision of Hemisfair Park continuing as a park and opting for a change in mission to serve as a commercial center, aka another business park. According to the resolution “The LGC will assist with planning, developing, constructing, managing and financing economic development projects within HemisFair Park and its surrounding area in order to promote economic development and to stimulate business, housing and commercial activity.” What? No park?
Hemisfair is probably the last large area of land within the inner core of the city that could serve as a green space for downtown, something sorely needed. After moving downtown I have notice the sparse areas that serve as green space throughout the downtown. Granted there are block parks such as Travis Park, Madison Square and the one located right across from my building, Milam Park. But these are really just lawns with benches that don’t offer the oasis of green I find in Discovery Green. To find something like Discovery Green I have to venture to Brackenridge Park for anything that might resemble the genius of Houston’s downtown.
I’m not sure if the vision of the LGC will come even close to creating a Discovery Green. Earlier this year a study group came back with a recommendation to study some more and create the LGC. According to a blog entry in Queblog of the San Antonio Current it seems the green space cannot be reduced. A noble goal that will be hard to achieve without some pretty creative thinking, something we always seem to lack in San Antonio when dealing with business interests. You can guess who always wins out in these situations. After looking at the BOD for the LGC it’s pretty apparent where this thing is headed. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. All I can say is when I want to enjoy a great downtown green space and park I can always go to Discovery Green in Houston.
Here’s a gallery of Discovery Green to give you an idea of the potential.
